How to Build a Home Sauna

LESLIE: Claire in Alaska, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today?

CLAIRE: Hi. I want to build a sauna [1] at my home.

TOM: OK.

CLAIRE: And I’ve been to the home shows where they sell these very expensive, $7,000 packages and they – we can’t afford that. So, might there be a problem with using several of the clear or red infrared [2] bulbs that are sold at the hardware stores? And how can we tell what wattage is enough for our sauna space?

TOM: Yeah, I don’t think that you’re going to get enough heat with those infrared bulbs. It certainly would make it warm but it’s no sauna. You have to have a sauna heater, at least. If you’re going to build the room yourself – and that’s fine but I think you have to start by selecting a proper sauna heater.

For me, I want to just look for a good, electric heating coil and that has sort of rocks that surround it, because I love to throw the hot water on the hot coils and have it steam [3] up.

CLAIRE: OK, thank you very much. I appreciate your help.