A complete guide to building a sauna in the garden

Rhea Purnita Paine Rhea Purnita Paine
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Are you struggling with your weight or simply want to be more fit? Do you have a nice sprawling garden in front of your home, or perhaps a backyard which you want to make more interesting? Well if you have the space and the need for fitness, we have the ideas. A simple way to lose weight, while also getting more out of your garden, is to build a sauna there! Yes a sauna, which is a small room designed to experience dry or wet heat sessions. Sweating and overheating makes your heart pump faster, increases your circulation, makes you sweat and helps you shed salt and water; thereby allowing you to lose those extra kilos that you have been piling up! So follow our simple tips, build a sauna in a corner of your garden and look fitter in no time.

Why sauna in the garden, not inside your home?

We suggest you make a sauna in the garden, and not one in your home, as an outdoor sauna has a more back to nature feel. Also, making changes to the existing architecture of your home to incorporate a sauna room is more difficult, than to make a completely separate cabin outdoors. Plus, having a lovely wooden outdoor sauna will give you the feel of having your own personal spa or retreat away from the chaos at work and home.

Where to place it?

The best place to place a sauna in your garden is a corner. This way the construction of the sauna cabin won't disrupt the existing layout of your garden. If you have a fairly big garden, you can also make the sauna cabin right in the centre of it and build pathways around it leading up to it. But for smaller gardens, a corner or the side opposite your home is the best place to build a sauna. This will keep the heat away from your home and still give you a comfortable enough space for the sauna.

Which size and shape?

The size and shape of the sauna will depend on the amount of space you have at disposal to build it in the first place. If you are building a sauna in a corner, you can make it like this almost triangular shaped sauna and open shower designed by FOLIO DESIGN. A triangular shaped sauna utilizes a narrow corner most optimally, while the barrel shape is perfect for your sauna if there is a pool or waterbody next to it. A square or rectangular shaped sauna is better suited if you are using an entire side of your garden to build it. While a log cabin shaped sauna is the right design for those who want their sauna to have a rustic country feel.

Which materials to use?

Next thing to tackle, is the material to build the sauna. Wood is a common material used to build sauna's. It is cheaper to build a wooden cabin with glass partitions and electric heaters like here, than to build a luxurious brick and mortar sauna room with separate cabins or pools. Sauna's are of many kinds, so the material also depends on the kind of sauna you are building. Popular Finnish saunas are made of wood, as they have relatively low humidity levels in which steam is generated by pouring water on hot stones. While sauna's like Turkish baths have very high humidity levels with a much lower temperature, and such saunas are usually made of stone so that it can resist the high humidity.

What cost?

While deciding on a shape, size or kind of sauna, you have to take into account your budget. You may love to have a sprawling Turkish bath in your backyard, but that may not make sense economically for you. So figure out how much you are willing to spend, and pick out the size and kind of the sauna accordingly. A smaller sauna is obviously going to cost less than a big sauna. And it will cost more to build a stone or cement room for the sauna, in comparison to a wooden one. If your budget is less, don't lose hope, you can always opt for a tiny wooden sauna cabin like the one here.

Extras

Finally, even the tiniest of budgets can make room for some fringe benefits. Even if your sauna is not too big in size, you can perk things up by opting for a few extra's. Be it a shower spray in your sauna room, a separate outdoor shower area, wooden benches to sit on while soaking in the heat, or simply a music system playing soothing sounds to help you burn off that fat; you can opt for some extras here and there to make your sauna experience, a more pleasurable one. If you want to grow a vegetable patch next to your sauna room in your garden, here are 6 ideas that will help any gardening beginner.

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