Overview
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 more than 35 countries.
This page records the steam room built for the SE-ND block at Emaar Square in Istanbul. Thezone listed for the project is a steam room; the photographic record also shows an ice fountainin the same wellness area.
Scope of work
A residents’ wet room with a cold counterpart: a mosaic-lined steam enclosure and an icefountain for the cold reaction between rounds. The package covered the room build-up andtanking, the mosaic finishes, the generator and steam head, the ice machine installation withits drainage and drip detailing, ventilation terminals and commissioning.
Sizing the generator for a mosaic enclosure
General practice sizes a steam generator on enclosure volume, then applies a correction forthe finish material — and mosaic laid on a masonry backing is a substantial thermal mass thathas to be brought up to temperature before the room will hold steam at all. A generator pickedfrom volume alone will produce a room that takes far too long to come on, which in aresidential building simply means residents give up on it. Then headroom is added for dooropenings. The steam head goes low and away from every seat, discharging into open floor, andthe ceiling is coved or pitched so condensate runs to the perimeter rather than dripping.Detail on how to build a steamroom.
The cold side: ice fountain detailing
An ice fountain is a refrigeration appliance in a wet room, which makes it a drainage andcondensation problem before it is a wellness feature. It needs a dedicated drain rather than ashared floor gully, a condensate route, clearance and ventilation for the machine itself, and asurrounding finish that will take constant contact with melting ice and cold water withoutstaining. The bowl height is set so an adult can reach the ice comfortably while standing, andthe floor around it is laid to fall away, because meltwater on a level floor in a bare-foot areais exactly where a residential building gets its accidents. Product pages:ice fountain andcold plunge pool.
Tanking, unattended safety and finishes
The enclosure was tanked before finishes — bonded membrane over screed, walls and ceiling,reinforcing tape into every corner, movement joint and penetration, dressed into the gully,falls in the screed and epoxy grout throughout. Because residents use the room withoutsupervision, the control sits outside with a maximum setpoint and an automatic run-timecut-off, the door opens outwards and does not lock, and nothing hot or electrical is reachablefrom a seat. Extract runs continuously and on after the room is vacated so the enclosure driesdown. See steam room.
What we solved on site
Putting a refrigeration machine next to a steam enclosure means two opposite conditionsshare one small room: one side is producing vapour, the other is producing a cold surface, andthe space between them is where condensation forms. We separated the two with a properlyventilated buffer, gave the ice machine its own extract and its own drainage, and detailed thetransition floor to fall away from both. The mosaic and joinery were made and dry-assembled inour Istanbul workshop and delivered numbered.
