Bespoke sauna installation: Great Missenden, Chiltern Hills, Buckinghamshire

Bringing the outside in was the order of the day with this stunning authentic Finnish sauna installation in Buckinghamshire. It’s been achieved perfectly with the sauna and plunge pool opening out onto an impressive decking area and the symmetry between the two spaces and the detailing included in the build, including the lighting aspects, show off a truly wonderful sauna that will be enjoyed by our clients for years to come.

Take the plunge

Taking a cold plunge or a cold shower after a sauna is widely regarded as an excellent way to improve muscle recovery and reduce pain and it’ll enhance sauna health benefits. It’s the reason why athletes have long been using post-exercise ice baths and works by restricting the fluid diffusion into cells and utilising hydrostatic pressure which reduces post-exercise blood lactate levels.

Ventilation

As with all of our installations we’ve made sure to carefully add a ventilation system. It’s a key design principle of a traditional Finnish sauna build, and it remains one of the most integral aspects of sauna construction. Its importance lies in its ability to maintain a constant source of fresh air into the sauna, ensure the hot air within the sauna is well circulated, and remove used air from the sauna before it becomes stagnant. It also ensures that any volatile or organic compounds entering the sauna air will be dispelled swiftly. Without this ventilation, the sauna air becomes stale, claggy, and potentially unhygienic, and the sauna itself can quickly deteriorate to become rotten and mouldy as excess humidity is unable to escape.

Sauna battens

Our sauna battening, or counter battening system as it is also known in this installation has the dual purpose of creating a ventilation gap and allowing condensation to drain away. The sauna battens are long slim cuts of wood that sit perpendicularly against the sauna's cladding and they do the important job of separating the cladding from the insulation and vapour barrier layers.

Health benefits

A trusted authority in the sauna health field is Dr. Jari Laukkanen, Cardiologist and Professor at the Central Finland Health Care District and University of Jyväskylä. His work helps educate people about the ways traditional Finnish sauna can help improve their lives. He’s one expert we’ve cited in our health benefits series. Our team has spent lots of time out in Finland enjoying the lifestyle and the true authentic sauna experience and we love letting people know about some of the lesser-known health benefits. The clients we installed for in this particular installation are now enjoying the big endorphin rush experienced when regularly switching from hot to cold as they improve their cardiovascular health.