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Outdoor Saunas

An outdoor sauna gives you size you cannot get indoors, keeps all the moisture out of your house, and delivers the part most people are really after: walking out into cold air afterwards. Built in Western red cedar on a proper base, an outdoor sauna handles a Canadian winter without complaint.

What makes an outdoor sauna work

The wood. Outdoors, Western red cedar is the practical choice. It resists rot with no chemical treatment and stays dimensionally stable through wet and dry, so joints stay tight. See Western red cedar saunas.
The base. Firm, level and well drained. This is the one part that is genuinely hard to fix later. See do outdoor saunas need a foundation.
Insulation. The difference between a sauna that is a pleasure in February and one that is a fight.
Heater size. Outdoor rooms lose heat faster, so they generally want a step up. Most outdoor builds land on the 8kW or the 9kW.
Electrical. A run out to the sauna on its own dedicated circuit, done by a licensed electrician. Worth quoting early. See electrical requirements.

Barrel or cabin

Both work outdoors. A barrel heats quickly and looks striking. A cabin gives you more usable space and is easier to insulate heavily, which matters in a cold climate. The trade-offs are laid out in barrel sauna vs cabin sauna.

Winter use

Winter is when an outdoor sauna earns its place. Allow a longer warm-up on a cold day, use the timer, and keep the path to the door clear. Full detail in using an outdoor sauna in a Canadian winter.

Our heaters

Procraft makes four CSA-approved electric sauna heaters. Every one includes 50 lbs of rocks, an integrated thermostat that heats to 110 degrees Celsius, a built-in 3-hour timer and a 5-year limited warranty.

4.5kW, for small indoor rooms
6kW, for mid-size rooms indoor or outdoor
8kW, for larger rooms and outdoor saunas
9kW, for large rooms and extreme cold

Compare them all on the sauna heaters page.

Buying the sauna itself