Converting an ensuite into a home sauna or steam room?

ampjohnny

Quick question and/or sanity check please – I have a notion about converting our Ensuite (old, tired, leaking shower and in need of a refurb) into a Sauna/Steam room.

It is standard master bedroom ensuite size so not very large but my thinking is that is I convert it to a wetroom, so fully tiled, waterproof etc and add an Infrared heater and/steam generator I can make it an effective home sauna/steam room. Add a collapsible seat in the shower and you have a level of comfort while you sweat.

I can’t imagine this is much more complex or expensive than a standard bathroom refit (bar a glass door and the heaters required) but I am finding next to nothing anywhere online.

Has anyone else attempted or researched this or can spot any obvious issues I’m glossing over?

Cheers

Dardania

ampjohnny wrote: »

Quick question and/or sanity check please – I have a notion about converting our Ensuite (old, tired, leaking shower and in need of a refurb) into a Sauna/Steam room.

It is standard master bedroom ensuite size so not very large but my thinking is that is I convert it to a wetroom, so fully tiled, waterproof etc and add an Infrared heater and/steam generator I can make it an effective home sauna/steam room. Add a collapsible seat in the shower and you have a level of comfort while you sweat.

I can’t imagine this is much more complex or expensive than a standard bathroom refit (bar a glass door and the heaters required) but I am finding next to nothing anywhere online.

Has anyone else attempted or researched this or can spot any obvious issues I’m glossing over?

Cheers

It's very common in Finland (having an inhouse sauna).
There are kits you can order from what friends were telling me that include the seating, the heater and the glass door.
If I had the space, I'd fit one in a heartbeat - lovely way to unwind.

Considerations would be:

- Power. These heaters pull electricity so you would need a decent circuit. Ideally with some way of either timing it or remotely activating it.

- insulation. You want a good high temp up at 70C+, which you won't achieve unless you insulate the space - this will take up internal space.

- ventilation. These things need to have extraction active when in it (otherwise you wouldn't be able to hack it), that extraction (both fan and duct, or else the window) needs to be able to cope with a high temp, and you need to have some way of supplying air into the space (usually the door has space under it, but it would need to be able to draw room in from another room, which would need a vent in it too to make up the air)

- water & drain, for the loyly bucket. Shouldn't be an issue in your case.

That's all I can think of. As a suggestion, if you're so inclined, you should go to a Finnish hotel, like one of the Scandics, that have in room saunas. You'll get a feel for small sauanas, and how they integrate them. In private apartments, I've seen them integrated into the floor plan of a typical small Irish ensuite so it is possible.