SaunaScape

I’ve been a Lifehacker fan since its beginning. While some of their topics are obscure geekdom, the occasional tip about a new piece of software or website that ends up saving me hours makes it a daily stop on my morning review of the news. I was really interested this morning when I saw their new post “How to Hack Your Bathroom into a Home Sauna.”

I had to check the calendar to make sure today isn’t April 1. It isn’t.

Holy sh*t Lifehacker. What will you stoop to for linkbait?

The post is chock full of lots of crazy ideas and very few concrete details, like:

If you plan to install a wood-burning stove, you’ll need to fire-proof the walls and roof around the stove. Particle board isn’t cheap, but this is one area you don’t want to skimp on.

If you don’t have an air vent in the bathroom, don’t make one: the gap under the bathroom door will work just fine.

Um, NO NO NO NO NO!

If you’re putting a wood burning stove anywhere enclosed, you need to make sure you have proper ventilation. If you don’t you’ll end up at best poisoning yourself and at worst asphyxiating yourself and your whole family in your project. Especially if you follow their instructions to build a sauna stove:

A wood burning stove can easily be made from a junk yard gas canister. Use a cheap angle grinder to lop off the top, then just find a metal bucket, cut a hatch and fit the flue.

Those are the instructions. All of them. Now go forth and build one of these and put it in your house!

Please don’t follow these instructions. We value you as a reader too much to have you kill yourself in a home-made deathtrap.

If you’re really set on building your own sauna in your home, buy a good book like How to Build Your Own Sauna & Sweat by Mikkel Aaland, The Sauna: A Complete Guide to the Construction, Use, and Benefits of the Finnish Bath by Rob Roy, or Hot Tubs, Saunas & Steam Baths: A Guide to Planning and Designing your Home Health Spa by Alan Sanderfoot.

If you don’t want to shell out the dollars for a book, then visit Sauna Times or Kalle Hoffman’s Sauna Pages. Both offer plenty of free advice and detailed plans for building your own saunas and sauna stoves.

And unless you really, really know what you’re doing, build your first DIY wood stove sauna in a shed, far away from your home and anything else flammable.

Meanwhile, watch for these exciting posts coming soon to Lifehacker: “Improve your mood: Hack your bathtub and a toaster into your own electro-convulsive therapy system” and “Hack your own Botox from cans you fish out of your grocer’s dumpster!”

I've been a Lifehacker fan since its beginning. While some of their topics are obscure geekdom, the occasional tip about a new piece of software or website that ends up saving me hours makes it a daily stop on my morning review of the news. I was really interested this morning when I saw their new post "How to Hack Your Bathroom into a Home Sauna." I had to check the calendar to make sure today isn't April 1. It isn't. Holy sh*t Lifehacker. What will you stoop to for linkbait? The post is chock full of lots of crazy ideas and very few concrete details, like: If you plan to install a wood-burning stove, you'll need to fire-proof the walls and roof around the stove. Particle board isn't cheap, but this is one area you don't want to skimp on. If you don't have an air vent in the bathroom, don't make one: the gap under the bathroom door will work just fine. Um, NO NO NO NO NO! If you're putting a wood burning stove anywhere enclosed, you need to make sure you have proper ventilation. If you don't you'll end up at best poisoning yourself and at worst asphyxiating yourself and your whole family in your project. Especially if you follow their instructions to build a sauna stove: A wood burning stove can easily be made from a junk yard gas canister. Use a cheap angle grinder to lop off the top, then just find a metal bucket, cut a hatch and fit the flue. Those are the instructions. All of them. Now go forth and build one of these and put it in your house! Please don't follow these instructions. We value you as a reader too much to have you kill yourself in a home-made deathtrap. If you're really set on building your own sauna in your home, buy a good book like How to Build Your Own Sauna & Sweat by Mikkel Aaland, The Sauna: A Complete Guide to the Construction, Use, and Benefits of the Finnish Bath by Rob Roy, or Hot Tubs, Saunas & Steam Baths: A Guide to Planning and Designing your Home Health Spa by Alan Sanderfoot. If you don't want to shell out the dollars for a book, then visit Sauna Times or Kalle Hoffman's Sauna Pages. Both offer plenty of free advice and detailed plans for building your own saunas and sauna stoves. And unless you really, really know what you're doing, build your first DIY wood stove sauna in a shed, far away from your home and anything else flammable. Meanwhile, watch for these exciting posts coming soon to Lifehacker: "Improve your mood: Hack your bathtub and a toaster into your own electro-convulsive therapy system" and "Hack your own Botox from cans you fish out of your grocer's dumpster!"

“Come on in and get some clean Scandanavian modernism” is the look that Seattle architects Build LLC brought to this sauna space they recently completed for a client.

More interesting though is the level of detail they’ve shared about the construction. If you’re looking to build your own sauna in your house, their information, plus their recommendation of the Finlandia website,  is a great starting point.

It’s a beautiful look. Something we’ll keep in mind the next time we remodel our bathroom.

Build Blog

"Come on in and get some clean Scandanavian modernism" is the look that Seattle architects Build LLC brought to this sauna space they recently completed for a client. More interesting though is the level of detail they've shared about the construction. If you're looking to build your own sauna in your house, their information, plus their recommendation of the Finlandia website,  is a great starting point. It's a beautiful look. Something we'll keep in mind the next time we remodel our bathroom. Build Blog

Photo by Paint Monkey on Flickr

In our quest to find new and interesting sauna tidbits to share with you, we spend a lot of time combing the web looking for information.

This weekend, we stumbled upon Sauna Times, a blog run by Glenn, a “Joe American” living in Minnesota. We find the similarities between his site and ours uncanny, right down to the choice of the background images. He seems to be quite a personable fellow. So much so that with this post, Sauna times now has a place in our links page.

What really caught our attention on his site though, was his post “Hotel Sauna: How to Take One.” A laminated copy now resides in our briefcase for our next stay at a hotel with a sauna.

We have noticed that most hotel (and health club) saunas, especially here in the USA, tend to be overly dry from disuse. This becomes part of the problem: If the sauna is dry and hot, it irritates your respiratory system. Most  forbid you from throwing water on the rocks, so the only solution is to turn the temperature down. You end up sitting in a warm room, which really doesn’t do much for you.

Sauna Times has a simple solution for all of this: As soon as you check in, turn on the sauna full blast. Give it 20 minutes or so to heat, then:

Flush the hotel sauna. Generously douse with fresh water:

• the bench area where you’ll be sitting.
• the hotel sauna rocks with water (they should bark back, if not, the sauna is lame, call housekeeping if you’re especially irritated).
• anywhere else you feel the urge.

Why?  underused hotel saunas can build up dust and stagnation, this ‘cleansing’ will get your hotel sauna fresh and ready to rock.

After this, reset the timer again, and give the sauna another 30 minutes to recover from this washing, and you’re ready to begin the sauna process, which Glenn distills succinctly: “It’s like the instructions on a box of laundry detergent: sauna, rinse, chill, repeat.”

If you are looking for a lodging with a sauna, don’t forget to check out our hotel sauna search engine.

[Hotel Sauna: How to Take One] Sauna Times

[caption id="attachment_183" align="alignright" width="296" caption="Photo by Paint Monkey on Flickr"][/caption] In our quest to find new and interesting sauna tidbits to share with you, we spend a lot of time combing the web looking for information. This weekend, we stumbled upon Sauna Times, a blog run by Glenn, a "Joe American" living in Minnesota. We find the similarities between his site and ours uncanny, right down to the choice of the background images. He seems to be quite a personable fellow. So much so that with this post, Sauna times now has a place in our links page. What really caught our attention on his site though, was his post "Hotel Sauna: How to Take One." A laminated copy now resides in our briefcase for our next stay at a hotel with a sauna. We have noticed that most hotel (and health club) saunas, especially here in the USA, tend to be overly dry from disuse. This becomes part of the problem: If the sauna is dry and hot, it irritates your respiratory system. Most  forbid you from throwing water on the rocks, so the only solution is to turn the temperature down. You end up sitting in a warm room, which really doesn't do much for you. Sauna Times has a simple solution for all of this: As soon as you check in, turn on the sauna full blast. Give it 20 minutes or so to heat, then: Flush the hotel sauna. Generously douse with fresh water: the bench area where you’ll be sitting. the hotel sauna rocks with water (they should bark back, if not, the sauna is lame, call housekeeping if you’re especially irritated). anywhere else you feel the urge. Why?  underused hotel saunas can build up dust and stagnation, this ‘cleansing’ will get your hotel sauna fresh and ready to rock. After this, reset the timer again, and give the sauna another 30 minutes to recover from this washing, and you're ready to begin the sauna process, which Glenn distills succinctly: "It’s like the instructions on a box of laundry detergent: sauna, rinse, chill, repeat." If you are looking for a lodging with a sauna, don't forget to check out our hotel sauna search engine. [Hotel Sauna: How to Take One] Sauna Times

Plans for Kalle Hoffman's current sauna, rendered in beautiful ASCII from his sauna building FAQ

For those of you looking to build your own sauna, a good reference point is Kalle Hoffman’s Sauna Page and Sauna Building FAQ. Kalle is a Finnish software developer living in the San Francisco area. His pages recount lessons learned while building a few of his own saunas.

Better yet is his FAQ, which is more a digest of interesting e-mail correspondence he’s had dating back to 1995. It’s a cross between a bully pulpit and a show and tell, but very informative. Most interesting are his collection of ASCII sauna plans that he’s shared with his correspondents over the years. He also has plans for The Kallenator, a sauna stove made from two old 40-gallon hot water heaters.

[caption id="attachment_78" align="alignright" width="250" caption="Plans for Kalle Hoffman's current sauna, rendered in beautiful ASCII from his sauna building FAQ"][/caption] For those of you looking to build your own sauna, a good reference point is Kalle Hoffman's Sauna Page and Sauna Building FAQ. Kalle is a Finnish software developer living in the San Francisco area. His pages recount lessons learned while building a few of his own saunas. Better yet is his FAQ, which is more a digest of interesting e-mail correspondence he's had dating back to 1995. It's a cross between a bully pulpit and a show and tell, but very informative. Most interesting are his collection of ASCII sauna plans that he's shared with his correspondents over the years. He also has plans for The Kallenator, a sauna stove made from two old 40-gallon hot water heaters.