Hammam and sauna at a hotel spa in Ashgabat
Sauna Dekor is a Turkish sauna and hammam manufacturer that also acts as turnkey contractor for the wet areas it builds. Founded in 1987 and in its 40th year, the company produces in its own İkitelli, Istanbul facility and has delivered thermal installations in more than 35 countries.
This page records the hotel spa work in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. The zones listed for theproject are hammam and sauna; our record of the job describes it as a spa MEP package alongsidethose rooms.
Scope of work: a hammam, a sauna and the MEP that serves them
A hammam and a sauna, delivered together with the mechanical and electrical package thatserves them: plant, pipework, ventilation runs and terminals, control wiring, drainage andcommissioning, as well as the room build-up, tanking and finishes. Taking the MEP with therooms is unusual on a hotel job and it is the reason this project is worth describing.
Why the MEP package belongs with the rooms
Most spa failures are not failures of the sauna or the hammam; they are failures of theservices that feed them, installed by a contractor who was never told what the rooms needed.A steam generator on an undersized water supply, an extract duct that was value-engineered bya third of its area, a heating circuit balanced for a radiator rather than for a marble slab —each of these produces a room that underperforms and a supplier who is blamed for it. When theMEP package sits with the same contractor as the rooms, the plant is sized against the actualroom build-up, the ventilation is designed for the pressure regime the rooms need, and there isnobody to argue with at commissioning. Seeservices andspa consultant.
What the hammam and the sauna demand from the services
A hammam needs a heating circuit designed for thermal mass — flow temperature and circuitspacing set against slab thickness, and a schedule that soaks the room before opening ratherthan chasing a setpoint. A sauna needs a dedicated electrical circuit sized for the heater,supply air introduced low near the heater and extract taken low on the opposite side, and anextract route back into the building rather than into a corridor. Both need drainage fallsformed in the screed with gullies positioned before the stone is set. General sizing practicefor the dry cabin is roughly a kilowatt of heater output per cubic metre of volume, withadditions for glazing and masonry. Product pages:Turkish bath andsauna.
Tanking, marble and the vaulted hammam ceiling
Wet rooms were tanked before finishes: bonded membrane over the screed, reinforcing tapeinto every corner, movement joint and service penetration, dressed into the gullies, carried uppast splash height, with falls formed in the screed and epoxy grout above. The hammam ceilingis vaulted so condensate runs to the perimeter rather than dripping. Cabin timber is kiln-driedand low in resin with concealed fixings. Marble is set out against the drainage drawing beforeit is cut, so the falls and the slab layout are reconciled in the workshop rather than onsite.
What we solved on site
Turkmenistan is a long way from our plant, which makes an incomplete delivery expensive intime rather than money. The whole package — rooms, plant and terminals — was set out,dry-assembled and numbered in ourIstanbul workshop, then shipped as one sequencedload with fixings, seals and a spares allowance included, and installed by our own crew.Components were chosen partly on whether we could support them from Istanbul, because equipmentthat cannot be serviced locally has to be equipment we can serve remotely.
