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Viking
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# Posted: 10 Mar 2012 23:19
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Would like to know how many of you either have or have considered adding a sauna building to your lot?
I am of Finnish heritage, so the Sauna is close to my heart.
In Finland, pretty much everyone has a sauna at their vacation property, it's as much of a staple as hamburgers and fries in the U.S.
There are some really rustic saunas that can be built on one's property. The Finnish troops during WWII actually built crude saunas next to the trenches. This boosted morale, and generally made the troops refreshed for combat.
Really, a wood burning stove and a tent can accomplish this. There are several examples online, just google it.
Something to consider for you commandos out there!!
Viking
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arpem
Member
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# Posted: 12 Mar 2012 18:29
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Hello Viking! I have a sauna at my cabin. It is built onto the back of the shed. I could not, would not, do without it! Even before it was built I experimented with different methods. The first was a tent pitched on the snow.We cut the floor out and dug down to the ground. Had a stove made from a grease barrel and held rocks onto it with chicken wire.It would get warm in there but as soon as we threw water on the rocks,the window flap opened and all the heat went out and was instantly replaced by cccold air! There were two design updates after that.One was a tent pitched on the floor of the yet to be constructed shed. The next was a pre fab shed that was covered in plastic which worked well until we built the present one. I love a good sauna! Arpem
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Aqua
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# Posted: 26 Mar 2012 15:43
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A sauna would be nice! Arpem, how did you build the current one? Anyone else build a cheap one?
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dstraate
Member
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# Posted: 27 Mar 2012 14:50
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I see a few sweat lodges around here, but not many saunas
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arpem
Member
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# Posted: 2 Apr 2012 20:32
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Hi Aqua! My sauna is 2x4 walls . Inside is cedar covered, outside is covered with pieces of paneling from the old pre-fab sauna for now. I will eventually cover the outside with rough cut cedar.
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Anonymous
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# Posted: 6 Apr 2012 17:52
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@ arpem
Very nice to hear that someone else out there can't live without a sauna! 
I constructed a lean to that is made out of logs from the forest and has a tarp wrapped around it. I have a wood burning stove that I am planning on modifying into a sauna heater with rocks on top. Will also need to build some sort of bench in there.
Once finished, it should provide some sweaty sessions through the long summer nights!
Viking
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Anonymous
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# Posted: 9 Apr 2012 12:33
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I have sauna in the basement of my home and when I finally buy land and build a cabin I will definitely have sauna too.
I am of Russian descent and we like sauna almost as much as Finns
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yankeesouth
Member
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# Posted: 10 Apr 2012 15:06
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Consider building a Lakota Sweat Lodge. (Or rendition of...) Better than any sauna.
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shnnn
Member
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# Posted: 28 May 2012 12:05
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I am currently planning a sauna cabana--I'm thinking of a 12 x 12 building with a 5 x 7 sauna room inside it. Loft bed above the sauna.
I'm having a really tough time trying to decide how to power the sauna. I was initially attracted to the idea of a wood-fired sauna but I am getting spooked by the cost and complexity of building the chimney and buying all the heat shields. Wood sauna stoves start at about $700 and costs rise quickly when you add in the heat shields, glass door, and chimney.
Can anyone assuage my concerns, or might running a 240 line from the main house (about 100 feet) be a better bet for me?
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OwenChristensen
Member
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# Posted: 28 May 2012 13:06 - Edited by: OwenChristensen
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Saunas are are a big thing in Northern MN. I build them and this is mine.
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OwenChristensen
Member
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# Posted: 28 May 2012 13:16
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An insulated chimney cost about $160 and many stove will cost $500 to $800. Heat shielding can be nothing more than cementboard spaced away form paneling.
A 220 volt tie in and underground wiring with a dedicated circuit might cost as much.
Anyway I'm not into electric saunas.
Owen
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Anonymous
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# Posted: 28 May 2012 14:58
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shnnn,
I have 5x7 sauna in the basement heated by 6 kW heater.
It works ok and very convenient, but wood sauna is so much better.
Depends how much you care about the experience and the convenience. Takes longer to heat with wood, you need to store it, clean the stove etc... but it gets the stones hotter, so you can have good steam. The air is better too.
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shnnnh
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# Posted: 31 May 2012 14:47
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Thanks for the tips and nice looking sauna, Owen!
I think I'm going to go for the wood-fired stove for the full experience, will let you know how it goes...
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OwenChristensen
Member
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# Posted: 31 May 2012 16:13
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We use ours even in the hot summer. Ya need to look for tick ya know.
Last weekend Me and the grandsons enjoyed it. Here's the funnest picture.
Owen
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OwenChristensen
Member
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# Posted: 31 May 2012 16:18
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Lars and Sophia , his sister were trying to tell me about the drumming partridge. They don't talk so well, so as they talked both of them were flapping their elbows up and down. I just can't keep a straight face.
When Lars heard the grouse the day before, I said no it's not a motorcylce. He said '' Partridge has a fourwheeler?
There about all the intertainment I need.
Owen
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cabingal3
Member
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# Posted: 31 May 2012 17:50
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we have a back meadow and the passenger train goes past at all hours.hubbys plan is to get a hot tub.the old hippy kind.we build it our selves with redwood planks and then have a propane heater to heat the hot tub up.his joke is for us to be out in the meadow and stand up and wave to all the passengers as the go by.he is a funny guy.my sister has a sauna in her home in Houston,tex.and my goodness.she sure loves it.it seems she spends like 40 mins.almost everyday in it getting out impurities from her body and it makes her loose weight but she is so bone skinny anyway.and almost a raw foodist vegan .so i dont know what impurities she is getting out in the first place.lol.sure sounds good though.
we could have one and then go roll in the snow.get our systems really revved up.
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aktundra
Member
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# Posted: 31 May 2012 18:17
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Saunas are an Alaskan staple too!
We love ours, although it is a sauna shack! But it keeps us clean at the cabin. Its 2x4 framed sauna with cedar paneling on the inside. The stove is a homemade square box. Heat shields are on either side of the stove. Benches are made from 2x4s. There is a shower stall in the corner. We melt snow on the square stove in the winter in large surplus army? soup pots. One of the pots has a spigot welding on. The sauna isn't pretty at all and after 20+ years needs replacing but cost was minimal.
Plans are in the works for a new sauna!
AKTUNDRA
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Whought
Member
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# Posted: 18 Feb 2022 16:05
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Up here in North Dakota it gets pretty chilly during winter so most of my family have a sauna of some sort. What I've realized over the years is that making a simple sauna isn't that hard, but actually making it look good its tough so I decided buying one instead of making it from scratch. The last one I bought was from [url=www.saunas.com]saunas.com[/url], it came with everything to build it, so I wasnt wasting my days sanding the wood down. It aint cheap, but its a huge time saver to buy prebuilt saunas.
Dennis "Whought" McDougall
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