Trumpkin’s Notes on Building a Sauna

http://localmile.org/trumpkins-notes-on-building-a-sauna/

by jmacd • 3 years ago

46 6 3 years ago

stevekemp• 3 years ago

That was a wonderful read, thanks for sharing.

I moved from the UK to Finland and fell in love with saunas on first contact. As is well-known there is basically a sauna for everyone in the country here.

When I first arrived we lived in a building that contained about 20 flats/apartments, and there was an external building on the grounds which contained the communal sauna. Every Monday evening any man living in the building could go use it, and similarly every Tuesday there was a ladies night. On top of that you could pay a small monthly fee to book the sauna for your exclusive use for 1-2 hours on a regular schedule (e.g. "7-8pm, every Saturday").

Those communal saunas were awesome. Meeting, relaxing, and talking to your neighbours whilst drinking beer for 60-120 minutes. With breaks outside in the cold air, and regular showers.

These days I live alone and I have a sauna inside my flat. I gain from being able to turn it on whenever I want, but lose because it is smaller than the communal ones - I can have three people in mine at a time, and I do invite friends, partners, and other random people over. But the communal ones had space for 8-16 people. (Maybe 10 people inside at a time, and a bit of regular rotation where some people would leave, and some new folk enter).

Anyway I'm rambling, but I'd never really paused to consider the "science" or planning behind different design choices. I've seen a bunch of saunas here, from the small one I currently have, to one built by a friend's grandfather on their private island, just outside Helsinki.

Wooden saunas are amazing, and definitely going from being in one of those to jumping naked in a lake is one of the best experiences I've been able to have regularly. But even my small and basic on makes me content and happy.

spywaregorilla• 3 years ago

I'm curious. I find saunas to be overwhelming and suffocating. Not unenjoyable but not net enjoyable either regardless of circumstance. I tend to attribute this to generally being a bit more sensitive to things and lightly on the spectrum. The author mentions being an aspie.

Might the sauna tech being described here achieve a different result from what I might be used to in the US?

djitz• 3 years ago

The fact that it requires discipline and is “difficult” is also, in part, what makes it so beneficial.

m4r71n• 3 years ago

That's a common experience for sauna beginners. You may feel as if you're not getting enough air, that the hot air is difficult to breathe in, and your heart rate goes up dramatically. But! That's something you get used to fairly quickly, go 10-20 times for four 10-15 and I promise you'll feel much more relaxed once the body gets used to the hot environment.

I moved from Europe to southeast of US and (dry) saunas are pretty much unheard of here. I miss them very much! It was very relaxing to go for two hours once a week, especially in the winter when it was snowy outside and you could plunge into an icy lake right after coming out of the sauna.

euroderf• 3 years ago

40-50% of sauna deaths (which are quite rare but still 40-60 per year in Finland) are alcohol related with falling asleep in sauna the number one cause.

Recent years have ranged between a low of 31 in 2015 and a high of 61 in 2017 (per Tilastokeskus). This even tho all new saunas must have timers, because people get home inebriated, turn on the sauna, and then after a while in it they conk out.

throw9away6• 3 years ago

These were really great but i find it really annoying that in the usa you basically can’t find a prebuilt one that’s done correctly. Having to design your own sauna seems super inefficient when you only build 1 or 2 in your lifetime.

Trumpkin’s Notes on Building a Sauna

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