Sauna

Finland's population is 5,65 million inhabitants of which for about 176 000 persons live here in Lapland. In Finland there are for about 3,8 millions of cars and over 3 million of saunas. It is very hard to find a house in Finland which doesn't have sauna of its own. Also we have sauna of our own.

We've been planning to update our sauna for few years. Like with the parquet I've been unwilling to remove any proper wood only to replace it by another wood. That's why we ended up to wax the walls and ceiling. They sell 3 manufactured shades of the sauna wax: white, grey and black. You do can have any shade you want but these are the pre-mixed factory made shades. 

We chose the pre-mixed factory made shade black. Yep, I know, it looks brown. It looks actually tarry wood. How did we make it? Just using the black wax. See, the original shade of the wood changes the applied shade. It is translucent. Our wood panels were already darkened to yellowish brown (see the 1st picture). This is how it appears through the new black wax. Of course you can't never be sure about the result, only to predict it, but at the end you never know until it's done. That's why you should test it at first on a small spot like we did.

We don't have a functional electric light in our sauna because when it was renovated by the previous owner according to the millennium fashion, which didn't last in actual use. The electric wires are installed in a way that taking it down would need taking the whole ceiling down in both sauna and bathroom. Because we have the window in sauna we have been coping without electric light very well. We considered to install electric lights but decided not to. Having them installed would cost of course but finding an electrician in your desired time window is not easy around here. 

Because the walls get darker now, we need extra light there. I discovered another option than electric lights. They are not candles. Candles in sauna are not very fire-save option. What I discovered? You will see that later when I have been able to buy and install it. Obviously by the autumn when they start to arrive into local supermarket.

We replaced the old sauna bench wood. We could have the old ones sand dusted and fixed. Instead we decided to get new ones, because we need to buy some wood anyway for some garden decoration thing. Instead of buying new wood for garden, we decided recycle the old sauna bench there, and buy new ones for the sauna. In this way we were able to make the benches 10 cm wider, despite we used the old frame to build it all.

Usually people shade all the wood of sauna to the same color. We didn't want to have dark benches because of the lack of the light. I can't see very well. In sauna I can't use my glasses. When it is dim or dark I see even worse. For the light and security we wanted the benches to be visible. For the benches we used aspen tree that is traditional material for sauna benches. And it is a great shade because in our bathroom and everywhere else nearby sauna the wood is in the natural shade, which you can see in the 1st pic of this post. Without these original shade of aspen benches sauna would have looked a bit too different and dark if waxed with black compared to bathroom. Also, notice the green tiles that create more shade difference in the dark sauna during the long & dark winter months.

We have already tested it and the benches are great. They are heavier than before so they are also firmer. He installed some extra support for the bench. I love the wider benches!

Sauna is a great place to be silent, relax and be empowered. Sauna is like a temple or church for the soul healing. You get connected with the spirits in there. Traditionally you got born and die in there. Today you get mostly the traditional soul purification in sauna. That is more than enough.💚

If you visit a sauna in Finland remember to go all undressed and not to hide inside your towel. It is considered very rude when all the other people are in the dress they were born and you warp in your clothes. Remember to leave the space for the silence and physical distance. If you really need to talk, use as low voice as it is possible. Otherwise you will scare the spirits and make them angry and even get their revenge. You can use lower benches/steps if you feel it is too hot. Nobody will laugh at you. Admitting fairly that it is too hot, you will be only considered as a brave person who dares to show your weakness.