An indoor sauna is convenient, cheaper to heat and usable without going
outside. An outdoor sauna gives you more size options, keeps the moisture out of your
house, and delivers the experience most people are actually after, walking out into the
cold air afterwards. Both are good. The deciding factors are usually space, budget and
whether you have somewhere sensible to put it.
Indoor saunas
Convenient. No coat, no boots, no path to shovel.
Cheaper to run. The room is surrounded by heated house, so it loses
less heat and the heater cycles less.
Often a smaller heater. Many indoor rooms suit our
4.5kW or
6kW.
Limited by the space you have, usually a basement or a spare
bathroom.
Moisture has to be managed so it goes outside rather than into the
house. Ventilation is not optional.
Outdoor saunas
Size is up to you, not to your basement.
Moisture stays outside the house entirely.
The full experience. Stepping out into cold air or snow after a hot
sauna is most of the appeal for many owners.
Needs a bigger heater, usually our
8kW or
9kW in a cold
climate.
An electrical run out to it has to be planned and quoted.
Things people forget to check
How far the electrical run is from the panel, which drives a real part of the
cost.
Whether an outbuilding needs a permit where you live.
Ceiling height indoors, since a sauna wants benches high enough to sit in the
heat.
How you will get an assembled sauna into a basement, if that is the plan.
Winter access to an outdoor sauna, including the barefoot walk.
The wood question
Outdoors, Western red cedar is the practical choice because it resists rot naturally
and stays dimensionally stable through the weather. Indoors you have more options, but
plenty of people still choose cedar for the aroma and the look. See
Western red cedar saunas.
Procraft builds Western red cedar saunas and makes four CSA-approved electric sauna heaters from 4.5kW to 9kW. See the heaters, read about Western red cedar, or see how installation works.