Finishing work sauna värkätä


Sauna Värkätä
Once you are confident on the heater and vent locations, you can make the vent holes using a 4 inch circular drill bit that is available at most hardware stores. I used this hole saw bit from Diablo and it worked great. After working to make sure everything looks so good, it may be hard to believe that you are just going to drill a hole through your sauna, but that is exactly what you are going to do.
Sauna Värkätä
Congratulations on making it to this point! Your sauna likely looks like a sauna now and it is time to do some final tidying up such as installing the venting, install the heater, and install interior and exterior trim.
Install the Vents
First, mark the location of the heater, and then install venting. There will be two vents; a 4 inch circular vent just below the heater a foot or so from the ground, and another 4 inch circular vent directly across from the heater, on the opposite wall. Pay attention to where the studs are because you do not want to install the vent in a spot that would require cutting or drilling through a stud.
 
of the sauna. In my experience, the vents do not hinder the insulation integrity of the sauna and actually allow for a little airflow so the sauna air has oxygen and is not too stale.
Once you are confident on the heater and vent locations, you can make the vent holes using a 4 inch circular drill bit that is available at most hardware stores. I used this hole saw bit from Diablo and it worked great. After working to make sure everything looks so good, it may be hard to believe that you are just going to drill a hole through your sauna, but that is exactly what you are going to do.
 
Once you have cut a hole on both sides and removed the insulation, you will use a rigid aluminum duct pipe, similar to this one, to connect the inside and outside vent.
For the exterior vent cover, we used this round aluminum vent cover we found on Amazon that looks nice and sleek and much better than a dryer vent. We did not bother with an interior vent cover for the vent below the heater since it is not visible when you are inside the sauna and we were ok with it always being open.
 
For the vent opposite the heater, I used this wood vent cover found on Etsy. It was $40 when I bought it in December of 2020 but is now $60 as of December 2022. If you want to save a couple of dollars you could probably make it yourself.
Heater Install
How you install the heater will depend on the type of heater you buy. Generally, you will follow the manufacturer’s instructions for this step. If you can, buy the heater rocks when you buy the heater. I tried to find some locally sourced igneous rocks and that only resulted in my heater turning into an exploding rock machine. This is a time to remind you to give your sauna a chance to warm up on its own before jumping in there with untested rocks. I tried using some volcanic landscaping rocks from the hardware store that also exploded. It was not until I accepted the fact that I was paying $100 for a box of rocks that I found rocks that worked for my sauna heater.
Also, after you have installed and connected your sauna heater, you can finally call the electrician over to connect your sauna to the home’s electrical panel!
 
Exterior and Interior Trim
Wood trim is necessary anywhere where you have seams that need to be covered or to add a little bit of civility to your sauna. We used 1”x2” cedar wood pieces for our interior and exterior trim. I put the trim around the inside and outside of the door frame, at all the corners of the exterior of the sauna and below the roof fascia. I also added a simple frame around the perimeter of the sauna, that you can see in the photo above which makes it less likely you will burn yourself.In the photo below, you can see the black trim on the sides and around the door. You can also see the round black sauna vent cover for the vent below the sauna stove.
 
Landscaping
How and if you landscape is up to you. After I had worked my tail off on building the sauna for 3 months I was ready for a break! I did not go back and finish the landscaping for another 6 months or so. I ended up installing an outdoor shower and a concrete pad along with a gravel pathway. The shower is nice to have but I have not used it as much as I thought because I sauna mostly in the winter, when the outdoor water is shut off.
One simple addition that I love is a cold plunge. I bought a Tarter 100 gallon water trough that works great. The nice thing about this tank is that it has a valve at the bottom which makes emptying the water easy. I can even hook it up to a hose and water the plants with the used water. Cold plunges are not for everyone but I find it really adds to the sauna experience because the contrasting cold makes the heat much more enjoyable.
 
Final Thoughts
others that want to follow this process, please let me know. Also, feel free to reach out and let me know how your sauna build went. If it was anything like mine, there was a lot of frustration, but it was also a very rewarding experience.
I have had my sauna for over 2 years now and I still use it a couple of times a week. The benefit of having a place to relax and unwind at home has been very good to my mental and physical health. Also, the intangible benefit that came from the increased confidence I gained from the experience has been very rewarding. Since building the sauna from scratch, all of the sudden, house projects that use to really intimidate me have now become a fun challenge. I have installed new windows, rebuilt a fence, and trimmed a tree with professional tree trimming tools all since building the sauna. I have taken the same approach with these projects as I took with the sauna: no cutting corners, chunking each problem down into the easiest-next-step, and watching a ton of YouTube videos!
If you are still looking for encouragement to get started, I recommend just starting with the first step. If you have completed building your sauna, send me some pictures.
Источники:
Источник - https://www.saunavarkata.com/sauna-build-series/finishing-work/