Sauna Delivery via Ferry

Every few months we deliver one of our saunas to a lucky owner but this time around we think we were the lucky ones! Upon arrival, we were greeted by the most gracious and welcoming hosts who made us feel right at home in Nantucket. We wined and dined farm-to-table, talked about saunas and just about everything else. When you have sauna in common, it’s easy to get along. Their sheer excitement of the new sauna’s arrival was contagious and we’re reminded how much there is to look forward to when you bring sauna into your home life and routines. On this family’s compound, guests, family and friends will come to visit and vacation and will be able to take a traditional Finnish-style steam bath style sauna.

We made it safe and sound with not a single shingle flying off on the highway at 65 mph and during heavy rain gusts. Now, that’s saying something!

At the ferry gates in Nantucket, we got a lot of attention with the sauna in tow. Local carpenters came up to talk about the shingle traditions in the New England, Cape Cod and Nantucket areas. We learned that the aged and grayed out Northern White Cedar shingles are part of the island’s charm and takes about a year to go gray.
> View More pictures of this “Nantucket-Style Sauna” >

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Sustainable Practices

We travel a lot to deliver our saunas and pick up materials. We try to turn each trip into an opportunity to build connections and expand our sauna world.

Baltic heat-treated wood and Western Red Cedar are popular sauna wood, but we like to shop as close home as possible. We prefer Northern White Cedar from our New England region and rely on our friends at Goodridge Lumber in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. The family run operation provides us with sustainably harvested Northern White Cedar that is milled with care. Northern White Cedar is one of best woods in terms of performance for sauna because of its low density and stability. We also like the subtle hoppy aroma. We use Northern White Cedar and locally milled Pine in our In-Situ Sauna—which is our traditional wood-fired sauna that we can deliver to your yard. Our freestanding saunas are like small well-built homes using standard stick frame construction with full five inch thick walls. These will not crumble under the weight of a heavy snow or even a falling tree—which happened with a recent client (but only the trim was damaged!)

We build our saunas to last lifetime and be passed down to future generations.

During our voyage to pick up Northern White Cedar we decided to meet a fellow sauna builder Nils Solhem, of Solhem Saunas, who has been a part of our sauna building network of fellow enthusiasts and builders who have connected over the past several years via countless video calls. Like Rob, Nils has been making saunas since long before the current boom. Like many pandemic era friendships, we hadn’t even met in person, so while in Vermont we finally had the privilege to meet Nils at one of his job sites, and take a peek at his beautiful timber framed style sauna. We were reminded about his passion for historic preservation projects and restoration and a profound respect for tradition. With encouragement from Rob, he is now teaching part of the sauna building class at Yestermorrow School. We hope the class gains as much popularity as ours in their respective ways.

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Dragons Breath Sauna

Another practice not touched upon too often in US sauna culture is the ancient ritual “Temazcal”, from Latin America, where sauna is a meditative retreat akin to Native American sweat lodges. Temazcal is typically a low masonry doomed structure with no windows. Contrary to the current trends of huge glass windows, this sauna we built has blackout panels for its windows so it can get dark. The large mound of rocks will allow for a great amount of steady steam when poured slowly. Our client will take their sauna out into the landscape for a Temazcal ceremony and unique sauna experience.

Sitting on the bench in a dark sauna can be a contemplative, womb-like and deeply relaxing.

Design inspiration for the sauna’s exterior and door comes from the red dirt, clay, adobe, brick and rugged landscape in Texas and Mexico. The dark exterior has been our most popular color with the most suitable name—Dragons Breath.

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CODE BLUES (Sauna Permit Regulations)

NEWS is that Rob is spearheading a working group at North American Sauna Society (NASS) who are addressing some of the confusion and vagueness of the “International Building Code”. We want to improve the sauna industry when it comes to home installations and permitting process for exterior buildings. Frustrated builders, contractors and trade people you are not alone! If you or someone you know has permit regulation issues and roadblocks affecting you and your clients sauna build please stay tuned about this exciting new development. Otherwise, you might want to look into a mobiles sauna like so many of our clients desperately do. >>Read more in-depth about “CODE BLUES”>>

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Building friends

We learn so much during the days and then after class we take saunas. It’s glorious.

We continue to build our community through the Sauna Building Class & Workshop at our shop here in Lansing, NY. What you get with the class is not just 4-intensive days of learning, but relationships with other sauna builders and Rob. It is an introduction to a circle of fellow sauna builders and our wide network of enthusiasts. Trades people and new sauna business owners really enjoy this class because of the depth of information and seeing what we do behind the scenes. There is so much to learn about these unique buildings, the design build process and the plethora of challenges and scenarios we face.

“Everyone we met was salt of the earth.
Thank you for holding and supporting the dreams of others in your learning spaces.”

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Lämpimämpi Sauna Stove production

Rob is amping up his Lämpimämpi Sauna Stove to be sold separately, and not just as part of our mobile saunas. If you’re a builder or DIYer and are interested in an external feed stove that are renowned for their quality of heat, please contact us. We know the competition is growing up around us but these stoves are the real deal and handmade in the USA! The stove will come with a manual that includes installation guide and how to build a safe firewall for freestanding or trailers because, well, that is what we do.

Life is better with sauna.

—Rob and Scarlet

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