Recently, you may have read the news about the fire at Driftwood Public Sauna in Milwaukee. Fire caused a total loss of the newly built facility, which looks to be a building on a trailer parked near the waterfront.
My sympathies to the owner, Derek Collins, and his team who clearly put their heart and soul into this project, which looked beautiful in the before images. As a small business owner, this is a worst nightmare scenario. Even with good insurance, recovery will be difficult (there is go-fund me page).
But let’s not all go running away from wood fired saunas with this image glued to our minds. Woodburning sauna stoves installed correctly are not dangerous.
Sure, the old Finns would build their saunas away from the house because, well, sauna fires do happen, and even the old sauna at Podunk clearly toed that line many times, evidenced by the seriously charred wood we found when we deconstructed it. But modern stoves and the associated chimneys are engineered and tested to heat a sauna. They are not cobbled together like the way the pragmatic old Finns did things, fabricating as much as they could from scrap metal. And neither should you be cobbling things together and taking safety shortcuts.
The fire is “under investigation”. Looking closely at the image of the fire, I know exactly what caused it. Fire rises; the lowest charred point is the point of origin.
I know that stove: the Harvia Legend Duo 300. It is meant to be fired from the outside— which is perfect for a public sauna where the fire tender has to do their job while staying invisible. According to the instructions, It is meant to be fired through a masonry firewall (see above instructions) with a minimum of 12“ of masonry one each side, yet in the photo of the fire I see plywood right next to the stove. I don’t want say it, but WTF?
On the inside there is (was) a tiled fire shield with what looks like the appropriate 1” air gap behind the stove extending to the ceiling. This looks nice, but a fire shield is not a firewall. A Firewall is entirely non-combustible, a shield simply protects a wooden surface behind it.
The plywood clearly got too hot (remember Ray Bradbury’s Farenheit 451: the temperature wood and paper combusts!) A hot stove will reach well over 1000°F on it’s surface, and so will anything touching it. I’ll actually let mine get to a dull cherry glow on top (that’s 1300°F) just to test my installations.
I go to job sites where there other contractors working, sometimes on my designs, and I commonly see manuals tossed in the trash and my written instructions totally disregarded.
I know reading is hard ( and harder when you turn fifty and need cheaters to read anything), but, sometimes the obvious is right in front of you: you just have to read it. I cringe when I see online images of woodstoves installed too close to combustibles. It’s not like speed limits—10 inches means 10 inches. And the sauna elf will enforce that!
Wood fired saunas can be dangerous—but so can anything installed improperly. Me, I’d rather run from a burning sauna naked then get zapped with 240 volts while barefoot. Let’s keep building wood-fired saunas, but safely.
This winter in Upstate New York was especially brutal, with constant below freezing temps and many sub- zero nights, so we’ve been firing up our sauna as much as possible. The uptick in saunas and sauna culture keeps us very busy. We’ve been enjoying listening to neuroscientists and other medical professionals talk highly about saunas as they distill the information to Americans about all the health benefits. For others who are just beginning their journey, diving deep into sauna building, or sauna culture, it might seem hard to navigate all of the information out there and not be distracted by the entertainment aspects found in big public saunas, or strict guidelines on how-to sauna web pages.
To us, taking sauna or sauna bath is our everyday medicine and reward for working hard.
For both of us, sauna has been a commonplace activity for a long time, so we don’t pay too much attention to all the newly appointed experts, but just listen to our bodies. We were lucky to have experiences early on in life at more traditional saunas and banyas in Upstate New York. Rob grew up going to Podunk Nordic Ski center in Trumansburg, NY and Scarlet at a more banya-style finnish-sauna at Williams Lake in Rosendale, NY both of which were Nordic ski centers and communities founded by Scandinavians.
Last week we are took a break from all of it by doing a Nordic ski Vacation at Lapland Lake— a wonderful family oriented Nordic skiing center in the lower Adirondacks where incredible amounts of snow are still on the ground in March.
These days there is a lot of internet banter about obtaining “perfection” when building a sauna and often dogmatic rules pertaining to bench heights, ventilation, wood selection and so on. I also see frequent reference to a quote that says the only good sauna is a Finnish (made in Finland) sauna and that all saunas made in the US are bad or worse. Mostly I to try ignore it all and stay focused on continuing to build quality saunas here at our shop in Ithaca, NY. >> Read more about Lapland Lake and Olavi, a Canadian born Finn with alot of Sisu in a new blog post “>>A Perfect Sauna”>>
Sunshine Delivered on A Gray Day
We had a fun time with this successful sauna delivery; thanks to our friend Scott of Ithaca Urban Timber Salvage. Neighbors stood by as we carefully delivered this beauty to their backyard down a very narrow driveway. This local client shares a home gym with his neighbors so in-turn he will share this sauna with them. He says his family and neighbors are as excited as he is to have access to a sauna. Yet another example of how sauna builds community. Each delivery widens our circle of not just customers, but friends.
“That sauna is the best thing to happen since the invention of the grilled cheese sandwich. Everyone is using it every day!”
Floating Sauna “KOS” in Saratoga Springs
We just met up with Kate from KOS sauna to see and try her new beautiful public floating sauna with the only oversized Harvia 50 wood-fired Kiuas we know of in the US. We shared the benches with about 15 people; a feel-good fun and social time was had by all. Saratoga Springs is a great location to launch her business because the area has been infused with a history of hydrotherapy. We compared notes on the challenges of a building a floating sauna since we had previously completed a sauna boat for a client in 2024 (aka #Saunatoon). With weather and waterways to navigate, the challenges of a floating sauna are very real and the stakes are high so we wish anyone pursuing this increasingly popular form of sauna lots of luck!
The basic instinct of leaving your mark connects humans across time. One of the things I’ll tell if you ever have a chance to help me install tongue and groove cedar, pine or other wood, is: wash your hands! Learn about craftsmanship and other tricks of the trade, especially when working with expensive material like cedar in saunas and natural wood ceilings in homes. >>Read the blog post about “Leaving your Mark”>>
Ancient handprints – New Mexico
Sauna Guests on National Sauna Week
For National Sauna Week this year, the Finger Lake Finns hosted guest speaker Garrett Conover, writer of the self-published book, “Sauna Magic – Health Happiness & Community” . Afterwards, we had the lovely opportunity to have him and one of his oldest friends, Josh, from Alaska, over to our house for sauna and chowder. They shared stories of life in the deep woods and the role of sauna in surviving real cold. His book is beautifully executed and perfect for anyone who wants a deep dive in the traditional sauna culture and basics on how-to sauna. He even has a section on making ice candles! We will certainly bring the book to our shop for our visitors and sauna building classmates to read.
One thing that can keep those winter blues away is sharing warmth in good company.
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These days there is a lot of internet banter about obtaining “perfection” when building a sauna and often dogmatic rules pertaining to bench heights, ventilation, wood selection and so on. I also see frequent reference to a quote that says the only good sauna is a Finnish (made in Finland) sauna and that all saunas made in the US are bad or worse. Mostly I to try ignore it all and stay focused on continuing to build quality saunas.
This week we are taking a break from all of it by doing a Nordic ski Vacation at Lapland Lake—a wonderful family oriented Nordic skiing center in the lower Adirondacks where incredible amounts of snow are still on the ground in March. The center was built by Olavi Hirvonen, a Canadian born Finn who was raised by his grandparents back in Finland then came back to the US, eventually skiing (cross country) in the 1960 Olympics before continuing on as a carpenter near New York City. A family tragedy made him re-evaluate his life goals and led him north to Lapland Lake where he bought a chunk of the forest, built a lodge and guest cottages, and developed some of the finest Nordic ski trails in the Northeast.
Everything here bears of the mark of a Finnish carpenter, much of it reminiscent of Podunk, which was also built by a Finn. The simple construction, low ceilings, unique trim detailing, and pragmatic design prevail. When you come upon the lodge after driving miles on rough forested road the unfamiliar will be taken aback by the lack ostentatiousness. This is not built in the tradition of the great Adirondack camps, such as Sagamore.
The Finnish flag flying out front (next to the American, Swedish, and Norwegian flag) is the most obvious clue that you are here.
The lodge is an oddly proportioned structure with an asymmetrical gable roof and randomly placed windows. This is snow country where the snow often reaches the second story of houses; things are built to survive that and roof lines often extend to cover adjoining walkways or combine buildings into one. It also an economically depressed area; people make do. I’m sure when Olavi settled here, his carpenter’s salary did not leave him with piles of money to spend on fancy embellishments.
His dream and his Sisu were his capital and hard work went into everything. It is obvious, from the level of upkeep, and signs of industriousness, that the current owners continue that ethic.
Inside, the main lodge is homey and comfortable, a modest main room with a fireplace to relax after skiing, a very well stocked ski shop, an upstairs cafeteria, and a sauna down in the back. It is here that I want to focus my thoughts. At first glance the sauna is a rough affair- it has an ample dressing room with a simple phone booth-style fiberglass shower. The ceilings throughout are low, under 8 feet, and the detailing is plain. But it is clean and welcoming. Classic 1980 sauna etiquette cartoons are on the wall as well as the typical signage about adding more wood to the fire and other house rules. The bench lid lifts to reveal a firewood storage; a classic sauna detail.
The hot room door is a heavy wooden affair with a rustic stick hardware pulls. Inside the sauna is about 10 x7 feet with the wood stove ( and a defunct auxiliary electric heater) at one end with a cement block chimney behind the stove. The stove (or Kiuas) is the familiar Helo, same as the Narvia Kota Kuru, similar to the Harvia M3. This is a basic Finnish model wood burner that has been in production for almost half a century. The walls and ceiling are rough #3 cedar, commonly used for fencing, but there is a smooth back rest to lean against. The benches are pine 2 x 6’s, smoothed (butt worn!) by years of use. Heavy rust stains indicate that no stainless steel was used but the benches seem pretty solid. The whole room has that darkened patina of a well used sauna. One could say the style, if any style at all, is dated, but that is not the point, it was clearly pragmatic in design and probably the first thing Olavi built. The rooms suit their purpose today as well as they did 48 years ago. Most importantly, it is kept clean, is able to get hot, and produce a nice löyly; which is more than I can say for many, many, saunas I have experienced. When I peeked back in the following morning, the floor had been rinsed and the duckboards were propped up to dry—always a good sign.
At the end of a day spent skiing spring conditions on perfectly groomed trails, the sauna was as perfect as I could have wanted it to be. It was hot (200° F plus) and ready for me. I did a few rounds of heat and löyly followed by rolls in the snow.
I did the ritual solo but Scarlet had the pleasant company of a new sauna friend during her rounds. There is nothing I would take away or add to it. This was built by a Finnish carpenter, raised in Finland, who had more Sisu than most—how can I even begin to judge that?
The conundrum I face as a builder of Finnish style saunas, is that I would never build a sauna like Olavi did. I know too much now. My purpose now is not to just serve that basic need of a hot sauna at the end of a hard days work or play, but to serve the increasingly diverse needs of a range of clients. Because one client will demand “perfection”, the bar is raised on all of my work. It would be criminal if we did not use the best available materials and accepted building practices. The competitive demands of the web require that each build be not only perfectly functional but photogenic as well. And the economic demands of running a business and supporting ourselves require that we have to balance making a decent profit with making quality products. We achieve that by marketing to a higher level clientele rather than cutting corners—but those higher expectations of what quality looks like and what it costs, cuts out the poorer customers, the common folk, whom we still want to bring sauna to.
Olavi built his dream resort before the web existed and before the current sauna revival. He depended on word of mouth and yet had a steady stream of returning customers and sauna devotees who continue to enjoy the simple pleasures of this modest haven.
Built on a budget, maintained for years on a shoestring and resourcefulness, and driven by his Sisu, or perseverance, Olavi achieved a level of quality that may now be lost to the frenzy of our internet driven times.
Note: Olavi Hirvonen died in the fall of 2024 at the age of 93. The new owners, Kathy and Paul Zahray, are committed to continuing the traditions at Lapland, including keeping the sauna hot!
Lately, I have been diligent about doing morning stretches on the floor, even when I travel. Like when I’m stuck in a dentist’s chair, this gives me plenty of time to contemplate things time while I stare at the ceiling. Where there is tongue and groove wood paneling, I often see handprints of the builders.
In a recent cabin we stayed in, it felt like hiking out West and seeing ten-thousand year old handprints randomly on rocks, like they were done yesterday. It is a startling and mysterious experience that makes you question things like the significance of time or how unimportant each of us is in the greater scheme of things. The basic instinct of leaving your mark connects humans across time.
Cueva el Castillo
There is also a phenomena often attributed to spirits, where marks appear magically on walls. Once I had a newly renovated apartment where, after a year, maniacal rantings suddenly appeared on the walls. But, I knew it was not the devil at play but the work of a unwell squatter in the previously abandoned building using a Sharpie to pen his thoughts. I learned, from my days as a house painter, that Sharpie marks can appear through layers of paint well after the job is done; that they need layers of sealer to be suppressed. Like those Sharpie marks, buried under layers of paint, greasy handprints by a worker on your sauna building crew can leave invisible marks on your cedar, only to be cooked out by the heat of repeated saunas.
One of the things I’ll tell if you ever have a chance to help me install tongue and groove cedar, pine or other wood, is: wash your hands!
Ancient handprints gila cliff dwellings in New Mexico
Oils in your skin (or residue from that submarine sandwich you had for lunch) will leave marks: maybe invisible today, but one day they will appear. And if you cut yourself, don’t be a blood-dripping warrior; put a bandage on it! Blood stains will appear like stigmata after a few sauna sessions. And boot prints deserve a special place on my list: I once had a nice sauna, built with help from friends, but one of them thought they could step on the expensive pile of cedar, rather than walk around it; a Vibram lug-sole print was cooked right into the middle of the ceiling.
Maybe, like the cave painters at Lascaux, carpenters have this unconscious urge to leave their unique mark, which, as an artist, I understand. I like to think we are leaving our mark, but with our fine craftsmanship and not our handprints.
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