Matt RaibleMatt Raible is a Web Developer and Java Champion. Connect with him on LinkedIn.

The Angular Mini-Book The Angular Mini-Book is a guide to getting started with Angular. You'll learn how to develop a bare-bones application, test it, and deploy it. Then you'll move on to adding Bootstrap, Angular Material, continuous integration, and authentication.

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10+ YEARS


Over 10 years ago, I wrote my first blog post. Since then, I've authored books, had kids, traveled the world, found Trish and blogged about it all.

The Basement Sauna Project

The Sauna under snow I grew up in a cabin in the backwoods of Montana. We had no electricity and no running water. We used an outhouse to do our business and bathed in a sauna. The Cabin was built by my great-grandpa Matti Hill, who had come to America by way of Finland and a Russian navy ship. Matti and his wife Ann received 120 acres from the Homesteading Act of 1862, and built a cabin and sauna on the property in 1917 and 1918, respectively.

When my sister and I started going to school, we started getting teased by the other kids because we smelled like goats. Since we had a whole bunch of goats, and they did smell, there's a good chance the kids were right. My sister and I told my parents, and they bumped the saunas up from once a week to twice a week.

I have many fond memories of the sauna in Montana. It has a huge 55-gallon stove; made from an oil barrel. A tub of water sits on the top of the stove and throughout my childhood, I developed the ability to make the water sing with a blazing fire. I've always loved that sauna, as well as most saunas. My parents built one in their basement in Oregon, but that went away last year when they my Mom retired and they moved back to Montana.

Basement Sauna in Salem Basement Sauna in Salem

I've always wanted to build a sauna in my own basement. When my parents visited for a few weeks this past February, I finally began the project. The prep work, installing a drain and getting 220-volt electricity installed, in the basement was the hardest part. Not from a "doing it" perspective, but from a "stomaching the cost" perspective.

Drain Installation Sump Pump New Drain Applewood Plumbing doing some nice work.

By the time my parents left at the end of February, the main infrastructure was completed. The framing was done, the stove was installed and the insulation was mostly finished.

Framing begins! Stove mounted Almost ready for Cedar Buying a bunch of Cedar

Over the next couple months, I spent a few hours here and there finishing the cedar walls, building benches and trimming to make it look good. We hired someone to do the tile work and build a custom cedar door. One of my favorite things we did was have a custom piece of glass made with the Montana Sauna's picture sandblasted in it.

Tile finished! Glad we hired someone to finish the tile. Looks great! Sauna door installed! The Dressing Room

I can't take credit for how good it looks in the end. That praise goes to Trish and her tile design, as well as her decorating of the dressing room. My favorite thing is the shower in the sauna. It's great for rinsing off after sweating the day's stresses away. When it gets up to 112°C (233°F), stress goes away pretty fast.

Benches I made from scratch Shower IN the sauna!

I'd like to thank my parents for raising me with a sauna and my Finnish ancestors for inventing the idea. I think Jack summed it up best when I asked him, "Isn't it great having a sauna in our basement?" His reply: "No Dad, it's not great ... it's AWESOME!". Well said son. :)

More Pictures » Flickr Set or Facebook Album.

Posted in General at May 12 2011, 09:35:00 AM MDT 6 Comments
Comments:

Congrats, the sauna looks great!

-Antti
(Helsinki, Finland)

Posted by Antti on May 12, 2011 at 05:52 PM MDT #

Nice, but for the real thing - go for a wood furnace (?); more comfortable heat, relaxing and the smell :-)

Posted by Sigmund Lundgren on May 13, 2011 at 08:05 AM MDT #

Yep, nothing like a sauna when the outside temperatures dip 20 degrees below freezing.

Posted by Keith Bjorndahl on May 29, 2011 at 11:39 PM MDT #

How does your sauna works? I plan to built sauna in the basement but because of little space I have to install shower in sauna. I just wonder if the steel handle of mixing faucet will be too hot. Do you have such problem?

Posted by Lukasz on May 28, 2017 at 09:13 PM MDT #

Hello Lukasz - our sauna works great! We installed a shower in our sauna too. The steel handle does get hot, so we take it off and set it on the lowest bench. Then we use it to adjust the sauna after it's heated up.

Posted by Matt Raible on May 30, 2017 at 10:19 PM MDT #

Thanks for reply! I know now what kind of shower to buy. I like your dressing room with logs-like wall I'm also going to build similar, it reminds me huts in the Finnish wilderness. Great idea!

Posted by Lukasz on June 05, 2017 at 07:49 PM MDT #

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