The Sauna project (2004 )
Part 2       Part 3: the interior

the lights will later be hidden, but first they have to work

when building the benches, you are going to use the good and expensive Aspen wood. Unfortunately not all are in best quality, that's nature, but most of the time they have a good side. You can use them without problem, just make sure the "bad side" is hidden and shows downwards.

here you can see the first bench (upright) and the support bar, that received 
a very strong fixing to the wall (behind which are the strong points...)

I wanted to make sure that the Sauna room could also be used as a "normal"  room or for storage. Lets hope it will never happen, but health (or new owners) could lead to the closure of the Sauna in the distant future. Thus I try to keep the parts as "movable" as possible. Take this first bench, it is very solid, but can be removed without a screwdriver. Just lift it up.
This bench is 170 cm wide and its depth (50cm) is 5 Aspen panels.

The next problem was that I do not like legs going to the ground, I wanted all to "float" in the room...
well, no leg used yet, and here is how I solved the fixing of the 2nd bench

     
The middle picture show a small vertical wood that I call a "insurance policy" with 2 functions: 
first it should prevent the wood to break where the big screws are fixed, and 
secondly... should a leg be needed, here is were its attached.

will it hold ? it does on day 2 :)

The overall look from above is great 
Compare early and finished

 
This bench is 150 cm wide (+50cm giving a total length of 200cm) and 
its depth (60cm) is 6 Aspen panels. Plenty of room for a big person to stretch out.

Another day's work: the lower benches and corner light shades, which also double as corner backrests, giving the room a less cubic feeling.

same "footless" system for construction is used as for the high benches
These 2 benches, or better say footrests, are 170cm wide and 40cm (4 panels) deep, 
and 150cm (110+40) with a depth of 3 Aspen panels (30cm). 

Still all benches can be removed without the need of any tool. Each corner light shade is kept in place by 4 screws, which need removal should a light-bulb break. This allows stacking the benches to temporarily store something else in this new room. This is also the reason why I did not build valances as first planed.

The guardrail for the oven...

That's nearly it....

still to do is the Duckboard and some little bits and pieces, mainly cosmetic
but that's for later...

return to Part 1: Preparations

return to Part 2: Paneling

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Axel  2004