Sauna Dekor Spa Solutions engineering team, Istanbul · project and press enquiries: Alican Aykaç, Managing Partner
Updated: 28 October 2026
Short answer: plan a snow room in 5 decisions, in this order: its place in the hot-and-cold circuit, the number of people inside at once, the insulated shell and glass, the floor and meltwater drain, and the plant room. The room runs at about −10 °C. Sauna Dekor Spa Solutions builds the room around the snow unit, and most late changes we see were decided by skipping step 1.
Where does a snow room sit in the circuit?
Next to the hottest room, with a shower in between. A Finnish sauna runs at 80–100 °C. Guests leave the heat, rinse, and step into the snow for a short visit; the snow room itself holds about −10 °C. If the walk from the sauna takes more than a few steps, the room gets used less than planned.
So the first drawing is an adjacency diagram, not a room. We place the snow room on the cold side with the cold plunge, then route guests through an experience shower. How heat and cold are sequenced is set out in our guide to sauna and cold plunge.
The same diagram fixes the door. A door that opens onto a dry relaxation area carries cold, damp air into a space that should stay warm and quiet. A door that opens onto the wet corridor, between the shower and the plunge, keeps the cold where the floor is already tanked and drained.
How big should a snow room be?
Sized to the number of people inside at the same time, not to the size of the spa. The manufacturer of the snow units we install plans about 1 m² per person and builds rooms up to 25 m². Visits are short, so a hotel counts peak users per hour; a family counts 2 to 4.
Ceiling height, door position and bench length follow from that number. A wider room is not a better room: every extra square metre is extra shell to keep at about −10 °C.
For a hotel, the useful question is how many guests leave the sauna at the same moment. A sauna with 2 bench levels empties in a group after each session, and that group walks to the cold side together. If the room cannot take most of them, guests queue in the corridor or skip it, and the room is judged a failure for a reason that was fixed on the first plan.
What does the snow room shell and glass need?
An insulated, airtight box with a vapour barrier that never breaks. The snow-unit maker uses dense foam insulation panels and triple glazing, and allows a maximum of 3 glass walls, because the heat exchanger needs a solid side wall. Every pipe, cable and door frame that crosses the shell is a detail on the drawing, not a site decision.
The vapour barrier sits on the warm side of the insulation. Warm, humid spa air that reaches the cold face of the panels condenses inside the wall, and in a room held below freezing that water turns to ice. A single unsealed screw hole or cable entry is enough to start it, which is why the penetrations are drawn one by one.
The finish inside, stone, rock or timber, is chosen after the shell, and it must stand the cold. The snow room page shows the designs we build.
Which finishes work inside a snow room?
Finishes that can freeze, thaw and get wet every day without cracking or lifting. Natural stone, moulded rock panels and sealed timber are the usual choices. Each one is fixed to the inner skin of the shell, never through it, so the vapour barrier behind stays whole.
Lighting is part of the finish. Spot lights and light lines here run in a cold, wet space, so fittings and drivers are chosen for that duty and the drivers sit outside the shell where they can be reached. Benches are kept low and simple: snow builds up on them, and guests use them for a few moments, not for a long sit.
How is a snow room floor drained?
With a cold-proof, slip-resistant floor and at least 1 drain that meltwater can always reach. The maker specifies a rubber floor and recommends making snow overnight, then pushing it aside before opening so guests walk on a clear path. Snow melts at every defrost, so the floor needs a fall and a drain line that will not freeze.
The drain line is routed out of the cold zone as soon as it can be, and the trap is placed where it stays above freezing. The threshold at the door is drawn too: meltwater must run back to the room’s own drain, not out into the corridor.
What goes in the snow room plant room?
The cooling units, the snow-making equipment and their controls, in a technical room the maker allows up to 50 m away. It publishes about 5 kW of power to run the room and 10–15 litres of water per hour while snow is being made. The room also needs fresh air for heat rejection and a drain.
Put the snow plant in the same spa plant room drawing as the steam generator and the chiller from day one. Energy, water and heat recovery are covered in snow room running costs.
The pipe route between the plant room and the snow room is the line most often forgotten. Refrigerant and water lines need a sleeve through every wall and slab they cross, and the route is fixed before the ceiling and the structure are closed. A route found later means opening finished walls.
How long does a snow room take?
Longer than the snow unit alone. The maker quotes 10–12 weeks to deliver after order and typically 2–3 weeks to assemble and commission. Our shell, finish and services run before and around that, so the order date is set by the building programme, not the other way round.
On site, the order of work matters as much as the dates. The structure, the floor fall and the drain go in first, then the shell panels and the vapour barrier, then the glass and the door. The snow unit is fitted into a closed, clean shell, connected to the plant room, and only then are the inner finishes and lights completed. Commissioning comes last, with the plant running and the first snow made before handover.
Two things move that programme most often: a late decision on the glass walls, and a plant room that is not ready when the snow unit arrives. Both are settled earlier when the 5 decisions in the table below are signed off at concept and design stage.
| Decision | When it is fixed | What it sets |
|---|---|---|
| Place in the circuit | Concept | Route from the sauna, shower position |
| Users at once | Concept | Floor area, bench length, door |
| Shell and glass | Design drawings | Insulation, vapour barrier, glass walls |
| Floor and drain | Design drawings | Fall, drain line, floor finish |
| Plant room | Before structure is final | Power, water, drain, air, pipe route |
A spa consultant who fixes these 5 lines before the architect freezes the plan saves a redesign. If cold water is planned too, check the cold plunge temperature range first.
What should the snow room drawings show?
Before the package goes to tender, we check that the drawing set answers these points. A missing line here usually becomes a site question later.
- The adjacency diagram: sauna, shower, snow room and plunge, with the walking route drawn.
- The number of people inside at once, and the floor area and bench length that follow from it.
- Shell panels, vapour barrier line and every penetration: pipes, cables, lights, door frame.
- Which walls are glass, up to 3, and which solid wall carries the heat exchanger.
- Floor fall, drain position, drain line route and the door threshold.
- Plant room position, distance to the snow room, power, water, drain and fresh air.
- The pipe route between the two rooms, with sleeves through walls and slabs.
- Light fittings and where their drivers sit, outside the cold zone.
5 costly snow room mistakes we see late
Each of these is cheap to fix on paper and expensive once the shell is built.
- The snow room far from the sauna. Guests stop using a cold room they have to walk to. The fix is the adjacency diagram, drawn first.
- A room sized to the spa, not to the users. An oversized room costs more shell and more cooling for no extra use.
- Four glass walls. The heat exchanger needs a solid wall, so the maker allows up to 3 glass walls. A fully glazed design has to be redrawn.
- A drain added at the end. Without a fall and a frost-free drain line, meltwater stands on the floor or runs out of the door.
- No room for the plant. The snow plant needs its own space within 50 m, with power, water, drain and fresh air. Found late, it takes space from another room.
Who builds this
Sauna Dekor Spa Solutions is a sauna, steam room, hammam and pool manufacturer since 1987: 40 years of manufacturing in Istanbul, a team of 19, TS EN ISO 9001:2015, and 5,000+ projects in 41+ countries. We build the shell, finish, drainage and services of the snow room; we do not manufacture the snow unit, whose certification belongs to its maker. Our full range is on our products page.
Frequently asked questions about snow room planning
What temperature does a snow room run at?
About −10 °C. Most guests come straight from a sauna that runs at 80–100 °C. They rinse under a shower first and then stay for a short visit, so the room is planned around that sequence.
How much space does one person need?
The maker of the snow units we install plans about 1 m² per person and builds rooms up to 25 m². Count the people who will be inside at the same time, not the total number of spa guests.
Can a snow room have glass walls?
Yes, up to 3 of them. The heat exchanger is fixed to a solid side wall, so at least 1 wall stays closed. Glass is triple glazed, and every frame that crosses the insulated shell is drawn as a detail.
Does a snow room need a floor drain?
Yes. Snow is made, pushed aside and melted in every cycle, so the floor needs a fall towards a drain whose line cannot freeze. The maker specifies a rubber floor so guests walk on a clear, non-slip path.
Where does the snow-making plant go?
In a technical room that can sit up to 50 m from the snow room, with power, water, a drain and fresh air. We draw it with the steam generator and chiller so the pipe routes are fixed early.
How long does the work take?
The maker quotes 10–12 weeks to deliver the snow unit and 2–3 weeks to assemble and commission it. The shell, finishes and services are built around that window, so the order date follows the building programme.
Sources
- Frequently asked questions about indoor snowmaking — TechnoAlpin Indoor. Room size, glass walls, floor, snow schedule, water, power, delivery and assembly time.
- SNOWROOM — TechnoAlpin Indoor. A −10 °C room with fresh snow; technical room up to 50 m away.
- Clinical Effects of Regular Dry Sauna Bathing: A Systematic Review — Hussain J, Cohen M, 2018. Finnish sauna air at 80–100 °C.
- Vapor barrier — Wikipedia. Why a cold room needs an unbroken vapour control layer.
- Thermal insulation — Wikipedia. Insulation of walls, roofs and glazing.
