The Sauna: A Complete Guide to the Construction, Use, and Benefits of the Finnish Bath, 2nd Edition

by Robert L. Roy

With a history going back at least one thousand years, the sauna is ready for a new generation of enthusiasts seeking health, pleasure, and peace of mind, and Rob Roy is ready to recruit! "If the sauna is just a bath, then Buckingham Palace is just a house." So writes sauna expert and intrepid do-it-yourselfer Roy in this new, updated version of The Sauna . This completely revised and expanded edition of The Sauna contains everything you ever wanted to know about the famous "Finnish bath." In this inviting book, Roy shares his infectious enthusiasm for the sauna and provides a complete, detailed guide to sauna building, along with resources for equipment and supplies. The Sauna is replete with history, tradition, health benefits, instructions for proper use and maintenance, as well as step-by-step instructions for building a variety of cordwood masonry saunas and, new to this edition, conventionally wood-framed saunas. The beautiful color photographs, also new to this edition, will inspire you to create your own sauna haven.

Genres: Health

256 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 2004

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

So this is the best book I've seen on how to build a Sauna. There's some good and some bad.

The good:
He goes into a lot of detail, and after reading this you should have no problems figuring out how to make your own sauna, or at least how to make the next steps. Overall I enjoyed it.

The bad:
The reason I give it 4 and not 5 stars is there's a couple of omissions. First off, the author LOVES cordwood masonry. That's fine and I don't blame him his preferences, but he spends most of the book talking about building a cordwood sauna. Maybe 3/4ths of it. For the last quarter of the book he talks about stick built saunas -- which is what i was interested in. However, he leaves out a lot of details that are needed and I felt like I needed to research other books.

So it's a great start but if, like me, you want to build a stick built sauna with a wood stove that you weld yourself, you're missing information on both those parts.

Why would you want to do this? Well many building codes have an exception for small building. If i make a cordwood building with a permanent foundation, I need a permit, an inspection, etc. If I build it using wood and it's not permanent, no foundation needed.

So he's got a hold there which is why I took off a star.

[Logan Streondj · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wasn't really what I expected. The main focus was on various forms of cordwood construction. There was a single instance of one very energy inefficient sauna made.

Somehow it seems the author never even thought about things like R value rating of the construction or anything, or fuel efficiency of the stove etc. Didn't talk about heat production, watts, nothing.

I did learn a few things about sauna culture, and that ventilation is very important. Otherwise it was rather disappointing.

[Joe Beeson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun intro into sauna building, really good if you want to build a cordwood sauna, good info on other items but not a comprehensive knowledge bank. some good references

[Megalion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Skimmed this book and turns out it's an updated edition of a book I read the other day. This makes a more definitive edition because A) there's more photos and variety of saunas depicted. B) More color photos C) More photos of the building process and D) there's a new section devoted to the more conventional framed sauna vs the cordwood masonry style he advocates. Plus the new section has detailed descriptions and photographs as well for the building of it. I did not read the new section thoroughly yet but so far of all the sauna books read or skimmed to date, this is the best one for someone who wants to DIY.