No bro. I am a finn, and I can tell you that the best saunas are the airy ones, where the door does not close properly. The crucial errors are too tight construction, a poor and wrong functioning ventilation are the benches. You need to have a bench where your feet are at the same level or higher than the stove. And no layers to a sauna. You need a tilted wood floor with drainage. And no treated wood. You have a superior wood at hand, but you need to consult a finnish carpenter who knows the tricks of sauna. You are concentrated on the wrong details buddy.
Sounds like the normal things that come up with any building project. The key now is to try to remember these things for the next build. I often forget!
Nice work! That's a beautiful sauna. And thanks for putting yourself out there on how you would have done things differently. That takes some guts! I'm about to start on my own timber frame sauna and I really appreciate the pointers.
Looks Great..I have in my mind The sauna of my dreams.. haven't started it yet..so many videos to gather info on..I appreciate your humbleness and insight.. hindsight..😏💪☮️
Board and batten siding is meant to allow for gaps between the boards for expansion. So you used them properly. As long as the battens cover the gaps completely and tightly, you are good.
You have a great sauna and your family and friends can enjoy it. Of course the title of this video, which is very helpful, is about changes. I think you need the ventilation around the door--your wood stove is the type that pulls air into the room and for that reason it's not the most up-to-date design but it's fine. You need good ventilation to dry our the room, so it's a feature, not a bug. Every build is imperfect, enjoy sitting with your loved ones.
Great video. I had the same challenge with the benches in my sauna. I actually plan to re-build those sometime soon to get ourselves up higher into the heat and steam (maybe next spring). Board and batten siding is designed to have a gap between the boards anyway to allow for wood movement, so your gap there is a good thing... a happy accident. Your beam that supports the roof joists is called a "plate" by timber framers. I personally love your timber frame floor deck. Even if you can't see it, you know it's there and you've done it right. Full disclosure: I'm totally biased because I'm currently building a wildly-overbuilt garden/wood shed with a timber framed floor deck.
Thanks for your video. I started mine with a small garrison stove from craigslist, it has two front doors but the opening is small and I continually burned myself reloading. Ended up with a Vermont casting vigilant works much better, bigger front doors and top load also. Stove is in the corner quite close to wall. I insulated between studs, covered the corner with metal ductwork flattened and spaced away from studs. Next I used tile from Lowe’s. That was marked down to about $.75/sq ft. This also has an air space. Tile gets up to around 350 F but temp by the studs is very low. I have a drain in the floor,also tile, air is supplied through a space under the door. Size 8x12, 4x8 changing room and interior sauna about 7x7. Warms up quickly if it’s not quite hot enough I add 1 piece of scrap plywood or advantech which both increase the temp with just one piece. Also I use either menthol crystals in water or wintergreen. Enjoy. Greetings from Maine.
The correct term for the "roof joist" would be top plate, your shed roof has two one up high and the lower one. With a 10x10 would you still use the big stove? I'm new to sauna and it seems its all about the heat, so maybe keep the big stove in the bigger room. Knowing white pine and the pitch that is present in the sap wood, I notice a fair bit on the live edge bench, it will get soft and run as it gets hot, I got drips on the floor of our converted yurt build with white pine. Don't sweat the rough timber, I would not have sanded it at all but yeah anything you do to it after its up is a pain. You could have done one saw kerf then V-in the notch for the wall boards where it landed on the inside face of the top plate, saw one face then chisel in the V the thickness of the wall planks Been checking out utube sauna builds. Yours looks sweet.
For the door can you just add another piece of wood to cover the gap? Also if there's any other fixed gaps I'd recommend spray foam in a can - like $8 and does a great job filling gaps.
Hey man, has the pine interior held up ok? I’m in the process of building a wood fired sauna, and everyone has their opinion on which wood to use, usually cedar. Is it just standard pine tongue and groove like you’d find at a Lowe’s ?
Yes I used the standard pine tongue and groove. If you are looking to spend a decent chunk of change more on cedar that is definitely recommended. The pine has been good for a year now but from my experience with other saunas you will probably have to hit it with a sander every 2-3 years.
Traditional Finnish saunas are not lined with cedar. Nordic spruce or clear pine with poplar benches would be normally used. Cedar is an allergen to some people. Put some galvanized flashing at the floor on each wall and start your paneling a few inches off the floor. When you’re done in the sauna open the door and a vent so it dries out.
9:34 the overhang is so little so you dont really need to extend the "roof joist" out. could have just screwd the extra rafter on and let the roof carry it, no problem at all.
Personally, I think the extended plate is a much better solution, structurually. Your creative solution to notch the plate for the T&G was a good solution.
