A home sauna can be a real treat. You'll experience all the benefits of a proper sauna and sweat bath right in your own home. However, saunas do need some upkeep. As long as you are willing to learn about how to maintain your home sauna, you'll be able to enjoy it for years to come.
Saunas are almost always built of wood and this needs some special care to keep it in optimum condition. Since home saunas tend to be fairly small, this is an ongoing task that really shouldn't take much time.
Cleaning Your Home Sauna
Since the steam will kill any germs that happen to enter the sauna, you really don't need to use anti-bacterial sprays or other disinfectants within the sauna. In fact, it's not even a good idea to use cleaners like this, since they tend to seep into the wood and then let off nasty fumes as you are heating the sauna up again. With the wrong cleanser, you could end up with an unusable steam room!
Prevention is the best medicine and this applies to cleaning, as well. Rather than wait for sweat to stain your wood seating, it's a far better idea to have towels ready to lay on the benches. Have anyone entering the sauna sit on these and you will find that the wood stays in great condition for far longer.
To actually clean the sauna, here are some helpful hints:
- Use plain soapy water to wash the wood with a soft cloth.
- Rinse with cool water.
- For severe discoloration, sand the stained area before washing and treating as normal.
- Watch out for ammonia in your cleansers, not only does it give off toxic fumes, it also turns the wood grey.
It's also a big help to have people wipe down the seats when they use the sauna. This will help reduce the discoloration that is due to weat.
Maintaining the Sauna Heater
The wood isn't the only part of the sauna that needs cleaning, the heater will also need some regular care. There are two types of sauna heaters, electric and wood burning.
An electric heater is fairly easy to clean. You will want to wipe down the heater with a soft cloth and some mild, soapy water from time to time to keep it pristine. Don't ever use a rough cloth or scrubby, since this tends to scratch the metal surface. Once a scratch has appeared, the humid environment in the sauna promotes rust.
Wood burning heaters will need to have the ashes removed after use and regular, professional inspections of the vents to ensure there is no fire hazard from creosote buildup.
The stones that are used to heat the sauna are also quite important. No matter what kind of stones you use in your spa, you really do need to inspect them on a regular basis. Any rocks with cracks or that smell odd will need to be replaced.
Another issue that many home sauna owners run into is a sticky door. The heat and moisture combined in the sauna room makes the wood swell. This can cause the sauna door to stick and is quite easily solved. Just take a piece of sandpaper, see where the wood is sticking and gently sand it just enough to allow the door to open and shut easily. It really isn't that difficult to maintain a sauna if you know what you're doing. Avoid harsh chemical cleansers and keep your heater in tip top condition and you'll enjoy your sauna for a long time to come.
By: Amy Nutt
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Check Out a Home Sauna
As more and more of us are embracing healthier lifestyles, we begin looking for easier ways to achieve our goal of overall goal of excellent health. For many years, home pools and spas have been all the rage. Why purchase a membership at a health club when you can achieve the same effect in the privacy of your own home? Now, more and more health-conscious people are putting saunas into their homes. Whereas once the idea of a home sauna seemed ludicrous to all but the super-rich, these days many of us of moderate means can afford one.
Home saunas come in one of two varieties: modular or pre-cut. Pre-cut home saunas are a bit more time-consuming in their construction, as they are custom-built for your home's needs. These saunas can come in all shapes and sizes, depending only on what your specifications are. Pre-cut home sauna kits allow you to convert a single room, or part of a room, into a sauna. The kit provides you with all the wood and accessories you will need for assembly, allowing you to easily attach the assembly to your room's existing frame. Pre-cut home sauna kits need to be installed over waterproof floors, such as concrete or ceramic tile.
The more common and popular home sauna is the ready-to-assemble modular sauna kit. These home sauna kits are quite a bit easier to assemble than the pre-cut variety, allowing even the novice do-it-yourselfer the opportunity to build their own sauna. They are also great because they are easy to disassemble, allowing you to take them with you when you move. As the name implies, modular home sauna kits come in large pieces, ready for you to assemble. The kit contains wall and ceiling sections, as well as floor panels, benches, a heater, and all the other accessories necessary for your home sauna. They even come partially-wired. As with pre-cut kits, modular kits need to be installed over a waterproof floor.
When installing your home sauna, it is imperative that you exercise caution and observe all safety regulations. Never use any electrical component that is not UL-rated and make sure that all of the circuits are of the correct size. Also, if you need to do any extra wiring not provided for in the kit, make sure that it is done by a qualified electrician, or inspected by one at the very least. The door to the sauna should always open outward and should never have any locks of any kind. Also, the interior surfaces of the sauna should never be treated with any chemicals in any way, since the high heat emitted by the sauna may cause paints and other coatings to give off toxic fumes. Due to the high level of dry heat present in a sauna, you should always consult with your doctor prior to using one, and always follow all of the sauna manufacturer's specific safety and operating instructions to the letter.
For many of us, we want to live a healthier lifestyle, but we just can't motivate ourselves to go to a health club and try and get fit. For some, it's a matter of fearing to work-out in front of others. For others, it's sheer laziness and lack of motivation. A home sauna may be exactly what you need. Home saunas allow you to sweat at your own pace and start your path to a healthy lifestyle from the comfort of your own home.
By: Thomas Oak
Home saunas come in one of two varieties: modular or pre-cut. Pre-cut home saunas are a bit more time-consuming in their construction, as they are custom-built for your home's needs. These saunas can come in all shapes and sizes, depending only on what your specifications are. Pre-cut home sauna kits allow you to convert a single room, or part of a room, into a sauna. The kit provides you with all the wood and accessories you will need for assembly, allowing you to easily attach the assembly to your room's existing frame. Pre-cut home sauna kits need to be installed over waterproof floors, such as concrete or ceramic tile.
The more common and popular home sauna is the ready-to-assemble modular sauna kit. These home sauna kits are quite a bit easier to assemble than the pre-cut variety, allowing even the novice do-it-yourselfer the opportunity to build their own sauna. They are also great because they are easy to disassemble, allowing you to take them with you when you move. As the name implies, modular home sauna kits come in large pieces, ready for you to assemble. The kit contains wall and ceiling sections, as well as floor panels, benches, a heater, and all the other accessories necessary for your home sauna. They even come partially-wired. As with pre-cut kits, modular kits need to be installed over a waterproof floor.
When installing your home sauna, it is imperative that you exercise caution and observe all safety regulations. Never use any electrical component that is not UL-rated and make sure that all of the circuits are of the correct size. Also, if you need to do any extra wiring not provided for in the kit, make sure that it is done by a qualified electrician, or inspected by one at the very least. The door to the sauna should always open outward and should never have any locks of any kind. Also, the interior surfaces of the sauna should never be treated with any chemicals in any way, since the high heat emitted by the sauna may cause paints and other coatings to give off toxic fumes. Due to the high level of dry heat present in a sauna, you should always consult with your doctor prior to using one, and always follow all of the sauna manufacturer's specific safety and operating instructions to the letter.
For many of us, we want to live a healthier lifestyle, but we just can't motivate ourselves to go to a health club and try and get fit. For some, it's a matter of fearing to work-out in front of others. For others, it's sheer laziness and lack of motivation. A home sauna may be exactly what you need. Home saunas allow you to sweat at your own pace and start your path to a healthy lifestyle from the comfort of your own home.
By: Thomas Oak
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