Pro tip from a finn, your floor needs a drain for water and sweat.

As a finn there is so much wrong in that building method. You need waterproof floor with a drain. Air gaps between panel and insulation. Air inlet near to stove and air outlet somewhere upper corner (preferred opposite corner of the stove). Basically there has to be good ventilation so sauna dries up after every use and dont rot.

When you’ve run out of rooms to renovate, so you have to turn a shed into a sauna.

In texas.

From a craftsmanship point of view, great job. From a Finnish Persons point of view, we do it differently. We actually have an expression: "The worse the sauna is built, the better it is". Meaning that a Sauna should have plenty of oxygen holes and very little insulation. Traditionally a Sauna is built from logs, and the only insulation going between those logs is moss. That way the hot air can escape through all the nucks between them. On the floor level, the logs are intentionally set a bit off, so that oxygen can come in throug there, and the floor is made of uneven planks to allow water to escape and air to flow in. That way the "Löyly" or the steam is soft and rich instead of beating your back like. whip. Once the steam is nice and soft, we take a bunch of birch branches and beat ourselves up with those. It's true, you can google it. It's called a vihta. A great video tho!!

I’m so glad my dad doesn’t do this stuff. Otherwise I would have to hold the flash light

This is how you dont build a sauna greetings from finland

With Ryan's https://www.youtube.com/post/Ugkxy_pn55PK60wAV3X_C_RoLS_67mNonoCE plan I was like one taken by the hand and led step by step from start to finish. Thank you very much Ryan!

No drainage. That’s essential in a sauna. Traditional saunas don’t use plastic. Also, there should be a ventilation device in the wall to air out all the moist air after use, specially when you’ve used plastic. I wouldn’t have placed the heat layer on the floor. Other than that, nice build!

Nice build, but those walls will rot in few years. There needs to be air gap between the insulation and ceder panels. It takes ages to dry out. You need drain and ventilation as well. Floor doesn't need insulation.

That's a diy project I wasn't ever expecting!

I am glad the comments clarify the do's and don'ts, I didn't think it was quite right. Still useful :D

After watching the video advert i was still skeptical. But when i finally downloaded the plans https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxZF0EMnrujZvqHhGkxiz559uIABJWR9TG i was very impressed. The whole plan was just as you said in the video. Thank you very much. I now have a large and valuable collection for my woodworks. This is great!

Still can't believe this man is self taught...

Seems to be missing a low and high air vent, air gaps and waste water drain, but thanks for sharing!

Where's your ventilation? /Finnish guy.

Mr. Build it: How to Build a Sauna

all finnish people in the comments: How NOT to build a Sauna



but still, great video, good work.
mistakes where made, you'll know it better in future projects ;)

I work as a sauna designer, this sauna is not correctly built. In a traditional sauna you get heater by convection heat, or by the hot air. Therefore proper ventilation and air circulation is key for an effective and fast heating sauna... The air need to circulate, cool air should be going in by the bottom of the stove, and be expelled on the top wall or ceiling opposite of the stoves location, and the air should come from and go out in the same room or in and out to the outside.
Also no need for the plastic (or any kind of) vapor barrier....
Also drainage for the water, or a metal container under the stove for spill water...
Also recommended to use sauna wax on the benches to prevent sweat stains on nice and new untreated wood...

I’ve got a sauna right here in Houston.

Sooo.. when you run out of things to do in your house.. you can gladly come on over to mine and help!

Cool build and all, and its nice to see the harvia heater but its gonne get moldy pretty quick