How to maintain the sauna?

Your oven maintenance is directly affected by how much you use it. An oven that is used only once, or twice a month will obviously require less maintenance than one that is used for several hours multiple times a week.

To maintain the oven in the best way possible make sure to use only dry wood, which is the best material for heating a woodburner oven. As a rule of thumb only use softwood from trees with leaves, ideally birch wood. Avoid pine timber as it contains resin which eventually will get stuck in the chimney.

Keep the oven’s air-intake vents clear by removing excess ashes.

The stones in your sauna should be re-stacked depending on use. We typically recommend once every year.

If every now and then you wish to sweep the chimney, a brush made of plastic or stainless steel should be used.

We recommend you to consult a chimney sweeper for specific recommendations on how often you should have your chimney swept.

In order to maintain benches in the best possible condition, we recommend all sauna users to sit on towels when having a sauna session. In day-to-day sauna sessions no cleaning is necessary, however, every now and then we recommend washing the benches with a little warm water and a suitable cleaning solution using a very soft brush. Always brush the benches along the grain of the wood and rinse the benches a few times to remove the detergent. Finally, rinse the benches with cold water to close the grains of the wood and help to repel dirt. Carefully dry the sauna by heating it for at least 30 minutes.

NOTE: Make sure to wipe up any excess water on benches, or on the sauna floor, as it is made out of wood, it might deform if water is left to dry on its own.

Once the benches are clean and dry, you can treat them with a protective coat of paraffin oil. Try the oil in an unnoticeable place, such as under a bench to see how the oil affects the colour of the wood and to check if you like the slightly darker tone given by the paraffin oil.

If the benches have stubborn dark stains, you can lightly sand them off when the benches are dry.

The floor in your sauna is made of Spruce. Spruce is a type of wood that absorbs less moisture compared to many other types of wood and it is a long lasting type of wood if you keep it dry.

If you have a standard floor the floor in your sauna is untreated Spruce and the surface is natural wood, which means that you would need to be a bit more careful compared to our treated floor, which is painted with a type of paint used on e.g. Yatches.

No matter which floor you have, we recommend you to follow our Best Practices below in order for you to take care of your floor in the best way possible. Please also check out our Best Practice during use.

Recommended Best Practice:

• Make sure your feet are clean from sand etc. We recommend you to step into a bucket of water before you enter the sauna.

• Dry off the floor after each sauna session to minimise the level of moisture.

• Pay extra attention if you use oils during sauna sessions. The oil may leave stains on the floor.

• If you bring in a lot of sand etc. it’s a good idea to also sweep the floor.

• Please note that wood is a natural organic material, which will age and change in colour and structure over time. At Scandinavian Sauna we do praise the beauty of wood as it ages over time and also develops a certain level of personal and charming wear and tear - just like your favourite pair of jeans!

Maintenance of an untreated floor
If you prefer to keep your floor as clean and spotless as possible it is all about following our Best Practices during use. If you at some point would like to refresh the floor you can sand it carefully using a fine-grain sandpaper.

Maintenance of a treated floor
With a treated floor you have a floor which is very resilient towards damage. This type of floor does not require any particular maintenance other than keeping it clean and free from moisture during use.

You will not have to do anything in particular to maintain the interior walls in your sauna room.

As all timber in the sauna room is untreated, please expect the colour tone of the interior walls to naturally turn slightly darker with age.

We recommend that you paint the exterior cladding once a year. Having said that, maintenance of the exterior cladding largely depends on the environment in which your sauna is located. As a standard, the exterior cladding is constructed and treated to be resistant in a Nordic environment with quite a harsh Winter and rainy conditions.

If you place your sauna next to the sea you should expect to treat the exterior more often than if you place it in your garden, or move it around a residential area.

The trailer for your sauna is 100% customisable including the treatment of the surface. As a standard the trailer is galvanised needing no specific maintenance.

If you have a black trailer it is factory painted. If you transport your sauna a lot you may experience that the trailer is exposed to stones and dirt, which may cause marks. In this case you can spray the marks.