Wood-Fired Sauna
This project consisted of assembling this quality, barrel sauna kit and then modifying it for a sauna-specific wood stove and adding a custom roof to give the sauna longevity and practicality.
The barrel sauna kit, for the price, was quite well made included a high quality tempered glass door and back window. The challenge, apart from creating a stable foundation and assembling it accurately, were the requested modifications. The wood stove that the barrel sauna company sold as an option was not a sauna-specific wood stove so the client purchased one separately that had a basket for sauna rocks and was designed to be resilient to have water poured on it. Cutting a chimney through a rounded staved roof, which was for the sauna with the electric heater option, and making it waterproof again was one trick and then figuring out how to have a secondary roof with proper overhangs for our rainy climate was the other trick.
The project turned out really well to the delight of the clients who absolutely love saunas and had wanted one of their own for a long time. It includes an exterior cold water plunge bath fed off rainwater collection. Landscaped and with fairy lights, it looks unbelievably good and inviting for those dusky sauna sessions.
While I am usually building projects from scratch, I also welcome projects that require creative retrofit modification solutions. Let me know if you need such a solution!
