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Saunas
A cabin at the end of the garden or a room built into the house, made from timber chosen for heat, sealed against moisture and vented the way a sauna has to be vented.
in short
AltHome builds saunas across Kerry, Cork and Limerick, as a cabin in the garden or a room inside the house, with electric or wood burning heaters. The room is built to hold 80 to 90 °C: a taped foil vapour barrier, proper inlet and outlet ventilation, and timber that stays cool to the touch. Benches and cladding are made to the room. A build takes two to four weeks.
what decides it
Wood or electric, and the four things people get wrong
The heater decides most of the rest of the build. An electric heater is the simple one. It switches on, holds temperature, needs no chimney and suits a sauna built into a house. What it does need is its own circuit back to the board, sized for the heater, run and certified by an electrician. Plugging a sauna heater into a socket is not a shortcut, it is a fire. A wood burning stove gives a heat people prefer and a smell no electric heater matches, and it suits a cabin at the end of the garden where there is no easy cable run. In return it wants a flue with the correct clearances to timber, a hearth, an air supply and somewhere to keep dry logs. Now the four things that go wrong. Vapour control first: the walls get a foil vapour barrier on the warm side of the insulation, with every joint taped, or moisture drives out into the structure and quietly rots it. Ventilation second: a sauna needs air in low near the heater and out high on the far side, adjustable, or the room is stuffy, the heat sits at the ceiling and the timber never dries between uses. Timber third: the cladding and benches are thermo treated aspen, alder or western red cedar, because they stay cool to the touch and hold no resin. Standard pine bleeds sap onto bare skin at eighty degrees. Nothing inside the hot room is made of metal you can touch, including screws, so the cladding is fixed with hidden nails and the benches are built to be lifted out for cleaning. Fourth, the floor: a sloped, sealed floor with a drain in an outdoor cabin, and a fully tanked floor in an indoor room. Water always finds a way to the lowest board.
Garden cabin, or a room in the house?
A garden cabin gets used more, because going out to it in the cold is half the pleasure and because the noise and steam stay outside. An indoor sauna in a spare room, a garage corner or a big bathroom is cheaper to run and easier in winter, but it has to be sealed and vented properly or it will put moisture into the rest of the house. Both are built the same way on the inside. The difference is the shell around them.
the work
What is included in building a sauna?
- Size the room and the heater together, and check the supply or the flue route before anything is ordered.
- Pour the base or prepare the floor, and tank and drain it.
- Frame and insulate, then fix and tape the foil vapour barrier on every surface.
- Form the low inlet and high outlet vents, and run the wiring in heat rated cable.
- Clad in thermo aspen, alder or cedar with hidden fixings, and build the benches to the room.
- Set the heater or stove with its guard and flue, commission it, and hand over the certificates.
4 steps
How long does it take to build a sauna?
You get in touch
Tell us how many people should fit and whether you want it in the garden or in the house. We answer the same day.
We come and look
Space, power, flue route and drainage, then a written price covering the cabin, the heater and the connections.
We build it
Shell, vapour barrier, vents, cladding, benches, heater. The joinery is made to your room rather than bought in a kit size.
You sign it off
We heat it with you there, show you how to run and air it, clear the site and leave the guarantee in writing.
next door
What goes around it
A sauna on its own is a box in a garden. These are the pieces that turn it into somewhere you spend an evening.
asked
Saunas: common questions
What does it cost to run?
An electric sauna for four people draws roughly the same as an electric shower while it heats, for about forty minutes, then far less to hold temperature. Used twice a week it is a small line on the bill. A wood stove costs whatever a few logs cost and nothing else.
Do I need permission to put one in the garden?
A small outbuilding behind the house is usually exempt within the size and height limits, the same rules as a garden room. A wood burning flue near a boundary is the detail worth checking early. We look at both at the survey.
Can you fit a sauna into an existing room?
Yes, and that is a good use for a cold spare room, a garage corner or the end of a big bathroom. The room needs a solid floor, somewhere for the air to go and a supply for the heater. If any of those are missing we will tell you before you commit.
How much does it cost to build a sauna?
Size, indoor or garden cabin, electric or wood heater, the timber and the electrical supply set the price. A garden cabin also needs a base and a cable run or flue. We price it once we know where it goes and how it will be heated.
What is the best wood for a sauna?
Low density softwoods such as spruce, thermo treated aspen or western red cedar, because they stay cool to touch at high temperature and do not bleed resin. Benches are made from knot free timber and left unfinished.
quote
Get a fixed quote for a sauna
Tell us the address and how many people should fit. We work across Kerry, Cork and Limerick. We ring you back within one working day. Add photos of the space and the price we send you will be tighter.
085 220 1422 · info@althome.ie
Written by the AltHome crew. Last reviewed September 2026.