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On a cold winter day, the perfect getaway is an outdoor sauna.  Some of the best-built prefabricated structures are produced by sauna manufacturers, who have been building them for decades.

Unlike steam rooms, saunas capture dry heat from a variety of sources, the most common being electric. Some heat sources allow you to pour water over the coals, thereby controlling the humidity to some degree.

Sauna exteriors are most commonly clad in cedar, or the more expensive and lush mahogany species.  Both of them offer great resistance to rot and insect damage.

The best material to use inside a sauna is “clear heart” redwood.  Clear heart derives its name from where the lumber is extracted from the log.  Redwood is a relatively soft lumber and it’s extremely rot resistant. It also has a tendency to stay uniformly straight and is resistant to expansion and contraction due to heat changes – very important for saunas, whose temperatures can vary as much as 180 degrees within a 24 hour period.  Redwood emits a very pleasant odor and its color adds warmth and a feeling of well-being to the sauna interior.