DIY INFRARED SAUNAs
Build Your Own Infrared Sauna
BUILD YOUR OWN SAUNA
Everything you need to know.
After more than twenty years of experience manufacturing and distributing luxury infrared saunas across the world, we've also developed an all-in-one DIY sauna kit to work for both personal and big-scale commercial projects,
Build your dream sauna
Build your dream sauna with the Clearlight Sauna kit. Each Clearlight Sauna Kit is customised for your own sauna design and includes:
Clearlight's True Wave™ Sauna Heaters
Clearlight's Digital Sauna Control Pad
Sauna Electrical Wiring
Sauna Power Adaptor
Sauna Recommendations
Sauna Build Manual
Build from an existing structure
Converting a structure into a sauna can be cost-effective for building a sauna. Saunas can be converted from the likes an old shed, a spare room, bathroom, changing room and even unused basement space.
In all instances, you will need an air inlet such as a rough opening or vent to ensure ventilation and prevention of creating a fire hazard.
If you are converting a bathroom, beware of steam from the shower impacting the electricals or any moisture damage that might occur. Also, for your DIY sauna to work effectively make sure your walls contain insulation.
Costs will depend on the scale of the project and providing the correct details to our team is critical in ensuring an accurate quote.
Our preparatory software program calculates the required amount of infrared heaters needed to provide the Clearlight standard of thermoregulation.
“We have more than twenty five years of experience manufacturing and distributing luxury infrared saunas across the world, so we know a thing or two when it comes to building one.”
— Sebastian Mierau, Clearlight Saunas International
From start to finish
There are many reasons why you might want to build a custom sauna.
Maybe you want a particular sauna design or sauna size that isn't commercially available. Or maybe you want to be able to use your sauna year-round, regardless of the weather.
For whichever reason, building your own sauna means you can customize it to meet your specific needs and to your own design. Before you start on your sauna, there are a few things you should know.
First, Clearlight sauna kits are for building and converting a space into an infrared sauna. This means that the sauna heater uses infrared light to heat the body, they do not generate a heat source from wood-burning or steam.
The space must contain a floor and ceiling on level ground, with walls, air gaps and enough room to sauna bath comfortably.
Secondly, building a freestanding sauna can be time-consuming for a DIY project, and costly when you introduce the help of a contractor. Often building a sauna can quickly become more expensive than purchasing one.
Thirdly, a certified electrician will need to check the electrical components of the sauna to ensure it has been installed to a power source correctly.
Lastly, any additional sauna add-ons we provide should be considered at the beginning of your build.
These include chromotherapy, internal speakers, red light therapy, aromatherapy, vibrational resonance therapy and halotherapy. All sauna Add-Ons will be additional purchases to your sauna.
Due to high demand, our Sauna Kits are currently unavailable. In the meantime, please get in touch with us, or take a look at our Infrared Sauna Collections.
5 easy-to-follow steps to planning a sauna build
Here are some essential planning considerations to bear in mind when getting started on your sauna project. These apply to both an outdoor sauna and an indoor sauna project:
1. Measuring the room
Taking the right measurements is the first (and most important) step in planning your build. The height and width of your interior walls will impact everything, from the number of heaters, to the size of the door, to the insulation and total number of building materials required.
The biggest difference between a successful custom sauna build and a not-so-successful one is the main structure. Remember to; keep enough access to and from your sauna, build on a level foundation, and remember a little extra space never goes astray.
2. Seating arrangements
Sauna benches can make or break your sauna. How much bench space you have to play with will make a huge contribution to the overall aesthetic of your project.
For a multi-level build, different bench lengths for your floor level and upper bench can create a luxury aesthetic. Beware not to place the upper bench too close to the sauna ceiling.
3. Sauna door
Sauna doors are a pivotal attribute to the aesthetics of your DIY sauna build. Most saunas nowadays utilise a glass door to create the feel of a larger space, but this will depend if you sauna indoors or not.
If you're building a backyard sauna, opting for double-paned glass for your sauna door may help with insulation.
4. Sauna heater
Our Clearlight Kit includes our patented True Wave™ heater technology. These ultra-low EMF, far-infrared heater panels are a special carbon and ceramic fusion heater that provide optimal energy and heating efficiency.
The heater panel we provide is for a dry sauna only, which means they are not suitable in a steam room, or a Finnish sauna that uses sauna rocks or wood burning to generate heat.
5. Choosing extras
Once you have your floor, walls, ceiling, door, bench and heat source planned out, you can consider adding some extras to really get the most health benefits out of your sauna session.
We offer all the add-ons available in our pre-built sauna range, such as our medical-grade chromotherapy that can be installed seamlessly into the ceiling of your DIY sauna.
Unfortunately, due to logistics and supply issues, our Clearlight Sauna Kits are currently unavailable until early 2023. In the meantime, please get in touch with us, or take a look at our Infrared Sauna Collections.
Interior wood types for your sauna.
A big advantage of the DIY sauna kit is you can choose your own wood for your sauna. Here are a few sauna kinds of wood we recommend looking into:
Lindenwood sauna
In contrast to the woods already mentioned, the linden tree has the advantage of being odourless. Many people who are sensitive to a strong wood aroma are well advised to use linden wood. Furthermore, there are only very few knotholes in linden trees, which gives the wood a nice, even look.
Cedarwood sauna
There's a reason our Clearlight Saunas are almost all made from grade-A-Canadian cedarwood. Cedarwood is particularly resistant to moisture and hardly reacts to temperature fluctuations. In other words, it is the all-rounder for use in sauna cabins.
Nordic-spruce wood sauna
Spruce is one of the cheaper types of wood (along with pine) and is therefore perfect for all savers. The spruce wood should rather be used in a frame, as it tends to bend when there are large temperature fluctuations.
Eucalyptus wood sauna
Eucalyptus is resistant to humidity and moisture, making it a good choice for an outdoor sauna. The wood doesn't warp or shrink in wet environments, making it a good option for a sauna cabin that will be used in all seasons.
FAQ
We determine the cost of each individual sauna kit through the use of our preparatory software program that calculates the correct required wattage needed to optimise any given proposed sauna space. This determines the correct amount of infrared heating requirements to achieve optimised therapeutic benefits and ultimately the cost of the sauna kit.
Let’s look at the following example:
Converting an exisiting room roughly the size of a 1-person sauna, with the following dimensions: 100cm wide x 111cm deep x 191cm height.
Utilising our patented True Wave heaters to fulfil the wattage requirements, our technical team then determines the suitable size of the heaters required. This is to meet both the desired aesthetics of the sauna, as well as optimising the placement of the heaters for the most effective and efficient use, drawn from our 22 years in the industry.
For this example, we are using 4x heaters (600mm x 475mm) side panel, 1x heater (1100mm x 600mm) back panel, and 1 heater (600mm x 280mm) seating panel. This estimated cost of the heating components is $2,600 AUD (not including freight, insulation, installation, build, contract cost or additional add-ons.) This example cost is inclusive of these 6 True Wave heater panels, our lifetime warranty on components, 1 power source, 1 temperature sensor and an installation manual.
To find out the exact cost of the sauna kit that you would like, please fill in the form below.
*Please note this example is subject to change and may not be used as a quote.
There are multiple kinds of wood that we recommend when it comes to building your personal infrared sauna at home. Determining the best wood to use will come down to various factors, including your access to sourcing certain types of woods, and also financial constraints might have you narrowing down your choice even more.
Any of these types of wood are suitable for sauna walls and benches:
• Western Red Canadian Cedar
• Redwood
• Alaskan Yellow Cedar
• Basswood
• Western Hemlock
• Scots & Radiata Pine
• American or White Ash
• Common Aspen
• Black Alder
Not all wood is created equal. Certain types of wood are pressure treated with chemicals to help them withstand the elements, and the test of time. As a result of this pressure treatment, we advise that you do not use treated wood if constructing a sauna at home, to avoid direct contact and inhalation of microscopic traces of chemicals as the ambient temperature and humidity climb.
The size of your sauna is totally up to you and will be a combination of factors such as cost, space restrictions and intended use. However, if you are looking for a general overview of how big a 2-person sauna or even a 4-person sauna should be, we’ve written a guide to help you decide.
