Updated on Oct. 01, 2024
It's easy to bring the healing energy of a sauna home. Check out our selection of easy-to-assemble kits that can have you detoxing in no time.
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The benefits of sweating it out in a sauna have been well-known for at least 2,000 years. When you perspire, your skin pores open and release toxins from your body, your cardiovascular health improves, your metabolism increases, you sleep better and you may even lose some weight. Your skin gets healthier, your muscles relax and you generally feel better.
Sounds pretty good.
Saunas with electric heating elements have been around for about 100 years, but home sauna kits are a more recent development. Prior to their widespread availability in the last 20 or so years, you had to go to a community facility at a spa or health club and share the space with other people.
The benefits of community interaction notwithstanding, sometimes you just want to sauna by yourself—and now you can. A home sauna kit costs anywhere from a few hundred to eight or $10,000, which for many people is a small price to pay for the luxury of an at-home therapy retreat.
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The SereneLife Portable Home Spa is a one-person infrared sauna. The SereneLife Portable Home Spa is a tent-like structure lined with reflective foil and equipped with a 1,300-watt infrared heating element that can quickly raise the temperature to 140 degrees. It comes with a foldable chair and an integrated heating pad for your feet.
This unit is lightweight and can easily be transported anywhere by one person. It comes with a wired control module that allows you to set the temperature and program the heater to come on at a pre-set time. Looking for more? Here’s our collection of the best home spa ideas.
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SereneLife also makes a Portable Steam Sauna that’s about the same size and weight as its infrared model. This sauna has a 1,600-watt heating element controlled by a remote control, and it comes with a foldable chair.
The steam is produced by a manually operated steam generator that is connected to the base of the unit. The maximum temperature is lower than the infrared model (only about 120 degrees) but that’s typical for wet saunas.
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The Almost Heaven Bridgeport Six-Person Steam Sauna is as close as you’ll get to a built-in community sauna. It has an eight kW electric heater that can pump the temperature as high as 195 degrees, and when you pour water on the rocks, you get instant steam. You can use this sauna in either dry or steam mode.
This is one of the more expensive sauna kits, and the heater draws 40 amps at 240 volts, so it’s also expensive to operate.
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The heat you feel from the Maxxus Three-Person Far Infrared Sauna comes from six heat emitters that produce radiation from the far end of the infrared spectrum. This radiation closely matches the heat our own bodies emit, so some people believe it penetrates more deeply and activates the sweat glands more efficiently.
The Maxxus sauna is made from hemlock and weighs about 320 pounds when fully assembled. It has a tempered glass door and two full-length side windows. It ships in three separate boxes and the parts are fitted with clasps for easy assembly.
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The Monaco Six-Person Far Infrared Sauna comes from the same manufacturer as the Maxxus. It features the same far infrared heating elements, which require two separate 120-volt circuits, and it’s about twice as heavy. Needless to say, there’s much more room inside this sauna for lounging by yourself or with friends.
The interior design is striking, with curved benches and vertical wooden ventilation grilles. It’s also equipped with an audio player, a 15-in. LCD monitor and four built-in speakers. Sections are clasped for easy assembly.
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Prefer to put your sauna out on the patio? The Enlighten Sierra Two-Person Sauna can do that, and it can also live in the bathroom or exercise room. It’s fully insulated and has a double-shingled roof.
Heat is supplied to the sauna by six carbon heaters and two full-spectrum heat lamps that radiate in both the near and far ends of the infrared spectrum. This unit draws 2,250 watts of power, and at 775 pounds, it’s heavy enough to stay put when the wind blows.
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When you don’t have much space for a sauna, one that fits in a corner like the Blue Wave Sonoma Three-Person Sauna may be exactly what you’re looking for. The far infrared sauna features seven carbon heaters, and it plugs into a dedicated 120-volt outlet.
Made from hemlock, the unit features two windows and a full glass door as well as interior and exterior lights. According to the manufacturer, it takes 45 minutes to assemble.
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The Almost Heaven Barrel Sauna may be designed for the outdoors, but it’s small and cool-looking enough to be an indoor conversation piece. It has a large resistive heater that draws 30 amps at 240 volts, and it can be used as a wet or dry sauna.
The barrel has a six-ft. diameter, so tall people will have to bend down to get in. There are facing benches both inside and outside, so when the 195-degree heat gets too much, you can sit outside for a while and cool down.
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If your body is looking for the healing energy of far infrared heat, and you’re on a budget, the Barcelona Far Infrared Sauna deserves a second look. It’s constructed of hemlock and features six carbon heating elements. This sauna plugs into a standard 120-volt outlet.
This sauna is perfect for one person or two close friends. It has a Bluetooth music system and two speakers, and a clasp system makes assembly very easy. It only weighs 250 pounds, so if you have a dolly, you can move it around the house by yourself.
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The healing heat of a full-spectrum infrared sauna can be especially beneficial for wheelchair-bound individuals. The Clearlight Sanctuary Retreat is a four-person sauna with a ramp, a generous amount of floor space and two spacious benches.
Far infrared heaters are located on the back and side walls and full spectrum heaters are on the front wall. This unit requires a dedicated 240-volt circuit, and it draws 3,160 watts. That’s a lot of power, but you get a lot of relaxing heat.
Some home sauna kits are only big enough for one person, while others can accommodate six people or more. A small sauna will fit almost anywhere in the house, but a larger one is better if you have room for it. It gives you more space to stretch your legs or lie down.
Saunas are traditionally made of cedar or some other type of wood, but portable one-person infrared saunas may have enclosures made of insulating fabric. While the fragrance of wood — especially cedar — adds to the enjoyment, there’s a lot to be said for being able to set up your sauna anywhere you want, indoors or out.
It’s important to note that every individual’s needs, desires, and budgets are different. So, in researching respected brands and their products, I kept in mind that this guide had to include not just top-name kits and those with good reviews but ones that suited various styles and prices. We also prioritized good customer experiences, high-quality materials, long-lasting constructions and even installation difficulty in creating the final list you see here.
For over four decades, I have been building and designing homes (and writing about the process)—including floor installation, interior remodeling and landscape building. That expertise in carpentry makes me uniquely qualified to write about things like home sauna kits.
You might think it’s cheaper to construct your own, but there are some caveats. First, you’d have to be experienced enough to put one together on your own (or hire contract professionals to assist you), and that can be a very big project, depending on the kind of sauna you want. Second, you’ll still need to source the materials, which can be pricey. Finally, you have to consider how much your time is worth. Ultimately (and with all these factors considered), it could be anywhere from 30-40% cheaper just to get a kit.
That depends on the style of the sauna. Using an electric heater, a sauna might take about as much energy as a clothes dryer. In contrast, an infrared sauna will eat up more (roughly the same energy consumption as a dishwasher). However, if you go ultra-traditional and have a sauna that incorporates a fire beneath a pile of rocks, you’ll use no electricity.
Maintaining your sauna shouldn’t be any more difficult than maintaining your bathroom counters and floors as long as you build it to the manufacturer’s specs and utilize basic hygienic cleaning practices.
Venting a home sauna is not necessary for safety purposes. However, ventilation and airflow can make the experience more comfortable.
