Red cedar is an excellent choice of wood for building a home sauna. The timber is strong, doesn’t shrink or warp when exposed to sauna heat, and has outstanding heat distribution properties – meaning it doesn’t get too hot to touch. Its pleasant aroma and attractive reddish color help make it a very popular choice for a sauna build. More here: https://homesaunaheaven.com/red-cedar-sauna-build/

1. Red Cedar Wood for a Sauna Build
 April 3, 2021  homesaunaheaven
Red cedar is an excellent choice of wood for building a home sauna. The timber
is strong, doesn’t shrink or warp when exposed to sauna heat, and has
outstanding heat distribution properties – meaning it doesn’t get too hot to
touch. Its pleasant aroma and attractive reddish color help make it a very
popular choice for a sauna build.
Red cedar, and especially western red cedar, is the most popular choice of wood for
a sauna build. It has many qualities that make it the rst choice of timber for home
sauna cabins in North America.
Is Red Cedar Wood A Good Choice For Building A Sauna?
homesaunaheaven.com

2. Yes, red cedar is an excellent choice for building a sauna. It is the most popular type
of wood in North America for both traditional and infrared saunas. Here’s why…
Strong & Light Weight
Red cedar is a lightweight and strong wood. Properly maintained it will last for
decades. Native Americans treasured it for its strength and durability and used it for
most of their construction needs.
With a bending strength of 7,500 psi, cedarwood saunas are built to last. It is easy to
work with and will provide solid structural strength for your cabin.
Timber Stability
Red cedar timber has excellent shrinkage and warp resistance when exposed to heat.
This makes it an ideal choice for use in a sauna. It holds its shape and integrity.
The timber boasts better shrinking and swelling resistance compared to other types
of wood. And it is resistant to uctuations in moisture content – a great quality for a
wood being used in a sauna.
Thermal Insulation
It is an excellent thermal insulator. This means it will help keep the heat inside your
sauna and prevent it from escaping.
Good insulation means your sauna will heat up more quickly and retain the heat for
longer. Red cedar is the best thermal insulator among the commercially available
softwoods and even outperforms concrete, brick, and steel.

3. Excellent Heat Distribution
It has excellent heat distribution. This means it won’t get too hot when the sauna
heats up. Red cedar won’t overheat, it will be comfortable to touch and sit on at all
times.
Great To Work With
Redcedar timber is a great wood to work with. It contains no resin and is naturally
straight-grained. It’s easy to work with using both hand and machine tools, and it
glues and nishes well.
Microbe & Moisture Resistance
Red cedar is microbe and moisture resistant. It contains natural compounds that are
toxic to fungi, bacteria, and termites. It is renowned for its high decay-resistance and
is classed in the highest category of decay resistance for any softwood.
Appearance & Aroma
Cedar has an attractive reddish-brown, rich tone. This warm color is aesthetically
pleasing and ideal for sauna construction.
Cedar is also noted for its pleasant aroma. It has a very distinctive scent that’s
popular amongst sauna and furniture makers. To protect its natural aroma it should
be left untreated.
Is It Good For Sauna Benches?
Yes, it is an excellent choice for sauna benches. Due to its thermal properties and
low-density pro le, it does not become too hot when the sauna heats up. This means

4. it’s comfortable to touch and sit on.
Where Does Red Cedar Come From?
Red cedar is a tree native to North America. Although there are two types, western
and eastern red cedar, western red cedar is the type used for a sauna. They are
completely di erent species and should not be confused.
The western red cedar tree comes from western North America, especially British
Columbia and the surrounding areas. It is a large, slow-growing, softwood tree. It can
also be found in western Europe and Australia.
Eastern red cedar is a species of juniper and is found in eastern North America
stretching from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. It is a dense, slow-growing coniferous
evergreen tree and no relation to the western redcedar.
What Does It Look Like?
The heartwood of western cedar timber has a warm reddish-brown color, while the
narrow sapwood has a pale yellow and sometimes white tone.
It is an evergreen coniferous tree that grows up to 70 meters tall and has a trunk
diameter of 7 meters. It’s a big tree!
Its foliage is green with faint white bands on the underside. The cones are slender
and quite short, growing to just 0.7 inches in length. The tree has a life expectancy of
over 1,000 years.
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Red Cedar Physical Properties

5. Appearance
Cedar has a crisp reddish-brown color which can sometimes have streaks of darker
red. Narrow sapwood cedar is pale yellow and almost white. Its appearance works
well for many di erent styles of furniture and décor.
Texture
Cedar is an evergreen coniferous tree with a straight grain and a uniform medium to
ne-grain texture. This makes it a good timber for working with – easy to cut and saw
with common tools. Red cedar wood for a sauna build is a good choice given its
texture.
Density
Cedar is a lightweight softwood. It is one of the lightest commercially available
softwoods in North America. It has a density of 21 pounds per cubic foot when oven-
dried. And it has a speci c gravity, (also known as relative density), of 0.32. Its low
density makes it an excellent insulator.
Durability
Maintained correctly, western redcedar will last for decades. It has long been a highly
valued construction timber by Native Americans. It is prized for long-lasting build
qualities and is a popular choice for construction needs. Red cedar has a crushing
strength of 4,560 lbf/in2 and a Janka hardness rating of 350 lbf (1,560 N).
Stability
Red cedar has excellent stability qualities. It displays very low shrinkage values and
outperforms all other coniferous timbers in resistance to warping and twisting. It is

6. resistant to moisture and therefore su ers virtually no change to its original
dimensions, making it a great choice for dimensional stability.
Workability
Western red cedar is a great timber to work with. It is a straight-grained wood that
contains no resins and is easy to work with both hand and machine tools. The timber
dents and scratches easily due to its soft nature, so care should be taken to avoid
handling errors.
Odor
Red cedar has a pleasant and distinctive aroma. Many people choose redcedar for
building a sauna because of its unique scent. Sealing should be avoided if you intend
to keep its unique odor.
In fact, sealing should always be avoided for a sauna build to prevent the release of
volatile gases when the heat builds up.
Flame Safety
Red cedar ame safety and ame spread ratings compare well against other similar
softwoods. This makes it a popular choice for interior nishing and general building
applications. And its good re prevention score is a very favorable quality for sauna
construction.
Microbe & Insect Resistance
Red cedar has a natural resistance to microbes and insects such as fungi, bacteria,
and termites, It produces chemicals that are toxic to these organisms and protects
the timber from them. This protects the wood making it more durable and increasing
lifespan.
Red Cedar Wood for a Sauna Build? Yes, great choice!

7.
5 thoughts to “Red Cedar Wood for a Sauna Build”
REPLY
GERALD ABATH
April 8, 2021 at 9:18 pm
It looks good. It smells great. Western cedar is your wood if you’re planning a sauna cabin.
Cheap too.
REPLY
PAULOK
April 17, 2021 at 10:21 pm
It’s tradition to use red cedar. It looks good and smells like a sauna and that alone make it a
good timber to be working with
REPLY
HOMESAUNAHEAVEN
April 17, 2021 at 10:22 pm
We agree Paulo, but what is it about the smell you like?

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REPLY
BOTTA
April 19, 2021 at 12:50 pm
My bro used a spruce timber. Think it’s closely related to cedar. It was a wise choice.
REPLY
PAT-SPOONZ
May 7, 2021 at 10:56 pm
Cedar is very good but it costs a bomb. You didn;t mention hemlock, it’s a really good option for
a sauna. Doesn’t get too hot and moisture resistant.

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