Blog SHARE: Table of Contents Heaters that make you sweat, profusely! Be aware of low quality heaters that don’t perform. Certifications Finnmark Designs is one...
Read MoreChoose your sauna wood wisely...
The wood you choose will have an impact on your overall sauna experience.
WHAT WOOD SHOULD YOU CHOOSE?
The only wood that you should ever consider inside your sauna is cedar. Will other’s argue this? Yes. But the fact is there is no other wood that has more history (centuries) of being better and longer lasting than cedar. So why do other sauna manufacturers sell other woods? It’s cheaper and frankly as of recent they can’t obtain cedar like Finnmark Design’s.
Eucalyptus
We would highly suggest that you make the sauna company send you a sample of this wood before you purchase a sauna full of it. Finnmark Designs built several sample saunas out of this wood and the smell is horrendous, a combination of forest floor and fungus. Don’t confuse eucalyptus wood with eucalyptus oil which smells wonderful. Maybe tricking you is exactly what these sauna companies want to do. There’s absolutely no history of using eucalyptus in a sauna. It’s a porous wood that will eventually grow mold, fungus and harmful bacteria.
Basswood
Highly porous white wood. Sauna companies make claims this type of wood is hypoallergenic and non-toxic. This might be a half true statement in the beginning but woods like basswood absorb sweat like a sponge. If you actually sweat in your sauna (more on this later) basswood becomes extremely toxic. Overtime this wood has been proven to grow mold, bacteria and fungus. Basswood is also a very inexpensive wood that is prone to wrapping, cracking and bending when heated and cooled. Contact us for dozens of photos of white woods growing mold and bacteria in saunas.
Mahogany
Another very uncommon wood that is now being used for saunas due to the cost of cedar. Mahogany is a hardwood and like with most hardwoods used in saunas they get extremely HOT. So hot that sitting on this wood becomes very uncomfortable. There’s not a long enough track record of using Mahogany in an infrared sauna to make an educated guess to purchase a sauna built from it.
Thermal Aspen
Thermal Aspen exteriors by Finnmark Designs isn’t new, it’s just unreachable and too costly for our competitors to build their saunas with. Thermal modification of wood was developed in Finnland in the early 1990’s. It’s a completely natural process that can take a white wood like aspen and transform it into a wood just as strong and long lasting as cedar. In fact, the wood is so strong and durable there is a good argument that it will overtake the cedar market entirely in the coming years. Thermal Aspen is sustainable, hypoallergenic, antimicrobial and sworn by the Finns for being the most natural, long lasting wood available especially for outdoor applications.
With the cost of cedar skyrocketing most sauna brands couldn’t afford to offer cedar. Instead of investing in the future, like Finnmark Designs did, they chose to build a narrative around a less superior wood and still raise their pricing.
