The Barrel Six Electric Outdoor Sauna, Harvia Heater Included

Solid timber, cut to size and numbered to the drawings. The four cradles go down first, level and square; the barrel goes up on them board by board between the end-wall panels. It arrives untreated.

What it is

The whole body of the sauna: walls and roof in one round shell, the front wall, the partition, the back wall, the base and the floor.

You do

Build it board by board, following the numbers. Treat the outside before the first winter.

Good to know

The wall boards are 3.35 m long and the end-wall panels nearly as wide as the barrel: check your gate before delivery.

8 mm toughened glass, 1770 × 690 mm: the outer door into the changing room and the inner door into the hot room. Each comes in its frame, with a turned timber handle through the glass, the hinges and a roller catch that holds it shut. There is no key lock.

What they are

The way in, and the door that keeps the heat in the hot room.

You do

Fit them near the end of the build, once the walls are up.

One bench along each side of the hot room, at one height, with a backrest on the curved wall above it: six people sit facing each other. In the changing room, two storage benches with hinged lids.

What it is

Seating for six, and somewhere dry for towels and clothes.

You do

Fit the bench frames, the benches and the storage benches once the walls are up, as the manual draws them.

Good to know

Alder is the traditional bench timber: comfortable to sit on at sauna temperature.

A column heater: the stones sit in a steel cage round the elements, and the timer and thermostat are on the unit. Harvia rates it for rooms of 6 to 10 m³. The connection is your electrician’s job.

What it is

The heat: an electric heater with its own timer and thermostat.

You do

Book a qualified electrician: it needs its own 35 A circuit from your consumer unit.

Stones

Not in the crate: the basket takes up to 80 kg, 20 kg a box.

Nailed on in rows over the top of the barrel, from a starter batten 1.4 m up each side. The manual shows the rows and how many nails each shingle takes.

What it is

The covering that keeps rain off the top of the barrel and the canopy over the door.

You do

Nail the rows on from the battens up, as the manual draws them.

Afterwards

Look the shingles over once a year.

The straps go right round the barrel once the walls are up. Every screw and nail is counted into the crate by size: 805 roof nails and about 1,100 screws.

What they are

What holds the walls tight as the solid timber settles.

You do

Tighten all four with two spanners about a month after the build, then once a year.

Good to know

Leave room to walk round the barrel and reach them.

The inlet low down by the heater and the extract grille high up both go in the back wall of the hot room. The stainless drain plate sits in the floor and empties under the barrel.

What they are

Fresh air for the hot room, and a way out for splashed water.

You do

Leave the doors open after a session; keep free drainage under the base.

Good to know

The floor should never sit wet.

One timber crate, wrapped and strapped on its pallets, set down at your kerb. Before it leaves, we ask for a photograph of your own crate with its packing list.

How it arrives

By lorry, set down at the kerb: it needs firm, level ground and room to stop.

You do

Before you sign, check the crate for visible damage and note it; count the parts when you unpack.

Good to know

The driver does not carry it into the garden: plan for two people and a sack truck.