Western Red Cedar vs Hemlock Sauna

Both are good sauna woods. Western red cedar resists rot naturally, carries the aroma people associate with a sauna, and holds up outdoors, which makes it the choice for outdoor saunas. Hemlock is paler, nearly odourless and less expensive, and it works well for an indoor sauna, especially for anyone sensitive to scent.

Western red cedar

• Naturally rot-resistant. Cedar's own oils fight decay and insects with no chemical treatment, which is what makes it suitable outdoors.
• Aroma. The warm cedar smell is a big part of the experience for most people.
• Stays cool to sit on. Low density means it does not store and throw back heat.
• Dimensionally stable. Lies flat, resists warping and cupping, so joints stay tight.
• Warm reddish-brown colour that weathers to silver-grey outdoors if left bare.
• Costs more than hemlock.

Hemlock

• Nearly odourless. A genuine advantage if you or anyone in the house is sensitive to scent, or if you simply do not want a smell in the room.
• Clean, pale, even appearance with a fine, uniform grain.
• Stable and comfortable inside a sauna, and pleasant to sit on.
• Less expensive than cedar.
• Not naturally rot-resistant, which is the important limitation. Keep it indoors.
• No aroma, which is a drawback if the cedar smell is what you want.

How to choose

• Outdoor sauna: cedar. Hemlock does not have the natural decay resistance to sit outside in Canadian weather.
• Indoor sauna, want the classic smell: cedar.
• Indoor sauna, sensitive to scent or watching the budget: hemlock is a sound choice.
• Want a pale, modern look: hemlock, or cedar if you prefer the warm tone.

Can you mix them

Yes, and people do. A common approach is hemlock benches with cedar walls, or the reverse, to balance cost, appearance and aroma. There is no rule against combining them as long as anything exposed to the weather is cedar.

What we build with

We build with Western red cedar, because our saunas are made to live outdoors through Canadian winters and cedar is the wood that does that without chemical treatment. The full case is on our Western red cedar page, and there is a separate comparison with thermowood.

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.