Stone-filled heater behind a slatted timber guard with tiered pale benches and a wooden bucket

[ Project ]

Pelikan Hill Private Property

Istanbul · Türkiye

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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 residence at Pelikan Hill, Istanbul — heater choice, glazing heat loss, ventilation and cabin build-up explained.

Sauna

Project summary

What we delivered

Rooms: Sauna
Where and when: Istanbul · Türkiye, 2017
In short: A private sauna built into a residence at Pelikan Hill, Istanbul — heater choice, glazing heat loss, ventilation and cabin build-up explained.

[ 2 photos ]

From the project

Sauna with a dark stone panel, slatted timber heater guard, LED-lit bench edges and thermometer — Sauna

[ The build ]

Overview

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 41+ countries.

This project is a private sauna inside a residence at Pelikan Hill, Istanbul. The owner isnot named; the page records the development, the property type and the work. The zone listed for the project is a sauna.

Scope of work

A single dry-heat cabin built into a home: the insulated cabin structure, internal liningsand benching, the heater and its control, glazing, lighting, and the ventilation and electricalinterfaces with the residence. Made and dry-assembled in our Istanbul workshop, then numbered,delivered and installed.

Heater class and what glazing costs

For a private cabin we normally specify an electric stone heater rather than an infrared emitter, unless the client specifically wants the lower-temperature infrared experience — a stone heater takes water, which is what most people mean by a sauna. General practice sizes thecabin at roughly a kilowatt of output per cubic metre of volume, then adds for every square metre of glazing and for any masonry surface inside the envelope. Glazing is the addition people underestimate: a glass front is a large, continuous, poorly insulated surface, and a cabin designed for a view needs an output that reflects it. Ignoring that produces a beautifulroom that never reaches temperature at the top bench. Seesauna heater types andinfrared sauna.

Ventilation in a home without an external wall

Most residential cabins sit in a basement, a spare room or a converted area with no external wall available. That works, but only with a real air path: supply low, near or under theheater, extract low on the opposite side, ducted somewhere that can accept warm moist air rather than vented into the next room. Without it the cabin stratifies — hot at head height,cold at the ankles — and the timber never dries between sessions. An adjustable extract is worth having, because a household that uses plenty of water needs a different setting from one that runs the room dry. More atsauna ventilation.

Cabin build-up and materials

The cabin is an insulated box built inside the room: insulation, a continuous foil vapourbarrier with taped laps, a ventilated cavity, then the internal lining. The barrier is the component that decides whether the surrounding structure survives; a cabin lined straight onto masonry drives moisture into the building each time it is used. Linings and benching are kiln-dried, low-resin timber with concealed fixings so nothing hot meets skin, and bench topslift out for cleaning. Over a timber floor, load and heater clearances are confirmed before anything is ordered. Seeluxury home sauna.

What we solved on site

The controlling dimension was internal height. In a converted room the cabin ceiling sits below the existing one and the insulated floor build-up raises the deck, so the useful height is what remains after both — and because the heat a bather feels is in the top third of thecabin, that height had to be protected before anything else was set. Bench levels, heater position and the glazed front were all worked back from it. The cabin was dry-assembled in ourIstanbul workshop, numbered and shipped, so installation in an occupied home took days rather than weeks.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a glass front add to the heater size?

More than most people expect. Glazing is a large, continuous, poorly insulated surface, so a cabin designed around a view needs output well above what its volume alone suggests, or the top bench never reaches temperature.

Can a home sauna work with no external wall?

Yes, with a ducted air path: supply low near the heater, extract low on the opposite side, taken somewhere that can accept warm moist air. Without it the cabin stratifies and the timber never dries.

Why is an adjustable extract useful at home?

Because households use saunas differently. One that ladles plenty of water needs a different extract setting from one that runs the room dry, and a fixed grille suits only one of them.

What is the first dimension to fix in a converted room?

The cabin’s internal height. The heat a bather feels sits in the top third of the room, so bench levels, heater position and glazing are all worked back from the height that remains after the floor build-up and ceiling.

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.