Sauna Wood Cladding Profile STP

What is STP Cladding Profile?

The STP profile offers an elegant wall surface for your sauna, with narrow gaps between each cladding board. STP’s rounded front edges can have a “softer” appearance than Kallio or STS4 cladding. Like all our cladding profiles, STP boards can be combined with other options to achieve your own unique look.

Should you use STP Profile Cladding for your sauna wood tongue and groove panelling?

Cladding in the STP profile has grooves behind each panel to allow condensed steam to run down and drain to the floor. The large radius on the front of STP panels adds a further level of durability as sharp square corners on timber products can have a higher risk of splintering.

Movement of air behind the sauna cladding panels allows the cladding to dry out after use, greatly reducing the risk of developing issues such as damp.

What dimensions is STP Sauna Cladding available in?

Typically the lengths available for STP sauna cladding are 1800mm, 2100mm, 2400mm, 2700mm, and 3000mm. STP profile timber has a thickness of 15mm and is available in 90mm, 120mm, and 140mm widths.  This measure of the width is for the whole tongue and groove panel.

Please note the effective width of each STP cladding board is 10mm less than the nominal width (for example, a 120mm board will have a coverage of 110mm). One exception to the above is Western Red Cedar, which is available in 140mm width only. Cedar is generally supplied at 2150mm and 2450mm lengths. 

Which wood types can you get STP Tongue and Groove sauna cladding in?

Several species of sauna cladding timber are available in the STP profile. We stock aspen, alder, thermo aspen, thermo alder, dark thermo alder, spruce, thermo spruce and Western Red Cedar on the Finnmark web shop.

How do you install STP Profile Sauna Wood cladding?

The process we recommend for installing sauna cladding panels is called ‘blind nailing’. This involves using a brad nailer or stapler (similar to a nail gun) to fire brads or staples diagonally into the groove of each cladding board, before lining up the next board. This ensures that there are no unsightly fixings visible from inside the sauna. Cladding should be fixed onto perpendicular battens so that there is a small ventilation gap behind. This allows condensed water to run down the sauna insulation and vapour barrier, to the floor, and for air to pass through and dry out the STP sauna timber.

What fixings should I use to install my STP Profile sauna wood cladding?

Stainless steel brad nails or staples are ideal as they will provide the best durability in the extreme heat and humidity of the sauna environment. Galvanised nails are the next-best option, but please be warned that these can create marks on the surface of the timber - they will stain black on high tannin woods like Alder and Western Red Cedar. The appropriate length nails should be chosen so that they will go diagonally through the cladding and get a good purchase in the battens behind. These are usually around 25mm on the application.

You can browse our STP Sauna Wood Cladding below: