Sauna Building Materials

Sauna building materials at Topture are the parts for building a sauna room from scratch: ProSaunas paneling, bench wood and trim in eight woods, plus sauna doors, windows and lighting.

Choose one wood species for the walls, benches and trim, then add the door, windows and lights. The heater is in Sauna Heaters.

Also in Sauna Wood: Spruce and Thermo-Radiata Pine.

Sauna HeatersElectric, wood-burning and gas heaters, with controls and stonesShop Sauna Heaters →
DIY Sauna KitsComplete saunas that arrive as panels or parts to assemble on siteShop DIY Sauna Kits →

Framing and insulationStuds frame the walls and ceiling; insulation fills the cavities.
Vapor barrierA foil layer over the insulation, behind the paneling, with taped seams.
Wall and ceiling panelingSauna Paneling
BenchesBench Wood
TrimSauna Trim
Door and windowsSauna Doors · Sauna Windows
HeaterSauna Heaters
LightingSauna Lighting

Ventilation: place the vents as your heater's installation manual shows.

Sauna building materials by category

Sauna building materials: what each category is for and what it includes
Category	What it is for	What it includes
Sauna paneling	Lining the walls and ceiling	Tongue-and-groove boards in eight woods and four profiles, 1 ft to 10 ft, some up to 14 ft
Sauna bench wood	Bench seats, backrests, skirts and floors	Boards smooth on four sides from 1x4 to 2x6, plus 3x3 and 4x4 stock
Sauna trim	Corners, the door frame and finished edges	Inside and outside corners, door trim, T-molding, 1x1 and 2x2, in four woods
Sauna doors	The entrance	Frameless 8 mm tempered glass, or solid Douglas Fir with insulated glass; 24″, 30″ and 36″ (ADA) wide
Sauna windows	Daylight and a view	Dual-pane tempered, LoE argon-filled glass in a Hemlock frame; 16″ × 30″, 16″ × 60″ and 24″ × 36″
Sauna lighting	Light in the hot room	LED strip kits, 1- to 3-zone dimmable LED kits and a Himalayan salt light kit

How much sauna wood to order

Paneling is counted from the face width each board covers once installed, which every paneling page lists: an Aspen 1x4 nickel-gap board covers 3.15″, a Western Red Cedar 1/2x4 V-joint board 3.52″. A wall 8 ft wide and 7 ft high, paneled horizontally with 8 ft Aspen 1x4 nickel-gap boards, takes 84″ ÷ 3.15″ = 27 boards. Count the other walls and the ceiling the same way and allow extra for cuts around the door and windows.

Bench wood is planned from the actual widths on each page, since a nominal 2x4 measures 3.54″ wide in Aspen and 3.5″ in Western Red Cedar. Trim is counted in running feet: the height of each inside and outside corner, and the perimeter of the door opening.

Framing for the sauna door and windows

Each door and window lists the rough opening to frame for: the 24″ × 81″ frameless glass door needs 27-1/2″ × 82-1/2″, the 24″ × 80″ solid wood door 26″ × 82″, and the 24″ × 36″ window 25-7/8″ × 37-7/8″. The window frames adjust to walls up to 5.5″ deep. Every size is listed on the sauna doors and sauna windows pages.

Lighting a sauna room

The light kits cover LED strips, dimmable zones and a Himalayan salt light. ProSaunas' manual for the dimmable kits calls for a licensed electrician and keeps the LEDs away from the heater: never above it and not within 20 inches of it.

Shipping for sauna building materials

Sauna wood ships at one flat freight rate per order, set by the number of boards across all the sauna wood in the cart and the length of the longest board: $195 for 1–19 boards up to 8 ft. The full rate table is in the Shipping tab on every sauna wood page. Doors ship by pallet freight at a flat $395 per order, and windows in the same order ship with them; a window ordered without a door ships by small parcel for $199. Lighting ships under Topture's standard shipping, free within the contiguous US on orders over $200. Checkout shows each charge before payment.

Sauna building materials next steps

Choosing the wood: start with a species, such as Western Red Cedar or aspen, or compare them all on the sauna wood page.
The heater: see sauna heaters.
Rather assemble a kit: complete saunas in panels or parts are in sauna kits.
Planning help: send your room size to Topture's Lifetime Expert Support.

Reviewed October 2026

Frequently Asked Questions

What materials do you need to build a sauna?

A sauna room needs framing and insulation, a foil vapor barrier with taped seams, tongue-and-groove paneling for the walls and ceiling, bench wood, trim, a door, usually a window, lighting, ventilation and a heater. The build checklist on this page lists them in order.

How many paneling boards do I need for a sauna?

Divide the height of each wall by the width a board covers, listed on every paneling page. A wall 8 feet wide and 7 feet high, paneled horizontally with 8-foot Aspen 1x4 nickel-gap boards that cover 3.15 inches each, takes 27 boards. Add the other walls and the ceiling, plus extra for cuts.

How is sauna wood shipped, and what does it cost?

Sauna wood ships at one flat freight rate per order, set by the number of boards across all the sauna wood in your cart and the length of the longest board. 1–19 boards up to 8 ft ship for $195. Boards over 10 ft, orders of 1,000 boards or more, and deliveries to Alaska, Hawaii, US territories or Canada are quoted after you order.

Which wood species can I build a whole sauna in?

Aspen, Thermo-Aspen, Alder and Thermo-Radiata Pine are each sold as paneling, bench wood and trim, so the walls, benches and trim can match. Western Red Cedar, Hemlock and Thermo-Spruce come as paneling and bench wood, and Spruce as paneling.

Can I buy the sauna heater here too?

Yes. Topture sells electric, wood-burning and gas sauna heaters, with controls and stones, in the Sauna Heaters collection.