Home retreat

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A hot sauna can turn a home into a retreat, especially during the cold months.

During the winter, Clarence Krantz uses a sauna at least twice a week in his Overland Park, Kan., home. He had one custom built a few years ago in his basement across from a shower and near his exercise equipment .

“It invigorates me,” Krantz says. “It gets your heart rate elevated so you almost feel like you worked out. I love it.”

The popularity of saunas has increased in recent years as more people have become familiar with them at health clubs, hotels and military bases. Most sauna fans are seeking a healthier, more relaxing lifestyle, says Linda Pettit, owner of Backyard Living, an Overland Park store that sells saunas.

“People in general are turning their homes into vacation getaways,” says Pettit, whose customers in increasing numbers have installed saunas in their master bedroom suites.

A sauna is traditionally a room made of softwood tongue-and-groove boards, often cedar or redwood. In contrast, steam rooms typically have tile or solid surfaces, plumbing and wet humidity.

The typical sauna is 6-by-6 feet, with a 7-foot ceiling, and the space is warmed by radiant heat. Stones placed atop an electric heater serve a couple of functions: They retain heat when warmed, and they release small amounts of steam whenever the sauna user trickles a dipperful of water on them. The air can be humid, but not enough to fog glass.

The goal is to sweat, cleansing the body’s pores. Enthusiasts say the heat and humidity soothe tired muscles, relieve stress and help keep skin free of blemishes. Blood circulation, breathing and pulse rates increase as they do in exercise, so some people use it as an aid in losing weight. Before using a sauna, people who have high blood pressure or other health problems and women who are pregnant should consult a physician.

Saunas are especially popular in Finland, where most households have one. Here’s the traditional sauna process, according to Reino Tarkiainen, a Finnish native and president of Finlandia Sauna, a Portland-based manufacturer:

Turn on the heat in the sauna. Add a small amount of water to rocks to increase humidity. Meanwhile, take a short shower.

Sit or lie down in your heated sauna for 10 to 15 minutes. Get a good sweat going.

Take another short shower. Use a special sauna brush to get a warm tingly feeling on your skin.

Return to the heated sauna. Put more water on the rocks. Sit for 15 minutes.

Take a longer shower. Water should be cold enough to close your pores.

Of course, it’s also fine to take just one shower after a 30-minute sauna session.

“It’s best when you do it right before bed,” Tarkiainen says. “Then you’re relaxed and ready to sleep.”

Prices for saunas start at $3,500, which includes parts and professional labor. Sometimes the stones of a sauna are heated by wood-burning stoves instead of electric heaters. If someone wanted to build his own sauna, he could buy either type of heater (the more typical electrical heater costs $600, a wood-burning stove costs between $1,500 and $2,000) and use his own lumber for the walls and ceiling, says Jim Nichols, a professional sauna installer and owner of Artesian Sauna, based in his Lenexa home.

“Someone with good woodworking or carpentry skills could do it,” he says. “But it’s a major assembly if you’re going to do it yourself, and it might not look as good.”

In recent years, infrared rooms that look and function like saunas have been sold on the Internet and in sauna showrooms. Infrared rooms don’t use water or a filter rock heater. Instead, they use a series of infrared heaters placed at different levels inside.

Both traditional saunas and infrared rooms come in pre-fabricated kits that would take two people about an hour to install. Both can be built outdoors. Both types can be customized.

Some people prefer infrared rooms to saunas because they don’t get as hot or humid, says Pettit, who sells both types.

Sunlight Saunas, a manufacturer headquartered in Lenexa, makes only rooms using infrared heating. “It heats the body, not the space, for more efficiency,” says Jason Kort , corporate account manager at Sunlight Saunas.

Traditional sauna companies and infrared companies are critical of each other’s product. “They (infrared rooms) are like microwaves,” Tarkiainen says. “The heat (in a traditional sauna) is oppressive,” Kort says.

After researching, John and Nancy McCarthy of Leawood, Kan., chose an infrared room rather than a traditional sauna. “You don’t have to play with rocks and water,” Nancy McCarthy says.

They use the infrared room together once a week. Typically they’ll play a game of gin rummy before they go to bed. “The cards get kind of sweaty and rippled,” she says. “But the whole thing helps with a good night’s sleep.”

Traditional saunas versus infrared rooms

Heating source

Traditional: Electric heater with hot stones and water

Infrared: Electric infrared heaters with no moisture

Warming time

Traditional: 20 to 30 minutes

Infrared: 15 to 20 minutes

Air temperature

Traditional: 160 to 190 degrees

Infrared: 110 to 150 degrees

Humidity

Traditional: 12 percent when no water is used, up to 55 when water is used

Infrared: 12 percent because no water is used

Sources: Finlandia Saunas, Sunlight Saunas

Planning considerations

Ceiling: The height of a sauna room should be no taller than 7 feet. If it were higher, it would take too long to heat.

Flooring: A sauna should have a waterproof floor so it can be kept clean and free of odors. Best choices are concrete, tile or vinyl. A better nonslip walking surface can be created using interlocking molded plastic squares. A drain is also recommended in new construction because of the large amounts of sweat.

Interior layout: As a guide, allow 2 feet of bench space per person for sitting purposes. For reclining sauna users, allow a 6-foot-long bench. Two levels of benches are recommended for saunas. The lower one can be used for sitting in lower temperatures; the upper one is for higher temperatures.

Insulation: An R11 fiberglass batt type of insulation is recommended between the walls and ceiling.

Lighting: Install interior lighting with a dimmer switch so you can adjust levels. More light provides an invigorating feeling and less provides a relaxing atmosphere.

Location: Inside the home, a sauna should be near a shower so people can wash off quickly after a sauna session. Obviously, the shower shouldn’t be inside the actual sauna room because the humidity from the water would harm the electrical components in the heater. If the shower and sauna are outside near a pool or hot tub, a dressing room should be designed between the two areas to keep chlorine vapors and humidity from damaging parts of the heater.

Operating costs: A sauna used 30 minutes, three times a week, adds about $3 to an electric bill a month. The sauna is on only when it is in use.

Music: Saunas and infrared rooms can be wired for electronics.

Ventilation: Saunas should have two vents. One should be placed about 4 inches from the floor and close to a heater to allow fresh air to flow through the heater. The upper vent for exhaust can be anywhere, as low as 24 inches from the floor or as high as 6 inches from the ceiling. While the sauna is heating, the upper vent should be closed.

Wood type: A softwood such as cedar should be used instead of a hardwood because softwood absorbs humidity to keep the atmosphere dry. The wood should be kiln-dried to between 6 percent and 11 percent moisture content to prevent shrinking and warping. Knotty woods should not be used because the knots can loosen in the high heat. Some people are choosing lighter woods such as hemlock because they are free of allergens, free of a scent (cedar has a strong one) and seem less cavelike.

Sources: Artesian Sauna, Finlandia Sauna

Maintenance

People should sit on a towel so sweat is not directly absorbed into wooden benches, which stains them.

Wood and the floor can be cleaned with a solution of water mixed with a cleaning product (such as dishwashing soap or Pine Sol) as needed.

Glass doors and windows should be washed periodically with a glass cleaner.

Accessories

Brush: A long-handled birch or alder brush with soft bristles is used in the shower or bath after a sauna to invigorate skin. In Finland, they use leafy birch branches that they brush against the skin.

Bucket with dipper: Traditionally each is made of wood. Water is poured in the bucket and a ladle is used to drip water onto the hot sauna stones to create moisture.

Scented oils for aromatherapy: Five to 10 drops can be added to a bucket of water before it’s poured over sauna stones. The most popular scent is eucalyptus, which helps clear sinuses. Other scents include birch, orange, cherry, dandelion, pine and even smoke (in Finland, sauna rocks were originally heated from wood-burning stoves ). In infrared rooms, a few drops of oil can be placed in a glass votive and placed near a heater.