Steam room buying, and how it differs from a sauna

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How to choose

1. Understand the sealing requirement. Steam at fully saturated humidity will find any gap and rot anything absorbent, so a steam room must be fully tiled or sealed and sloped to drain. That construction is most of the cost and it is not optional.
2. Size the generator to the room. A steam generator is sized in kilowatts to the enclosure's volume and surface material. Undersized, it never fills; oversized, it wastes power. The room's volume decides the generator, not the other way round.
3. Decide steam room or steam sauna. A steam sauna is a wood cabin that can take some water on the rocks for humidity; a true steam room is a sealed tiled enclosure at full humidity. They are different builds at different costs.
4. Budget the whole enclosure. Unlike a sauna you rarely buy a steam room as a crate; you buy a generator and build or convert a sealed room around it, so the generator is a fraction of the project.

Steam room versus sauna

A sauna heats the air with a heater and runs at 160-200 Fahrenheit with low to moderate humidity, controllable by pouring water on the rocks. A steam room runs cooler, around 110-120, but at full, saturated humidity produced by a steam generator, and it must be a fully sealed, waterproofed and drained enclosure to survive that. The experience is different, wet and enveloping rather than dry and intense, and so is the build: a sauna is largely a product you install, a steam room is largely a room you construct.

Why the enclosure is the cost

Constant full, saturated humidity is destructive to anything that absorbs water, so a steam room is tiled or clad in non-absorbent material, sealed at every joint, sloped to a drain and ventilated to dry out between uses. That construction, not the generator, is where the money goes, which is why a home steam room is usually a bathroom conversion done by a contractor rather than a boxed unit delivered to the kerb. Retailers sell the generator and the controls; the room is yours to build or convert.

Sizing and running a steam generator

A steam generator is rated in kilowatts against the enclosure's volume and the surface materials, because a tiled room with a high ceiling needs far more output than a small acrylic cabin. Get the sizing wrong and the room either never reaches full steam or cycles wastefully. The generator needs a water supply, a drain and usually a 240-volt circuit, so it is plumbed and wired like an appliance, not plugged in like an infrared cabin.

Common questions

Is a steam room better than a sauna?

Neither is better; they are different experiences. A sauna is dry and hot; a steam room is cooler and fully humid. A sauna is largely a product you install, while a steam room is a sealed, waterproofed enclosure you build, which makes it the larger project.

Can I convert my shower into a steam room?

Often yes, and it is the common way to have one at home: a sealed, sloped, fully tiled enclosure with a correctly sized steam generator, a water supply, a drain and ventilation. It is a contractor job rather than a boxed purchase.

What does a home steam room cost?

The generator is a modest fraction of the cost; the sealed, tiled, drained enclosure is most of it. Because it is largely construction, the total varies far more than a sauna's and is best priced as a bathroom project.

By type

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