Ikoyi villa sauna installed against a dark marble wall, viewed from the wellness room

[ Project ]

Ikoyi Villa Lagos — Private Sauna

Lagos · Nigeria

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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 sauna built into a villa in Ikoyi, Lagos — heater choice for a humid tropical climate, ventilation, timber selection and cabin build-up.

Sauna

Project summary

What we delivered

Rooms: Sauna
Where and when: Lagos · Nigeria, 2025
In short: A private sauna built into a villa in Ikoyi, Lagos — heater choice for a humid tropical climate, ventilation, timber selection and cabin build-up.

[ 5 photos ]

From the project

Ikoyi villa sauna behind full-height glass next to the marble bathroom — Sauna

Corner of the Ikoyi villa sauna with the stone heater and the open door to the corridor — Sauna

Ikoyi villa sauna beside the marble-clad shower, seen through the glass partition — Sauna

Ikoyi villa sauna interior with wide LED-lit benches and a stone-filled heater — Sauna

[ The build ]

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 41+ countries.

This project is a private sauna inside a villa in Ikoyi, Lagos. The owner is not named; the page records the district, the property type and the work. The zone listed for the project isa sauna.

Scope of work

A single dry-heat cabin built into a private house, taken as a complete package: thecabin structure and insulated build-up, internal linings and benching, the heater and its control, glazing, lighting, and the ventilation and electrical interfaces with the villa.Everything was manufactured and dry-assembled in our Istanbul workshop, then numbered,shipped and installed.

Why a humid climate changes the specification

Lagos is hot and humid year-round, and that affects a sauna in two ways people rarelyanticipate. First, the cabin is not fighting a cold house — the ambient it starts from is already warm, so heat-up is quick, but the timber is living in high ambient humidity between sessions and will move if it is the wrong material or was never properly dried. Second, the air brought into the cabin carries far more moisture than the same volume of air in a temperate climate, so a cabin ventilated straight from outdoors never really becomes a dry sauna. Where the house is air-conditioned, we take make-up air from the conditioned side instead. Timber selection follows the same logic: kiln-dried, low-resin species, properlyacclimatised, with a build-up that lets both faces of the lining breathe.

Heater and heat load

An electric stone heater is the normal specification for a cabin of this kind, because it takes water and gives the loyly burst that defines the experience. The general sizing rule is about a kilowatt of output per cubic metre of cabin volume, plus an allowance for glazing and for any masonry surface inside the envelope. In a warm climate the base load is lower than inEurope, but the glazing allowance is unchanged — glass loses heat regardless of what is onthe other side of it. Equally important is the electrical supply: heaters above a modest rating need three phase, and in a private villa the available supply and the stability of itare worth confirming before the cabin is sized rather than after. SeeFinnish sauna,sauna andsauna heater types.

Cabin build-up, vapour barrier and floor

The cabin is an insulated box built inside the room: insulation, a continuous foil vapourbarrier with taped laps, a ventilated cavity, then the lining. The vapour barrier protects the villa’s structure — a cabin lined directly onto a masonry wall drives moisture into the building every time it runs. The floor is laid to fall to a point that can be cleaned and dried, benches are built to lift out, and every fixing that could reach the surface is concealed so no hot metal meets skin. In a tropical house, insect and moisture detailing atthe base of the cabin deserves the same attention as the heat detailing at the top.

What we solved on site

Delivering a cabin to West Africa means the on-site window has to be short and the package has to be complete. The whole cabin was assembled dry in Istanbul, checked, dismantled,numbered and crated with its fixings, seals and a spares allowance in the same shipment — so that nothing on site depended on a component that would take weeks to replace. Ventilation was the other decision: rather than pull humid outdoor air into the cabin, supply was taken from the conditioned interior, which keeps the timber stable and the sauna genuinely dry.Our Africa page covers how we work in the region,and sauna ventilation explains the air path in more detail.

Frequently asked questions

Does a tropical climate change how a sauna is built?

Yes. Heat-up is faster because the starting ambient is warm, but the timber lives in high humidity between sessions, so species selection, drying and the ventilated build-up behind the lining matter more than they do in a temperate climate.

Where should make-up air come from in a humid city?

From the conditioned interior wherever possible. Air drawn straight from outdoors in a place like Lagos carries so much moisture that the cabin never becomes a genuinely dry sauna, and the timber never settles.

What electrical supply does the heater need?

A dedicated circuit, and three-phase above a modest rating. In a private villa the available supply and its stability are worth confirming before the cabin is sized, because the supply often sets the practical maximum.

How is a cabin shipped to West Africa?

Fully dry-assembled and checked in our Istanbul workshop first, then dismantled, numbered and crated with its fixings, seals and a spares allowance in the same load, so nothing on site waits on a replacement part.

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.