Steam-filled mosaic room with a curved bench, LED strips and a wall hand shower

[ Project ]

Bern Private Property

Bern · Switzerland

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Sauna Dekor Spa Solutions — designing, manufacturing and installing saunas, steam rooms, hammams and pools since 1987, in our own facility in İkitelli OSB, Istanbul.

A private steam room built into a residence in Bern, Switzerland — vapour-tight construction, generator sizing, seat geometry and drying-down practice.

Steam room

[ 3 photos ]

From the project

Dark mosaic steam room bench with backrest, light strips and a hand shower hose — Steam room

Grey mosaic steam room with a corner bench, LED strip and thermostatic hand shower — Steam room

[ The build ]

Overview

Project facts: Delivered 2022 · Bern, Switzerland · Scope: steam room · Equipment: Condair steam generator

This is a Sauna Dekor project. We are a manufacturer first and a turnkey wet-area contractor second: cabins, benching, marble and mosaic are made in our own Istanbul workshop, then installed by our own crews. Founded 1987, 40th year, work delivered in 41+ countries.

This project is a steam room built into a private residence in Bern, Switzerland. The owner is not named; the page records the city, the property type and the work. The zone listed forthe project is a steam room.

Scope of work

A single sealed wet room: the enclosure build-up and tanking, the finishes, moulded seating,the generator and steam head, lighting, ventilation and drainage, and commissioning.Manufactured and prepared in our Istanbul workshop, then delivered, installed and commissioned.

Vapour tightness is the whole product

A steam room is the hardest wet room in a building to get right, because it is loaded with vapour rather than splashed with water. Pressure drives moisture into every joint and penetration, so the enclosure is tanked as a complete envelope: bonded membrane over the screed and across walls and ceiling, reinforcing tape worked into every internal corner, movement joint and service penetration, dressed into the gully, with epoxy grout above and falls formed in the screed rather than in the adhesive bed. Any penetration that is added later — a fitting,a fixing, a shelf — is a breach of that envelope, which is why fittings are planned into the build rather than added afterwards. Seesteam room andsteam room design.

Sizing the generator

General practice sizes a generator on the volume of the enclosure, applies a correction forthe finish material and for any glazing, then adds headroom for how often the door will be opened. The finish correction is the part most often skipped: stone or mosaic on a masonrybacking is a substantial thermal mass that has to be brought up to temperature before the room will hold steam at all, so the same volume can need very different outputs depending on how itis lined. Undersizing shows up as a room that takes too long and collapses when someone walks in; oversizing as scalding bursts and a short-cycling generator.

Seat geometry, steam head and light

Comfort in a steam room is mostly geometry. Seats are moulded with a fall so water runs off rather than pooling under the bather, backs are raked, and front edges are radiused because asquare edge is unpleasant against the back of the knee in a hot wet room. The steam head sits low, away from the seats, discharging into open floor where nobody can brush past it. The ceiling is coved or pitched — even a modest fall moves condensate to the perimeter instead of dropping it on the person below — and light fittings are rated for the condition and set flush so they do not become drip points.

What we solved on site

Swiss construction tolerances are tight and the room was an existing one, so the enclosure had to be built to the structure rather than the structure adjusted to it. We surveyed the opening, prefabricated to the measured dimensions in ourIstanbul workshop and delivered a set that fitted without site modification. Commissioning covered the drying-down routine as well as operation:a steam room shut up wet loses its grout, seals and lining years earlier than one that is dried after use. See private spa andsteam shower versus sauna.

Frequently asked questions

Why must a steam room be sealed over the ceiling as well?

Because it is under vapour pressure rather than splashed. Moisture is driven into every joint and penetration, so the membrane forms a complete envelope over screed, walls and ceiling, taped at every corner.

Can fittings be added to a steam room later?

Not without breaching the envelope. Every fixing is a penetration through the waterproofing, so shelves, fittings and accessories are planned into the build rather than added afterwards.

What is most often missed when sizing a generator?

The finish correction. Stone or mosaic on a masonry backing must be brought up to temperature before the room holds steam, so identical volumes can need very different outputs depending on the lining.

Why are steam room seats moulded and radiused?

So water runs off instead of pooling under the bather, and because a square front edge is uncomfortable against the back of the knee in a hot wet room. Backs are raked for the same reason.

Sauna Dekor’s own certification is TS EN ISO 9001:2015 quality management, covering sauna and spa product manufacturing and after-sales service. The equipment we install carries CE / EN 60335, TÜV, GS, GREENGUARD Gold, FSC and VDI 6022 certification from its own manufacturers — EOS, Sentiotec and Condair among them.