In two days I'm going to buy sauna. I've heard that I can choose sauna walls to be made of aspen or nordic spruce. Which is better? What king of wood is better for seats: abache or aspen?
Please, could you answer my questions?
Thank you in advance
Best wishes,
Tommco
First of all, don't buy a sauna - build one.
My research says that most Finnish saunas use Nordic White Spruce for the walls.
Abache is the choice of the well-monied for benches, as its speciifc heat makes for a more comfortable seat - but I don't have the bucks for that, so I'm going to use Western red cedar. Some people like redwood, but I find it too splintery to use for benches.
Hello Tommco, I am located in Maine and used Eastern White Cedar for the walls and benches. It has worked out very well. The wood was purchased from a local sawmill and was put up without drying. Dave
Lots of Finns here, and they use Aspen for the seats. No splinters, lower temp on your tush as you sit.
Be sure all fasteners are covered!
I AM a Finn. My sauna was made with cedar. That lower temp thing for aspen or popple is horse-hockey. The bad thing about aspen is you'll get a white mold on the bottom of your seating area. With cedar you won't. Above the stove, and behind the seating area, on the ceiling/wall, make a 45 degree piece to help the steam "roll" around the room. Get that? While wood fired stoves are traditional, I have a 8K electric one. I'm very satisfied with it. Your rocks will never get "cold" with an electric stove as they will with a wood fired stove. Try to make your top shelf seating area wide enough for a minimum of
4 people.
Then you ought to know better.
Low density and random fiber direction are the reason, should you stop and think.
Which cedar ? There's a bunch of them, and some aren't timbers I'd like to be too close too.
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