Sauna in the main bathroom or in the basement?

  • Erstellt am 2023-11-20 10:07:26

HeimatBauer

2023-11-20 20:49:02
  • #1
I built quite spaciously and it was clear from the start that a sauna was to be included - and not just 2x2m in a 4x4m heating cellar but a separate sauna room that is also cozy. Since our house is newly built, the basement is neither dark nor low nor cold but has exactly the same living quality as all the other floors. Of course, it is also fully integrated into the central ventilation system. The attic is fully developed and we considered building the sauna there (the attic naturally has a balcony and a wonderfully wide view over the landscape) or in the basement. Fortunately, we were able to test the sauna with friends who had built theirs in the attic with a roof terrace. In general, we conducted many tests with friends who had "built new or renovated before us". Many dreams were pulverized and new ones solidified.

We decided on the sauna in the basement and have not regretted it for a second. The wellness room is really taking shape with light design, room acoustics, a massage table, and all the trimmings. Naturally, we also have a spacious shower in which two people still have room to move around, but deliberately no toilet because that would have been too annoying with the lifting system. I believe since we have the sauna, and we really use it often, only once has someone gone upstairs to get drinks and also used the toilet. So I don’t need a toilet in the sauna.
If we feel like it, after the sauna evening the sauna room door is left open, and then the whole house smells of the last infusion; the warmth is preserved anyway thanks to the ventilation system. Of course, that doesn't have to be the case, I’ve also deliberately closed the door so that you can’t smell anything from the sauna throughout the whole house.

For me, I can’t warm up to huge bathrooms, no matter how warm they are, I always feel cold there. Our sauna room is already quite large, and as an additional bathroom space now – no thanks for me. And we have a bathroom in the attic with a tub and a skylight above so you can look at the stars while in the tub. I’m happy every time I use one of our four bathrooms (yes, and I wouldn’t want to miss any of them) and they are exactly the size I want. Likewise, I like the spacious studio in the attic just as it is; I’m there every day (my study), and I’m glad it didn’t become the sauna.

So yes, I wouldn’t want a sauna in a ’50s clay-floor wood-shaving grottenolm cellar either. I simply solved the problem by making my basement not a "basement" but a fully livable floor that just happens to be below the ground floor. In fact, the tiles in the sauna room are the most expensive in the whole house. Quickly calculated, I have network sockets in eight places in the sauna room, three music zones that can be freely coupled (measured for room acoustics and with absorbers), and four lighting zones. Of course, normal underfloor heating and ventilation. I only mention this because it always so naturally says, "you don’t want a sauna in the basement" as if that were like the scary basements in children’s picture books. If a basement in a new building looks like this, then much was unnecessarily done wrong. And I also use the sauna shower when I come from the fitness room next door to shower. Yes, warm, you can hardly believe it. And that in the basement! And I don’t have to pass by junk nor stumble over grottenolms or freeze to the floor.

I also considered a garden sauna; my father always wanted to build one in this garden and had even laid water and power lines for it. You have to really like a garden sauna or at least have the right surroundings for it. If at all, I would have done it only as part of a larger garden house but that would have been exactly what I didn’t want. For me, a garden sauna is simply not for me, but to each their own.

Other friends have a sauna connected to the master bedroom bathroom. When we ask them about it, they become dreadfully tense and mumble incomprehensibly "it’s her sauna, she wanted it that way!" "No, you wanted it that way!" "No, you!" "No, you!" and not only are larger sauna gatherings not held there (it’s too small anyway) but none at all. When asked what stove they have, she only said "I don’t even remember how it turns on."

Conclusion: Everyone as they like and depending on the structural conditions. And the days of "basement = dark = cold" have fortunately been over for a few decades.
 

Mausimaus

2023-11-20 21:00:23
  • #2
Your project sounds interesting. Have you shared your floor plans here in the forum? We already live in our own home and have a living basement. In the new house it will be the same again, so with ventilation, underfloor heating, and floor-to-ceiling windows where possible. We are also planning spaciously but with only 3 bathrooms.
 

Mausimaus

2023-11-20 21:01:39
  • #3
A pool will be placed in the garden, the sauna should actually be housed in the house since we use it very often. But many thanks for your experience. Your garden sounds great.
 

Mausimaus

2023-11-20 21:02:45
  • #4
Thank you for the tip, I will do that :)
 

Mausimaus

2023-11-20 21:03:47
  • #5
Thank you for the description. I can imagine it.
 

HeimatBauer

2023-11-20 21:08:45
  • #6
No, the floor plan is also unspectacular. Rectangular room plus shower niche.

You can never test the garden sauna and the types of wood enough. After several visits to thermal baths, I imagined a pine wood sauna until I was in a new pine sauna and suddenly got a splitting headache. That was the en-suite sauna, which was already ten years old but had maybe five heating cycles behind it and still smelled intense accordingly.
 

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