The Sauna Book, by Tom Johnsona and Tim Miller

This book, published in 1977, is large for a book about saunas.  Its length (partially due to including material on general construction methods that is better found elsewhere) and dated material could make this book tedious reading for impatient people such as myself.  This is the second book (see also Hollander's) that goes into length about having a plunge pool with a sauna, which the authors consider nearly indispensable.  The text could use editing for length and flow of subjects – it gives the impression of being hastily slapped together, despite being well researched.  Some of the illustrations are very good, while others are poor.  If you have access to other more recent books, such as Konya's (which is one of the best on the subject), then look around.  That said, there was a lot of good advice that is sauna specific.  The author repeats several times the importance of having the sauna door always open outward. (72, 113)  And recommends the window area in the stove room not exceed five percent of the stove room floor area. (78)  On the sauna floor, “cover the joists with exterior grade plywood... smooth side up.” (94)  He cited possible health risks of using plastic products such as “cellular or foamed polyurethane and polystyrene and its copolymers” for sauna insulation due to the high temperatures they would be exposed to on the walls or ceiling. (105)  This is a topic I have yet to confirm.  Regarding interior paneling, he recommends looking for vertical grain boards as opposed to flat grain, nicely illustrated. (108)  Galvanized or hot dipped nails go without saying as the only rational choice for interior construction. (109)  A 2x6 door is large enough (112) and an excellent illustration of how to adapt a hollow core door to the sauna and build your own window into it is shown. (117)  The author recommends using insulated electric wiring for any fixtures in the sauna. (121)  A sidebar to the text (annoyingly common in this book) describes how to cure a sauna once it is built. (122)  Platforms 30 inches wide for lying down seem over generous, but are recommended. (124)  A stove guard rail is nicely illustrated. (135)  And how to keep a tight chimney flue is described. (138) 

On the first page of this book I read “[sauna] is a cathartic experience”, an idea I had supposed was original to me, but now I see it must be more obvious than I thought.  The part of the text I paid closest attention to was that on drains.  “We have built saunas with flat concrete and wooden floors without drains and experienced no problems.  A small trap door in the floor of an elevated sauna and a driveway broom is enough to sweep most of the water out of the stoveroom, but if you have the opportunity and money to put in a drain, do so.  If your sauna is to be built of sloping ground and you are using a post foundation, your drainage problems will be minimal.  Simply build the floor with a slight pitch, drill a few 1-inch holes through it, and let the water run out onto a bed of gravel beneath the stoveroom.” (91)

The Finnish Sauna in Manitoba, by Charles M. Sutyla

As the author describes it, this is a report about the origin and development of the sauna in Manitoba and its changing social meaning.  It was published in 1977, and like “Maquiq” which I also reviewed, this is a rare book.  I found it very readable, and enjoyed the many photographs throughout.  The author's way of describing each sauna with a little background and a detailed description using accompanying photos was great.  I'll provide the example that I found most interesting.  A description of “Bill W.'s Sauna (No. 7)” begins on page 65.  Four photos and two line drawings (interior plan and layout in relationship to surrounding features) and about two and a half pages of text are devoted to its description.  [copy two photos page 70].  After reading the book I want to visit Pointe du Bois in Manitoba to see for myself what makes this a desirable community for so many Finns in Manitoba.  Among the bibliography to this book is listed “The Finnish Sauna in British Columbia” which looks like another interesting read.  

Maquiq: The Eskimo Sweat Bath, by John Maressa

This book is not one you are likely to encounter in any bookstore. It is an interesting account of the relationship of several groups of native peoples in Alaska to the sweat bath. One part I found particularly interesting is the regional use of urine in sweat bathing, a subject I have not encountered before. Human urine, a mild acid, had broad functional value, and helped to clean oily surfaces including the bodies of bathers. (200) This practice seems out of place today and I would not recommend it, but considering the available resources of the time it was an example of a resourceful strategy for survival in an environment that could be very hostile to human life. Maressa's book also contains more general statements regarding the use of the sauna in any culture or time period: “That an individual is physically relaxed after a sweat bath is easily accounted for, when one recalls the physiological up-temp that the body has previously undergone. Reversing this process (rapid cooling of the external temperature) causes relaxation of the systems and organs involved.” (69) Quoting Wendell Oswalt: “The bath has, at times, a therapeutic effect upon a tired or angry man. Baths are also taken to relieve the soreness in a limb or perhaps in an attempt to cure a head cold. There is one additional aspect of bathing which is difficult to characterise; this is the intoxicating effect of extremely hot baths.” (329) Maressa elaborates on this point: “The benefit of this “natural intoxicant” can be appreciated in two ways. Firstly, it helped to relieve an individual from the strains of a physically strenuous existence.... Secondly, since the Eskimo were not known to have any other type of intoxicant before the coming of the fur traders [is this substantiated?], the sweat bath fulfilled a comparable function and in so doing, provided a safety-valve for frustrations in this potentially depressing environment.” (330)

Steam of Life, a review

Steam of Life (viewable in entirety online, until November) was a good documentary about Finnish men sharing stories of personal loss and tragedy, it was less about sauna buildings and use.  My eyes were drawn to reading the captions most of the time preventing me from adequately scrutinizing the scenes for building details.  And there were a few interesting scenes in it.  The next day it repeated several times on another PBS station and I recorded it (the first time I saw it I had the recorder set for the wrong channel).  I counted 12 saunas featured in the film.  I list them below with the approximate time that they appeared in the film. 

1. [1] A scene with a husband and wife in a sauna, an experience that they had shared for at least 51 years together.  She is lying down with her feet propped up on the wall.  The sauna has a dark rough wood interior and smooth lighter toned benches. 
2. [4] A sauna used by factory workers, with four men in the camera frame. 
3. [6] An old camper trailer sauna shared by two men at a worksite in the woods (Northern Finland?).  The trailer interior looks typical with cheap prefab panel walls, some metal. 
4. [13] A sauna used by a reformed ex-prisoner, shared with his three boys.  A three tier bench, the bottom one slides under the second for storage.  Tile floor, and a window behind the top platform and backrest to let in indirect light,  I though this was a nice feature.  A thin red curtain pulled to the side softens the light. 
5. [20] What looks like some large farm equipment (a columbine?) whose capacious rear has been converted to a sauna.  Only the exterior is briefly shown. 
6. [21] What looks like an abandoned car in a field of grass.  Two boys sit nearby.  When the door opens the escaping steam proves that this has been converted to a sauna as well.
7. [21] What looks like a telephone booth along the side of a quiet country road; a naked man sits inside the steamy interior. 
8. [22] A sauna scene very similar to the second one (listed above).  A long bench with five old men in the frame.  This appears to be part of a large health club for senior citizens. 
9. [22] A tile and wood sauna where a man tells the story of a bear cub he adopted, but whose true identity is not revealed until the surprising end when the bear is viewed on screen with the man, presumably in his outdoor enclosure. 
10. [27] A sauna by the ocean or a large lake, two men, one an Afghan war veteran.  A dark wood interior with light benches, illumination comes from under the benches, the large stove has what looks like small precast bricks in place of natural stones.  Next we see them in an adjacent washing room with high windows and lots of washing tubs. 
11. [33] The setting is similar to the third one (listed above) in the north of Finland.  Two old gold miners at a campsite along a river.  There are lots of shelters made of tarpons and a staircase that leads to the river edge.  A do-it-yourself tent sauna with many sides and of pyramidal construction.  The interior is small with a central post and the sides are braced at increments of several feet by horizontal rough sawn slabs of timber.  Aside from these, the exposed foil faced sheeting is the only other main feature of construction.  Only later, about 49 minutes into the film, at the end, do we see a clear view of the exterior of this tent sauna. 
12. [38] A very nice sauna by a lake, made of four sided logs and bricks (surrounding the wood stove).  A blanket hangs behind the platform where two men sit.  This is the climax of the film, one of the men recalls the loss of one of his twin children and relates the experience to the other. 

The documentary ends with a song that all the men featured in the film sing, cutting to scenes of each of them singing at their location, a few other men whose scenes did not make it into the finished version are included as well.  The symbolism is clear: separate people living separate lives, but united by their similar stories.  This begins about 49 minutes into the film, which ends with a total length of about 51 minutes.  Ending the film this way seemed strange to me at first, but may not seem so odd in Finland.  If you have any interest in saunas at all, or the human experience in general, it is a good film to see.

Sauna: The Finnish Bath by H.J. Viherjuuri

This is a short and pleasant little book.  What I like most about it is the way in which the author relates the experience of taking a sauna and it's positive effects.  “The feeling of well-being which follows the cold dip is undoubtedly one of the most delightful sensations which the human body can experience.” (41)  “the most delicious moment of all... when the bath is over and one can lie naked in the fresh air outside the sauna...” (44)  “The sauna banishes psychological troubles and ill humors.  In its heat, the mind is relieved of all pressure, and recovers its true balance.  A man bowed down by worries may come out of its doors in a philosophical and even humorous frame of mind.”  (45) 

Viherjuuri recommends a distance of at least 42 inches between the top platform and the ceiling, a 20 inch minimum width of the upper tier (78) and using bands of cloth hung from the ceiling as leg supports when lying down.  He also states that aspen (poplar) makes good material for benches. (55)  A nice full page “Rules of Thumb for Bathing” is included. (68)  “Regardless of where the stove may be placed, it should have a wooden guard rail around it.” (79)  Fiberglass bats should be stapled, not glued as the adhesive could melt. (80)  Regarding the sauna stones, he recommends igneous or basalt. (83)  I have struggled with ideas for a simple and effective floor drain, Viherjuuri recommends a “floor which slopes gently down to a drain in the corner of the hot room; the floor can be scrubbed and rinsed with a minimum of trouble, and the water brushed toward the drain.” (82)  I encountered a lot of advice in this book that I recall reading from later sauna books that recycled Viherjuuri's wisdom.  He is clearly viewed as an authority in his field.

Finnish Sauna by Allan Konya

I recently finished reading “Finnish Sauna” by Allan Konya.  He pointed out:  “The sauna is the only form of bath in which both dry and damp air are present, and in which the dampness can be controlled by the bathers themselves.” (5)   “Some people consider that the pile of stones on top of the sauna stove is a relic of an altar used in pagan times and that the throwing of water over the stones was a form of sacrificial ceremony to supernatural beings.” (7)  I think this is more than a bit of a stretch, but a fun piece of lore all the same.  “On entering the hot room, bathers are enveloped at once by a delightful heat, not stifling, in no way oppressive, but rather like the protective, nurturing warmth of an incubator.” (13)  I like the analogy of a sauna to an incubator.  “It is advisable to start off with a lower temperature and increase it gradually to the required level.  This allows one's blood vessels to expand slowly and the circulation to improve.” (14)  Especially for the novice!  “Sauna and an after-sauna supper (saunapala) is a fairly common form of entertaining.” (16)

“Too low a humidity can result in the following problems: an unpleasant 'dry room' smell; the drying out of the mucous membranes of nose and throat; perspiration evaporating too quickly from the skin surface, allowing it to become too dry.” (18)  “Fresh air should ideally be drawn directly from outside and certainly not from an adjoining room where odors may be present... The correct (and traditional) position for the [venting] outlet is in the wall opposite the inlet and at least slightly above it.” (19)  An outlet area of five square inches per person is recommended.  Later on page 74 he begins describing how a flue above this outlet can improve the suction and form the updraft needed to counteract any effects of back pressure.  An illustration of a venting outlet flue inside the sauna is shown, although I might consider putting this flue outside the wall, where it won't take up any interior space.  Konya describes something called the “piston effect”:  “When water is poured on the stones, the superheated vapor expands greatly, rising quickly to the ceiling and forming a thickening blanket of loyly which pushes the air downward, forcing the heavier stale air through the outlet.  This phenomenon is sometimes referred to as the 'piston effect', a term which describes the action rather well.” (19) 

On construction:  “The roof usually projected over the gable end which contained the low door – not much above chin level and with a high threshold.” (9)  Konya recommends siting the sauna such that the windows face west “as the time for to sauna is generally the evening, very often at sunset, the rays of the setting sun will stream into these rooms, helping the bathers to relax.” (31)  “Once the [sauna] room approaches a square on plan, arrangements with L-shaped benches are usually more economical, up to a size of about [7x7 feet] internally.” (33)  Regarding floor construction “Materials like linoleum, which have a characteristic smell, must be avoided at all costs.” (48)  “Benches supported only from the walls... it is better to avoid timber supports at floor level, where fungal attack is most likely to occur.  [But] wherever the benches are supported on the floor [and stabilized with connection to the walls], rubber doorstops should be screwed to the undersides of the supports with non-ferrous screws, to prevent contact between the floor and the end grain of the  timber.” (52)  “Cellular plastics... some types cannot withstand the high temperatures encountered in a sauna.” (61)  I should call the manufacturer to see if foil faced R-max foam board insulation will work in this application.  “The door... can consist of a standard solid core flush panel door, with insulating material, vapor barrier and paneling added to the inside face.  A heavy ball or roller catch keeps the door closed.  If it must be locked... a hasp and staple with padlock offers the best solution.” (73)  “To ensure sufficient draught for effective operation, the flue should, if at all possible, be not less than about 13 feet in total length.” (88) A gable roof, rather than a flat roof, would support a ceiling peak of greatest height for a tall chimney flue.  “The [chimney pipe] joints must be airtight and should be fitted with female end upward otherwise there can be difficulty with tar and condensation leaking to the outside of the pipes...”  (89)

I also enjoyed looking at "Finnish Villas and Saunas", which is a feast for the eyes. 

Finnish Sauna: Design and Construction

Finnish Sauna: Design and Construction (6th revised edition, 2007), published by Rakennustieto and compiled with the assistance of 15 Finnish authors, is probably the best book about sauna construction I have read.  Unintentionally I also checked out the 2nd edition from 1995, which is oddly longer (mostly due to the later removal of several illustrations, reorganization of sections, removal of in-text advertisements, and omission of the cleaning chapter).  As all construction books should be, this one is heavily illustrated.  One spends as much time pouring over the drawings as reading the text.  The final section of the book is a photo montage of “Contemporary Finnish Saunas” that are peerless in their beauty, but largely beyond my ability or means.  I will include below passages from the text I found helpful.  As time allows I might work these into a proper blog entry, or not: 

In a good sauna, heat is conveyed symmetrically, which means that the bather feels heeat evenly from all directions and there is a balance between convecteed and radiated heat (26). 
The traditional manner is to place the window at a low elevation, whereby most of the light falls on the floor in front of the stove (42). 
In placing the light fittings and directing the light, the upper part of the sauna and the seat level of the platforms should remain in darkness, but the steps and route of access should be lit... Normal lighting is required for cleaning the sauna (87). 
Darkness is usually felt to be a pleasant aspect of the mood of the sauna (97). 
If the stove is next to the door, it should be hinged on the stove side (43). 
[The cooling area] if possible should face the setting sun and a scenic view (44).  (Yes!  Mine will.)
[Vapor insulation] overlaps must be at least 15cm wide, affixed with heat-resistant tape, and pressed against each other betwween two wood surfaces (48). 
(Pages 49 through 52 contain wall, floor and roof sections for saunas of different types.  Using their labeling scheme, I have a US2 wall, AP2 floor, and YP1 roof)
[Year round sauna] windows are usually triple glazed, three paned insulating glass with a ventilation shutter that can be opened (54). 
Spruce [Picea abies] with few knots is well suited for all surfaces in a sauna... To minimize cracks caused by drying, the boards must be sufficiently thick in relation to their width... Countersunk nails are recommended for the lining... Horizontal cladding (as opposed to vertical) is a better solution, since there will be a gap admitting air between the upright bottom battens [the boards to which the cladding is nailed] and the parts behind the lining boards [the cladding] will be ventilated... The wooden wall lining is not extended down to the floor (56).  [Red or yellow cedar is never mentioned!  The cover image appears to exemplify these recommendations.]
A waterproof surfacing material [for floors] is a plastic mat with welded seams (57).  [what does “welded seams” mean?]
(Pages 62 through 63 have diagrams of removable bench construction.)
A sturdy railing is built around the stove to prevent the bathers from falling onto it and also to serve as a footrest.  It should include a lower rail element for children.  The railing can be made of wood or steel and faced with wood (65).  [Can this be made removable for access to the stove?]
Rubber stops are nailed or screwed to the lower surface [of wooden duckboards] to facilitate drying (66). 
One of the most common problems is the presence of ferric sulphides (pyrites) which release sulphuric oxide and sulphuric acid into the ambient atmosphere when the stones become worn (78). 
The intake air of the stove room is located... to prevent draughts or cold downward draughts onto the floor (84).  [Preheating the air in the dressing room is best.]
Palsi's law: the bather must be seated with his or her whole body (including the feet) above the stove stones [in smoke saunas] (95). 

The description by Nestor of Kiev in his chronicle from 1112 supports my earlier argument that saunas are cathartic.  From page 5:  Nestor tells of hot wooden saunas, in which naked bathers beat themselves with branches and finally pour cold water over themselves.  “Without any coercion they torture themselves and in this way gain pain instead of cleanliness”, tells the chronicle. 

Hollander's How to Build a Sauna

In 1979 Carlton Hollander published How To Build a Sauna.  This book has many illustrations of construction details, but only a handful of actual photographs.  In his book he attempts to cover all aspects of construction.  Hollander makes the point that a dressing room is important for the enjoyment of a sauna (33), which I agree with.  Other rooms such as a shower room, storage room, and relaxation room can be combined with either the sauna room or dressing room and do not require a separate space, though Hollander includes these in his building layouts.  The need for an easily accessible wood storage area is also mentioned and should not be overlooked when siting the sauna's location.  Hollander quotes the Finnish Building Information Institution as recommending that the stoveroom allow for 105 cubic feet per bather (36), which he describes as a very generous allowance, and certainly not an absolute.  His recommendation to cut an inch from the bottom of the stoveroom door to allow for ventilation (40) is the same as Glenn Auerbach's at Sauna Times, which makes me wonder if Glenn didn't use this book as a reference for his own sauna. 

The cold water immersion tub (43) is frequently described by Hollander, and it seems he considers it an important part of the experience.  Keeping a large tub of water from freezing throughout a Fairbanks winter is not impossible, and would make a very interesting addition.  His description of insulating the floor seems out of date and incomplete to me, and the illustration (65) he uses was not clear enough to inspire confidence in a complete novice like me.  I did like his description of the the properties and types of wood to be used in the interior paneling, treating this portion of the sauna like a piece of furniture (77).  He recommended two foot wide benches as a comfortable width (97).  No where else had I read of using pyrogallic acid for chemically staining the interior wood of the sauna (103), which is interesting but also unnecessary.  A short bibliography at the end listed four sources, all of which being older than this book undoubtedly contain dated information that I would consult only after having read some of the newer books that still await my attention. 

Hollander's book is an introduction to sauna building which filled a niche when published, and it still focuses more on the basic building than a lot of more recent books do.  For example, the illustration of a hanging post foundation (58) is very good advice.  The same basic foundation is also described in the March/April 2011 issue of Mother Earth News, attesting to the timelessness of some basic carpentry techniques.

Permaculture's sauna

Permaculture No. 67 Spring 2011 carries an article about how to build a sauna.  A very basic design is given, but that also means it is very affordable.  I could build two of these and probably have materials to spare (aside from the stove).  Below is a screenshot of the article from the free online preview.  One of the hippy-esque recommendations from the author is to use sheep wool as insulation in the walls instead of fiberglass.  I like natural materials, but wonder about price and performance. 

Steam of Life

On August 2, 2011, POV will be showing Steam of Life.  Yes, I want to see it. 

The Finnish Sauna

I've read through John Virtanen's 1974 book The Finnish Sauna: Peace of Mind, Body, and Soul.  This is the oldest sauna book I have seen.  The chapter organization seems a little disjointed and the book itself seems a collection of information that could benefit from the attention of a good editor.  It begins with a semi-autobiographical story of his youth and saunas in Finland, moves to a description of the historical role of saunas, and ends with descriptions of the current place of saunas in society and provides some practical construction details.  His recommendations for a "typical wall section" appear much the same as one would see today. 

The author appears to be promoting quality designed electric saunas as the safest and most affordable type.  Virtanen cautions about poisonous charcoal fumes or propane fumes from poorly operated or designed saunas of either type, and criticizes ineffectively designed electric stoves as well.  Otherwise, he has many good things to say about the traditional wood heated sauna.  Describing saunas in Siberia he writes "Log saunas throughout Russia are built of timber... a flat roof is made of turf over the round timbers."  This reminds me of Alvar Aalto's sauna I encountered earlier while reading Nordskog's book.  On page 125 is pictured an old shed roofed log sauna on the Karelian Isthmus that could easily be mistaken as a prototype for Aalto's design. The many black and white photos and pictures throughout the book are one of its best attributes. 

Virtanen states a humidity of 1.20 ounces of water vapor by weight per pound of air is the technical suggestion, but offers a simple rule of thumb that anyone can gauge, somewhere between "dry" and "steamy" is best [183].  He later writes [205]:

The main requirement of the Finnish sauna is that it create bathing conditions which cause the bather to perspire freely.  These conditions include the regulation of temperature, humidity and ventilation... The sauna should have an invigorating, rejuvenating, and tempering effect, while cleansing the body, refreshing the spirit and giving the feeling of complete well-being which is always the result of a good sauna.

The Opposite of Cold

I recently received Michael Nordskog's book The Opposite of Cold: The Northwoods Finnish Sauna Tradition via ILL from my local library. This is a beautiful book published in 2010 that should appeal to architecture buffs as much as sauna afficionados. At the outset Nordskog states that his book does not address building techniques, health benefits, or even the proper way to enjoy the Finnish bath. This disclaimer is a bit of false modesty, as he does have something to say at least about the last point a few lines later. The best way to introduce someone new to the sauna experience is to "extend the common courtesy that the person with the least experience controls the vital production of loyly by throwing water on the rocks" [3] and, by extension, we could say the same of the temperature of the sauna itself. Impressing the inexperienced with one's ability to suffer exposure to searing heat would simply forever discourage the uninitiated from a healing practice [4, 101].

Nordskog highlights a number of very beautiful saunas. Pictures of saunas from Muurame Saunakyla (sauna village) are beautiful, and the architect Alvar Aalto's sauna at Muuratsalo on Lake Paijanne is probably the most beautiful sauna I have ever seen. Before looking through the pages of this book, I had no idea the extent to which architects have elevated the art of sauna construction. Another amazing sauna is David Salmela's Emerson sauna, which has recieved national recognition by architectural organizations. And I particularly enjoyed the interview with Daryl Lamppa, owner of Kuuma Stoves. I have heard great things about his stoves and am considering buying one of them.

If I had one criticism for the book it would be to include a glossary of Finnish words used throughout the text. I learned that tikku is the word for the eye stinging gases that come off a fire [177].  Overall, this is a great book that really made me appreciate the Northwoods country. Now I would like to visit areas such as Thompson Island in Lake Superior. Perhaps the most whimsical and lovely part of the book is the picture of Tove Janssen's Moomin character sitting beside a sauna [78]. When I build my sauna, I will incorporate these ideas into my design in at least some small way.

(See this recent interview with the author; and a video interview.)

Sweat

A virtual cult classic, Mikkel Aaland's 1978 book Sweat is a good read.  He has a neglected website, which is excusable for the fact that he is also a pioneer in digital photography, has just this year released a new book on sauna construction, How to Build Your Own Sauna and Sweat, and is working on a new PBS documentary based on his original book.  Perhaps the stained and well-worn library copy I read was an early edition, but I noticed that the text had several paragraphs out of sequence and several pages seemed to be completely missing (despite following numerical order).  The information that is there is very good however, and it is evident that Aaland is dedicated to his subject material having done a lot of original research in the field.

Several of the descriptions of the sounds and sensations one has in a sauna were very good.  He quoted Seven Brothers, by Aleksis Kivi: “Timo threw water on the heated oven until the blackened stones heaped over it cracked with a noise like rifle fire”.  Yes, that is what it sounds like, and the resulting loyly feels like heaven on your skin.  After reading the book, I wanted to get my own vihta and take a sauna!  Until you have taken several different saunas, it is hard to appreciate the different qualities that they can have.  A sauna is much more than a hot room.  The quality of heat, if one can speak of it in this way, can be excellent or unbearably harsh.  Maybe there is something to the idea of negative ions (that I come across frequently in descriptions, but remain skeptical of).  There are more books awaiting my review, but my attention must be averted to other matters for the mean time.

Sauna possibilities

The amount of work put into something should be commensurate with the actual payoff in the end.  It's evolutionarily sound advice.  But when it comes to our pet projects and interests, it can be hard to follow – it's hard to quantify and measure the value of happiness.  (Perhaps it could be indirectly measured as reduced symptoms of stress.)  I have been giving thought to the design of a sauna I would like to build this summer, and the variety of interesting features that I could build into it.  One of these is mobility.  A sauna can be relatively empty, small, and light - heating a large space is inefficient.  Glenn at Sauna Times has a very nice 8x12 sauna custom built by Tuff Shed that contains a changing room and enough space for a sauna party (see video tour).  It was designed to be moved around using a flat bed trailer; his current project is to build a sauna affixed to its own trailer.  (It would operate like this.  I could get bids at a machine shop for fabricating one locally, perhaps.)  Building a small sauna on a skid foundation, like this calf range shelter, would allow a well braced building to be towed short distances, say to the top of my hill for a great view.  If so desired, it would be easier to move it than build it there in the first place, since all my materials and electricity are down by the house.  Besides, methods for moving much larger buildings using only the strength of a single man are well documented by many intrepid individuals, like Wally Wallington.  I even considered building a rotating sauna, like the post mills of yore, or a sauna on a trailer, like Jay Shafer's tiny house "Epu", or a sauna conversion of a trailer RV.  And I looked through the interesting book "Revolving Architecture: A History of Buildings That Rotate, Swivel, and Pivot" by Chad Randl.  But I would get the greatest benefit per effort expended, and incur the least risk financially, if I built a small sauna on a skid and concrete block foundation.  Added complexities such as those described above, while providing more convenience and possibilities for sauna use, could double the cost and time involved, and would make more sense once I have more experience and resources.  An interesting side idea: in a very windy climate, one could use wind energy alone to create enough heat for a sauna.  This is a very realistic possibility in many coastal areas of Alaska, where other sources of renewable energy are either unavailable or more difficult to harness.  (Hmmm... I wonder when Chena Hot Springs will ever build a sauna at their resort with geothermal energy?)