In my previous blogs, I have talked about the benefits of having a home sauna. Also, I’ve dwelled upon the different ways you can enjoy it, how much weight you can lose with it, and whatnot. However, the thing is, with all the benefits it has to offer, you have to have a sauna in the first place. You see, while using the sauna at your fitness center is expensive, installing one at your home isn’t cheap either. But did you know that you don’t exactly need to build a sauna from the bottom up to enjoy its benefits? Seems crazy, right? But it is true. Even though it isn’t a full service sauna, there are some tricks and household items that you can use and mimic the environment of a Finnish sauna. Not to mention, you can also get creative and convert bathroom to sauna using my DIY guide. In this blog, I am going to tell you all about it plus how you can do it by yourself. How Can You Convert Bathroom To Sauna? Well, there are two ways you can go about it. The most common option is to convert your bathroom into a sauna by building one in it. And this one is going to cost you some money, as you’ll have to buy the necessary equipment. But we will talk all about it later. First, I will tell you how you can convert your bathroom into a turnkey sauna at a minimal cost. 1. How To Convert Bathroom To Sauna with Household Items This is the simplest and cheapest way you can turn your bathroom into a perfect sauna haven or, at the very least, mimic it. To begin with, you might already have the most essential item you’ll need, and that is your hot water heater. If not, you can easily get one from a local store. Now, if you check the instruction manual of your hot water heater, it’d say you have to use it around 120-130 ℉ to use it safely. And that is also the average temperature in a standard steam sauna. Now, coming to the next important step: choosing your bathroom. Here, my advice is you choose the smallest bathroom in your home. As you can imagine, not only do small bathrooms heat up faster than large bathrooms but they’re also better at holding the steam in. And if In case all your bathrooms are the same size, choose the one located in the warm part of your house. Now, here are a few steps you can follow to have your turnkey steam sauna up and running:
Pro Tip #1 If your hot water runs out before the bathtub is half full, turn off the water as it will just dilute the hot water. Leave it that way and enjoy what you have got; it's enough. Now, all you have to do is sit next to your bathtub as it fills your bathroom with relaxing steam. Just close your eyes, take a deep breath, and let your body detoxify. 2. How To Build A Sauna In The Bathroom A turnkey home sauna isn’t for everyone, and you might want one that’s just like the saunas you use in gyms and spas. In this case, you can build a DIY sauna in your bathroom. Now, when it comes to building a sauna, there are different types of saunas you can choose from. For instance, you can go for the modern avatars of traditional Finnish saunas. These saunas utilize dry heat sauna heaters and have vulcanite rocks that you can pour some water over, adding humidity to the room. Similarly, there are infrared saunas, which are very similar in terms of construction, but work on a direct heating mechanism. Next, there are also steam baths, which are totally different in construction with a waterproof and steam filled enclosure. In this, steam is going to be generated by steam bath generators. So it's three different things, meaning you have to do your own homework and figure out which sauna style or type you want. Now that we've covered the different types of saunas, let's see how to add it to a new construction home or a finished one. New Construction Home Vs. Finished Home If you're building a sauna in a new construction home, then this is going to be a lot easier because you're able to plan for this. But most people already have an existing home and plan to fit the sauna somewhere within that space. So, I'm going to go over a few things to consider step-by-step. A. Decide On Your Sauna Layouts t’s ideal to have a sauna enclosure located in the shower area, because that way, it’s easier to shower before or after using the sauna. Also, you have a changing room within the area. Not to mention, it's that ambiance and the vibe that you get which can just elevate a space completely. Furthermore, you might be able to utilize some unused space and make it work. Something else to consider is that you would want to build a sauna closer to an electrical panel. That’s because you’ll need wires from your electrical panel to that bathroom in order to power the heater. And this means breaking some drywall to draw the electrical wirings. So, if you’re building your sauna in a new construction home, it's going to be a little easier because you can plan for these things. B. Determine The Size Of The Heater Once you've determined the size and layout of your sauna, you should determine the size of your sauna heater. This is a critical step because if you have a sauna heater that’s too small, it's going to take hours to heat up the room. And if it's too big, it will heat the space too quickly, making it unpleasantly hot. As such, it’s essential you know your ideal sauna heater size. And one good way to do so is to know the kilowatts of the heater. As a general rule of thumb, allow one kilowatt for every cubic foot of room space. So a sauna that is five by seven and seven feet high with 245 cubic feet would need a 5.5-kilowatt heater. C. Install a Steam Vaporizer I would recommend that you get a sauna heater with a built-in steam vaporizer. That’s because you can fill that up with water and you could put essential oils in there as well. Just make sure it isn't hot when you put in the essential oils because essential oils are flammable. What's really nice about the built-in vaporizer is that while the sauna is heating up, it boils the water in there. This releases vapor and then the scent of those essential oils. And when you want that wave of heat, you can still pour water over sauna rocks. D. Installing A Floor Drain (Optional) You do not have to have a floor drain, but I would recommend putting one in, especially if you're doing a new construction. You see, when you're pouring water over the rocks, sometimes it overflows. So it's just nicer having the floor drain built into the sauna for cleanup and ease of use. And while you are at it, put in a water line and a faucet. With these two things in there, you have water that you can use to pour over the stones or even fill up your water bottle. Or else, you could go the old-school way with a bucket and ladle if you want it that way. With this out of the way, let's move on to the ventilation of the sauna now. E. Sauna Ventilation Installation Nothing fancy here, you don't have mechanical ventilation involved. What you need to do is have an intake below wherever your heater is installed. Thereafter, you can have an exhaust, usually on the opposite side of wherever your intake is. It can also be mounted on the ceiling or could be installed just below your second bench. You can also use air vents for ventilation since they're a little more aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Also, you can go for a standard HVAC grille or get pre-fabricated cedar ones where they have built-in louvers. The reason why you need to do this is it's going to bring fresh air into the sauna. Common health problems in a poorly ventilated sauna are headaches or dizziness caused by a low oxygen level. So I can’t overstate the importance of ventilation. Pro Tip #2: If there's a flat roof and a non-conditioned attic space, you want to make sure no condensation is formed. To prevent condensation, you can cover your exhaust in insulation, and that would do the trick. F. Determine The Framing of Your Sauna Room It's pretty simple, it's going to be your standard 16-inch center framing. One thing you should keep in mind, though. You want to make sure that wherever you've accessories mounted, like your sauna heater or benches, you should have adequate blocking installed. G. Choose The Insulation Material This is a very critical step because this is what's going to retain the heat inside the sauna. You could use fiberglass insulation or spray foam, depending on your scenario. But for inside walls, you're obviously not going to be using spray foam. H. Vapour Barrier Installation Now that the room is insulated, you need to install a vapor barrier. In this case, you want to use a special one-sided aluminum foil-coated vapor barrier. The reason being that it's going to get hot in the room. So you can't use a standard poly vapor barrier as it would end up melting. The aluminum foil is coated on one side only and has a required high-temperature rating. Also, it is an extra insulator as it reflects the heat back into the sauna room. So, the two-sided reflective aluminum foil has no advantage over the one-sided. Note: Make sure that the reflective side is facing towards the sauna. That way it reflects the heat back into the room. I. Sauna Wood/Cedar You want to use a clear sauna wood or cedar as it has very minimal imperfections and no knotting in it. It's just nice, clean, and aesthetically pleasing. You might also want to read - Choosing The Right Wood For Your Sauna: A Brief Guide. J. Strapping (Optional) The next step is a strapping installation, which is optional for residential saunas. The reason why installing strapping is recommended, especially for commercial saunas, is that it allows the cedar to breathe. And it does so by an air gap in between the vapor barrier and the cedar itself. I definitely recommend doing this because cedar wood is not cheap. Especially after COVID, we all know how expensive lumber prices have been. So you want to make sure that you're really going to get a long life span out of your cedar. Pro Tip #3: You should consider using tongue and groove boards on the wall. This will give a much cleaner finish. K. Blind nailing & stainless-steel fasteners I highly recommend that you use stainless-steel fasteners whenever you're working with saunas. If not, there’s a high probability of streaking because there’ll be some humidity and moisture in the sauna. Even though your sauna will be mainly dry, heat will cause the heads of the nails to rust over time, and you'll get streaking in the wood. Now, in terms of installing the cedar planks and orientation, whether they're going to be vertical or horizontal, that's totally up to you. L. Install A Sauna Door You can buy prefabricated sauna doors instead of doing it yourself. In fact, I recommend buying a prefab door if that is not your expertise because you’ll spend way more time and money trying to construct it. Now, you have two door options: You can either go with a glass door or an insulated cider door. The thing about the glass doors is that they aren’t very energy efficient, and there would be some heat loss, but it would be minimal. But it is cost-effective and aesthetically pleasing. M. Add The Electrical Connection In the end, we have to provide our sauna with electricity to work. In this step, I advise that you hire a licensed, experienced electrician to make sure that everything is done safely. So, I am not going into detail and leaving it at that. 6 Tips For A Great Sauna Session Now that you know how to convert bathroom to sauna, you are ready to take your sauna experience to the next level. So, here are some tips to do so. 1. Clean Your Bathroom This is the first thing you should do. You don’t want to look at your dirty laundry during your relaxing sauna session, do you? So, remove all these unwanted items from your bathroom, and clean the countertops before you begin your session. You can store your toiletries inside the cabinets if you want. 2. Take A Shower Before Your Sauna Session Taking a shower before the sauna is always the right way to. It serves two purposes: A. First, it cleanses your body. With a shower, you get rid of any dead cells, oil, or greasy film on your skin that obstruct your pores. With your pores open, it is easier for you to sweat and detoxify your body. B. If you have any residual makeup or products on your face or hair, it gets rid of that. Otherwise, it will sweat down, cover your pores, or even go into your eyes and cause irritation. 3. Light Some Candles As someone who’s passionate about your sauna session, you already know that the ambiance is half the fun. So, do yourself a favor, dim the lights, and light some candles. You can choose whatever type of candle you want. If you just want a refreshing scent, choose a scented candle that you enjoy, be it lemon or my personal favorite, lavender. To take it up a notch, you can use aromatherapy scents, such as clary sage, as well. These will help you to be calm and elevate your mood. 4. Use Essential oils If you don’t like aromatherapy-scented candles, you can always go for essential oils. All you have to do is put some drops of your essential oil into the bathwater and enjoy. Now, each essential oil offers different benefits, so choose according to your preference. If you ask me, I have always enjoyed the scent of eucalyptus during my sauna session. Plus, eucalyptus has a variety of benefits to offer. 5. Remove All Accessories If you are wearing jewelry of any kind or you wear glasses or contact lenses, it is best to remove these before you enter the sauna. First, these accessories, especially jewelry, can become warm, more than you would like, and essentially ruin your experience. Second, glasses or contact lenses will become foggy, which can be irritating. And if that is not enough reason, you don’t need them anyway in the sauna. Just close your eyes and sit comfortably; that is all you need. 6. Take A Cold Shower After Your Session Take a cold shower or cold plunge after you are done with your sauna session. As you can guess, it will help gradually lower your body temperature and get rid of all that sweat. If you prefer, you can use lukewarm water as well, but I suggest you use cold water once. You will see the difference. After you have cooled down, continue your shower like you usually do and cleanse your body. Once you are done with the shower, apply hydrating products, like lotions or moisturizer, to your skin to hydrate it. You might also want to read - Sauna Etiquette: Everything You Need To Know About. To wrap up As you might already have figured out, converting bathroom to sauna is difficult, especially if you’re going for DIY construction. But it’s not impossible either, as with a little time, effort, and investment, you can have your bathroom sauna up and functioning. In fact, turning your bathroom into a sauna can be a fun project over the holidays, something the entire family can lend a helping hand towards. Not to mention, the immense health and wellness benefits that your bathroom sauna is going to offer once built, that too on a shoestring budget. Do you need assistance with your bathroom sauna project? You can reach out to us! We are Steam & Sauna Experts, South Florida’s leading sauna installation firm. Also, our online storefront features top-notch sauna building accessories from renowned manufacturers. In short, we’ve got your back for all your bathroom sauna needs.
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AuthorJ.D Moreno
Steam and Sauna Technician and Enthusiast. 786-837-1235 Archives
October 2024
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