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Thread: Home saunas

  1. #76
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    SAUNA story.
    While living in Germany during my early years with Mrs. Schindler, we would visit a public sauna 2-3x/wk. The place was cool as anything. It was home to 10-12 different saunas, ranging from classic to infrared and ~48C to ~90C . There were also plenty of hot and very cold pools and tubs. One time, I wasn't feeling great, and wanted to take a very hot sauna in the hope of sweating it out. I entered the sauna, which was occupied by about 8-10 other people ranging in age from 20 - 85 years old. There was not much room left, so I took a seat in the top row close to the heater. After sitting on my towel and relaxing for about 20 seconds an attendant came in, started watering the rocks and swinging a towel, so that the heat circulated. It was intense. I thought that I was going to pass out, so I stood up and started to leave. Everyone started jeering and abusing me in German. I was told to sit down, and that if I were to exit the sauna before the attendant was finished, I would have to buy every person in the sauna a half liter of bier. An old lay who was sitting on the bottom bench offered to trade seats with me, so that I would be more comfortable. I put my head between my tail and took her up on her offer. I remained in the sauna for about 10 mins., and then offered to buy everyone a bier. It was so fucking embarrassing.

    BTW wasatch maggots, the steam, sauna and quiet tea room at the Cliff are top drawerr and a real pleasure after 3-4 hrs. of skiing. I think the Cliff Spa sells 10 packs for about $200. It's well worth it IMHO.
    Last edited by schindlerpiste; 10-23-2023 at 04:02 PM.
    “How does it feel to be the greatest guitarist in the world? I don’t know, go ask Rory Gallagher”. — Jimi Hendrix

  2. #77
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    I love steam sauna more.... maybe I need to put in a steam shower
    Quote Originally Posted by blurred
    skiing is hiking all day so that you can ski on shitty gear for 5 minutes.

  3. #78
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    Quote Originally Posted by summit View Post
    I love steam sauna more.... maybe I need to put in a steam shower
    Not the same. A steam shower is a lot like a hot steamy shower.
    A dry heat sauna with a splash of water on the rocks is much better.

    PS. Wim Hoff is offended.
    PPS. The best sauna is when you have a cold pool nearby. Sweat your ass off. Open pores. Close pores. Repeat.

  4. #79
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    On a calm winter night the steam coming off a person when they step out of the hot room and into the snow is pretty mesmerizing to watch. And the exhilaration you get going from sweating balls at 160* to -10* and jumping into unconsolidated snow in the yard is hard to replicate thru other means.
    Brandine: Now Cletus, if I catch you with pig lipstick on your collar one more time you ain't gonna be allowed to sleep in the barn no more!
    Cletus: Duly noted.

  5. #80
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    A few years ago I was lucky enough to spend a week at Fairy Meadows. The hut has a solid sauna but what really made it stand out was the fact that we were up there during a January arctic blast. Temps never made it above 0 F during the entire week. Walking outside to wallow around in the snow while it's -30 out is an experience I'll never forget. The eeriness of the steam cloud around the body. The absolute savagery of the chest punch you feel when you hit the snow. The burning sensation while running back into the sauna barefoot. The crazy pins and needles when the skin readjusts from the thermal shock. The feeling of suffocation when the heat is really cranked up and someone dumps a bunch of ice cold water on the stove. The vision quests...
    "Your wife being mad is temporary, but pow turns do not get unmade" - mallwalker the wise

  6. #81
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    I have an almost heaven barrel (this one: https://almostheaven.com/collections...y-barrel-sauna ) . Went together in a few hours (just get some rubber mallets to help) easy peasy. Sits in the corner of our yard.
    Works great - fire it up about 40 minutes before you want to go in, then pop in and it gets nice and hot. Not as hot or consistent as a traditional sauna with a flat roof, but not really needed as it does the job.
    We love it for winter and summer, though I'd recommend getting the cover (it's just press fit together, so if you're in a rainy climate, it will drip through a little). It will also come with some extra slats to make backrests and/or entry things with. If I did it again, I'd probably get one with a little room (or nothing) instead of the canopy thing, but it's fine for holding keys/phone while you're in.
    Nothing better than the 0 degree weather as mentioned above, getting in the sauna then walking barefoot across the yard nearly naked like a god after the session. Probably going to play around with a plunge tub soon as well.

  7. #82
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    I go to the rec center that has dry sauna and steam room. I definitely prefer the steam room. Especially during dry winter months. I’ll usually do steam > sauna > steam then sometimes hit the hot tub depending on time, etc. I go in fits and starts with how often I go. Would be great to have something at home for convenience.

    Wife and I have kicked around idea of steam shower. I’d like to see how hot they get first. Same with IR. I’ve heard mixed reviews. Need to find one to try.

    That Costco ‘steam sauna’ is appealing.

    I’ve been going to Finland for work - November will be 3rd trip since last Oct. Week each time. That always gets me in sauna mode. Hotel always has one, sometimes in the room. Lotta public saunas. If ever in Helsinki I highly recommend this place https://www.loylyhelsinki.fi/en

    löyly means ‘sauna steam’ or the act of adding water to the heat source.

    They have multiple saunas including a smoke sauna that was hotter than anything I’ve ever experienced. Bar service. Then you can dip in the Baltic Sea. Followed by an amazing meal. I want to go there again.

  8. #83
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    My Dynamic is still working great, use it about 3+ a week.
    https://dynamicsaunasdirect.com/

    I pulled out the bench and put in a chair for comfort and did reinforce the floor when one of the slats cracked. All and all it’s held up well, still heats up in 30 mins and I’m good for an hour when it’s set for 135.

  9. #84
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    [QUOTE=Cruiser;6949761]On a calm winter night the steam coming off a person when they step out of the hot room and into the snow is pretty mesmerizing to watch.

    Helps if ur sauna is above 10,000 ft

  10. #85
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    "Even better if your sauna is above 15,000 ft." -- Privileged White Boy in La Paz

  11. #86
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    Okay I think we are gonna go with this one:

    https://www.costco.com/almost-heaven...100484905.html

    After doing a lot of reading around it, it seems like it's a series of reasonable compromises - high seating, strong 8kw heater, good ventilation, and one person can lay out and get comfortable in it.

    Any flaws with this plan?

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  12. #87
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    It takes 12kwh of burnt fossil fuel to get a sweat on?

  13. #88
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    Quote Originally Posted by highangle View Post
    It takes 12kwh of burnt fossil fuel to get a sweat on?
    ~$1.50

    But is the 8kw heater really running at full power for 90 minutes if you are out there for 60? I'd guess it runs 6kwh. So if you did that 6 nights a month (36kwh) you'd only add 4% to average US household monthly energy usage.

    Fossil fuel? Depends on your local power mix... probably no solar at night.

    Shall we pillory hot tub owners next? My hot tub probably does 100kwh a month.

    Then again one person showering every day is probably 150kwh per month. See? Dirty hippies are actually saving the planet by being disgusting.
    Quote Originally Posted by blurred
    skiing is hiking all day so that you can ski on shitty gear for 5 minutes.

  14. #89
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    Quote Originally Posted by tgapp View Post
    Okay I think we are gonna go with this one:

    https://www.costco.com/almost-heaven...100484905.html

    After doing a lot of reading around it, it seems like it's a series of reasonable compromises - high seating, strong 8kw heater, good ventilation, and one person can lay out and get comfortable in it.

    Any flaws with this plan?

    Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk
    Check out their site if you have a little budget to play with, as part of the appeal of a sauna to me is being immersed in cedar, while this is the fir model. Also, unless you're planning on having a party in there, you don't need a 6 person. Our 4 person with the 6kw heater does a fine job outdoors.

  15. #90
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    I've built 2 sauna's for the same, German client. He's very serious about sauna-ing (and steam showering, as we built 2 of those too). Cedar is nice to work with, and beautiful. Definitely back the whole thing with rigid foam and make sure it's waterproof, since you'll be creating lots of steam.

    He says that you want to go pretty small, actually. Keep the ceiling low for as well, so you can get right up there and into the highest temps. The better of the 2 has an 8kw oven and is about 7'x7'x7'.

    I scored an outdoor sauna from another client, but we don't use it because the oven is too small to get it hot enough. This is a good reminder that Ms CE wants me to run a fat-ass 220V line to it so we can upgrade the oven...
    ride bikes, climb, ski, travel, cook, work to fund former, repeat.

  16. #91
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    I'm the fucking worst. 10 minutes ago I was looking at Costco saunas and now I am thinking of building my own. It'll be like the concrete self leveling floor saga all over again. Maybe this time fastfred will actually give me a job.

    I have this closet in my bathroom that is ridiculously big - it's like a 5x5 triangle - and we always jokingly call it our bathroom pantry. It's a wildly underutilized space, designed by Mormons with multiple years of toilet paper in mind.

    Thinking through this, if I wanted to convert that into a sauna I would need to...

    1. Rip out all the shelves and sheetrock
    2. Run 220v (not me, obviously, someone else)
    3. Install foam paneling and moisture barrier
    4. Put up cedar tongue and groove
    5. Lighting, heater, etc

    I think the challenge here would be figuring out ventilation, as it is already in a corner. But I could likely start with materials from these people:

    https://homesaunakits.com/sauna-kits/sauna-builder/

    On a scale from 1 to 50 gallon trash can of self leveling compound, how bad is this idea?

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  17. #92
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    Most of what I've seen around indoor home saunas are that they're often a ticking time bomb unless you really nail the ventilation/vapor barriers due to a few factors:
    1. They get really hot, so you have constant thermal expansion/contraction.
    2. They're damp, so you have steam looking for a place to go (see 1 as to why it might go where you don't want to)
    3. That heat has to go somewhere, but only when you want it to, so you realistically need some way to dump the heat on-demand, which is not necessarily an easy thing without some complex engineering.

    That's why I went with the yard option as "good enough" compared to eating up internal space. Besides, who doesn't want to walk around their backyard naked in the winter.

  18. #93
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    Almost Heaven 4 person 6x6 Costco Sauna here. Love it.
    Let me lock in the system at Warp 2
    Push it on into systematic overdrive
    You know what to do

  19. #94
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    Quote Originally Posted by tgapp View Post
    On a scale from 1 to 50 gallon trash can of self leveling compound, how bad is this idea?
    I'm currently building a sauna, takes longer than you think it will.
    Lots of good info here

  20. #95
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tap View Post
    Almost Heaven 4 person 6x6 Costco Sauna here. Love it.
    The barrel or the indoor one? How is ventilation?

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  21. #96
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    Quote Originally Posted by wendigo View Post
    I'm currently building a sauna, takes longer than you think it will.
    Lots of good info here
    I kinda remember you posted progress pics a while ago. Got any newer ones?
    Brandine: Now Cletus, if I catch you with pig lipstick on your collar one more time you ain't gonna be allowed to sleep in the barn no more!
    Cletus: Duly noted.

  22. #97
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    Quote Originally Posted by tgapp View Post
    I'm the fucking worst. 10 minutes ago I was looking at Costco saunas and now I am thinking of building my own. It'll be like the concrete self leveling floor saga all over again. Maybe this time fastfred will actually give me a job.

    I have this closet in my bathroom that is ridiculously big - it's like a 5x5 triangle - and we always jokingly call it our bathroom pantry. It's a wildly underutilized space, designed by Mormons with multiple years of toilet paper in mind.

    Thinking through this, if I wanted to convert that into a sauna I would need to...

    1. Rip out all the shelves and sheetrock
    2. Run 220v (not me, obviously, someone else)
    3. Install foam paneling and moisture barrier
    4. Put up cedar tongue and groove
    5. Lighting, heater, etc

    I think the challenge here would be figuring out ventilation, as it is already in a corner. But I could likely start with materials from these people:

    https://homesaunakits.com/sauna-kits/sauna-builder/

    On a scale from 1 to 50 gallon trash can of self leveling compound, how bad is this idea?

    Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk
    Quote Originally Posted by schuss View Post
    Most of what I've seen around indoor home saunas are that they're often a ticking time bomb unless you really nail the ventilation/vapor barriers due to a few factors:
    1. They get really hot, so you have constant thermal expansion/contraction.
    2. They're damp, so you have steam looking for a place to go (see 1 as to why it might go where you don't want to)
    3. That heat has to go somewhere, but only when you want it to, so you realistically need some way to dump the heat on-demand, which is not necessarily an easy thing without some complex engineering.

    That's why I went with the yard option as "good enough" compared to eating up internal space. Besides, who doesn't want to walk around their backyard naked in the winter.
    Agree on heat and thermal expansion. If it’s in your master and you use it in summer it would be nice to install an exhaust fan

    But moisture is not an issue. Even when you hotbox with steam the heat in the cedar leaves it bone dry.

    Do Tgapp. You could just slap thin cedar over the drywall and say fuck it. But if it’s interior wall it probably has no insulation. And the ceiling has no insulation if there’s a second floor.
    If the room is big enough for benches and a heater go for it. But I’d say if you have a basement build a new box down there. Would be less work starting from scratch. Build walls. Insulate with batts. Plastic vapor barrier. Drop ceiling with mega insulation.

    You need to build this. You’re handy. And we need the entertainment.

  23. #98
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    Tgapp also has the benefit of being able to justify building a sauna because it can double as a dungeon. Go for it, and post a TR.
    ride bikes, climb, ski, travel, cook, work to fund former, repeat.

  24. #99
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    Hmmmm

    A few well placed eye hooks for shackles. I like what you’re thinking. Sauna sex is fun. But you can’t go full temperature.

  25. #100
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    Quote Originally Posted by climberevan View Post
    Tgapp also has the benefit of being able to justify building a sauna because it can double as a dungeon. Go for it, and post a TR.
    At this point a sauna is wishful thinking, as funemployment does not lend itself to such extravagancies. And as much fun as a play room would be, a sauna is far too small. Unless like you turned a lower bench into a dog cage and the upper bench into a spanking bench or something but again that makes it hard to enjoy the traditional finnish löyly and plus then you'd have all your friends being like "why TF do you have a dog cage and a saw horse in your sauna" well jack I'm so glad you asked...

    plus like in any sort of predicament bondage you gotta be able to move around your sub/bottom easily with plenty of room otherwise you'll end up with one ass cheek all marked up and the other not

    i guess what I'm trying to say is that in both saunas and sex dungeons you want even heat and enough room to properly move around



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