Spruce Sauna Wood

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Can spruce be used in a sauna for cladding?

Spruce, or Picea abies in Latin, is a common choice for sauna cladding. It is very light in colour, with characteristic streaks along the length and natural variation in tone from board to board, giving a traditional and rustic look to a sauna interior. Saunas built with spruce cladding will have a lighter and more airy aesthetic.

Our spruce timber is sourced from Nordic & Baltic countries like Finland and Estonia, never from Russia, Belarus, or Canada. This ensures a top quality product with the lowest transport distance for environmental reasons. It is ‘AB’ grade, which means it is cut from the centre of the tree with minimal defects and good uniformity in appearance. AB grade wood has a lower sap content; typically 5% or lower.

Spruce’s high density ensures that it is hard wearing, but does also mean it will be hotter to the touch in the sauna than alternative options like aspen and alder wood. To further increase the durability of your spruce cladding, we recommend applying a water resistant wood treatment such as a coat of paraffin oil and keeping a regular cleaning schedule.

Spruce sauna timber does have knots in the surface, which can weep hot resin – which is not ideal for use on a bench. It is for these reasons that we supply spruce as tongue and groove cladding only, and not as a bench board material.

Spruce is a great choice for use in:

If you’re looking for where to buy spruce sauna wood, then look no further than our web shop.

Is spruce the traditional choice for building saunas?

You may be asking, “Is spruce the wood used for Finnish saunas?” Spruce is a traditional option for sauna building due to its historic abundance across the nordic and scandinavian countries, where sauna originates from. This easy availability has made spruce sauna wood highly cost effective for use in home saunas, sauna cottages, traditional log cabins, and in commercial saunas also.

Spruce wood can also be heat treated to become a Thermowood. Our STP thermo spruce cladding has incredible durability and a darker, golden brown tone.

Timber Grading: Finnmark’s spruce is Grade AB as per the Nordic Timber Grading Standards. Grade AB is the highest available grade of spruce for cladding available, due to the quantity of knots innate in the wood.

Provenance: Whilst some companies source Spruce from Canada, the Far East, Russia and Belarus, Finnmark sources all spruce timber from Finland and the Baltic countries. This is generally slower grown with a tighter, more resilient grain structure, and has naturally done far fewer miles to reach the UK than some alternatives.

Recommended wastage allowance: We recommend a wastage allowance of 15% for Spruce sauna timber. This is standard across the construction industry and will help account for any damage whilst handling, machining and installing spruce cladding.

Types of sauna timber profile and dimensions: STP Profile Tongue and Groove Cladding: 15mm thick by 90mm wide Spruce Sauna Bench Framing Timber: 57x57mm

Scroll below where you’ll find all our Spruce Sauna Wood products listed:

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