Home improvement and wellness. These are two of the most popular things for Americans to spend their money on in 2024. A study by Houzz found that more than 50 percent of Americans plan on some form of renovation work in the next 12 months. Meanwhile a remarkable 87 percent want to improve their health. Adding a home sauna is the ideal investment that will scratch both of these itches.
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Wellness benefits of taking a sauna
Anyone who has tried it would agree that sitting in a sauna for 15 to 20 minutes feels great. It helps you to relax mentally and eases tension and stress. But the wellness benefits are not just psychological.
As well as improving your mood, taking a sauna relaxes your muscles and soothes aches and pains. The heat of the sauna elevates body temperature and this in turn causes blood vessels to dilate and contributes to the release of endorphins. These factors combine to eliminate lactic acid and other toxins that can build up, especially during vigorous exercise. The steam also detoxifies the skin, flushing out bacteria and helping to clear dead skin flakes.
For these reasons, taking a sauna is often recommended by fitness professionals after a work out, and also forms a component of many spa treatments.
A home improvement that adds value
Adding a home sauna is not just a good way to invest in better health and wellness. After all, if that was all there was to it, you could as easily spend the money on spa memberships for the family. But it is also an investment in the financial sense, in as much as the money you spend is reflected in the value you add to your home should you decide to sell it.
Of course, you should think twice before installing a sauna purely as an investment. But when you consider the wellness benefits and enjoyment it will bring, adding one at your home is both convenient and you will certainly see some financial return on your investment. This is unlike money spent on a family spa membership, which could be anything from $200 to $600 per month that sees no financial return whatsoever.
Choosing what sort of sauna
These factors combine to explain why the home sauna market has grown significantly over the past decade. What’s more, the extensive range of The SaunaPlace sauna designs shows just how spoiled today’s buyers are for choice. Finnish-style cabin saunas are the most popular design, but there are also more contemporary sauna styles such as barrel saunas, pod saunas and plunge saunas, to mention just a few.
Choosing your style is mostly a matter of personal taste. Cabin saunas are understated and could easily be mistaken as simple storage sheds by anyone looking on. A barrel sauna, on the other hand, will leave onlookers in no doubt as to what you have in your garden, why pod saunas have a surreal, neo-futuristic design that will appeal to anyone with a fun and quirky sense of style.
Having said that, the choice is not solely about aesthetics. Barrel saunas, for example, are actually a far more energy-efficient design. The curved shape makes better use of the footprint such that there is more than 20 percent less volume that needs to be heated. The shape also promotes better airflow, so the temperature remains more even, and you don’t get “cold spots”. The downside of a barrel sauna is that taller people might find that its efficiencies make it feel a little cramped. If so, it is worth looking at the pod saunas, as these still have the advantages of a curved roof, but with straight and higher sides.
This is just one example of how you will want to compare and contrast sauna types, styles and sizes. Other areas to consider include the type of wood. This is usually cedar, but sauna suppliers offer different grades and finishes. Also think about the level of insulation and ease of construction. For example, as barrel saunas are inherently more energy efficient, they usually come with less insulation. This makes them lighter and easier to assemble.
How much will you spend on a sauna?
Asking how much to spend on a sauna is a little like asking how much a new car will cost. It depends on what you want. Home saunas start at around $3,000. That will buy you a compact personal infrared sauna that can seat two people.
Barrel saunas start at about $5,000 for a six by four that is good for two people, up to about $18,000 for a seven by 10 sauna that seats eight people. If you want to really splash on the luxury, you can opt for extras like glass windows on the ends and luxury seating, which might push the price towards $30,000 for the biggest and best home saunas.
But just as most people choose a new car that lies between the extremes of $20,000 and two million, the most popular home saunas seat four to six people and cost around $8,000 to $11,000.
Protecting and realizing your investment
As already mentioned, it would be disingenuous to think you would recoup the full value of the sauna and its installation when you come to sell your house on. However, when you factor in the convenience of having the sauna right outside your back door, and the alternative of spending something in the region of $5,000 per year of spa membership for a family of four, it makes a lot of sense.
Research commissioned by the National Association of Retailers found that almost 50 percent of prospective buyers say a sauna makes a potential purchase more desirable. This gives it extra appeal over other properties, so there is the potential to achieve a better selling price and secure a faster sale.
Of course, that means maintaining the sauna in good condition by cleaning it after every use and protecting it with stain or varnish according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
