Ultimate Guide on How to Build a Steam Room at Home 

how to build a steam room at home

Having a steam room or small quadrant shower enclosure at home is one of the best experiences and luxuries that you can have. You get ample time to relax in your home spa while soft heat senses surround you. Your steam room also enables you to enjoy the enriching aromas and soothing light therapy more than you would do in commercial spas. But many people don’t have the clue of how to build a steam room at home. Follow up on this guidance for the relevant tips. 

How to Build a Steam Room at Home

If you have the dream of building a steam shower or spa-quality steam room within your home, you really have many different alternatives that you can go about. There are a decent number of different and ready to fix steam shower cabins that you can get in the market. But if the purchased ones cannot fit in your place or suit your needs, then you might choose to build a DIY one. This enables you to design a steam room that meets your requirements.

However, building a personal steam room entails more than simply putting a small steam generator and fixing glass doors. While you may convert an existing shower area to become your steam room, it works better when you build a full steam room from scratch. You only need a small area of approximately 4 by 5 or 6 feet. 

how to build a steam room at home

How to Build a Steam Room at Home

When installing the entryway, think about small steam rooms such as converted baths or showers. These ought to have a minor gap at the lower part of the door to allow airflow. For bigger rooms, you may fix an air-tight door. 

Every steam shower will require a generator of the correct size. Most producers will give rules to assist you in picking the correct size. The materials utilized in the building of the steam room will likewise influence the type of generator to choose from. After you’ve selected a generator, you should put it in a dry place and where it’s reachable within 5 meters from the steam room. For instance, you can put it in a garage or cupboard. 

But the equipment shouldn’t be located outdoors or within an area where it’s exposed to cold temperatures. It needs electrical and water supply enabling the running of copper pipe from the equipment to the outlet of the steam in the steam room. It must also reach control cables and into the thermostatic control. You also need to insulate the area with a closeby channel. 

The electrical linkage for the generator ought to be 240 volts while the water supply may be cold or hot. While hot water will make steam more rapidly, the option will require that you attach the generator with a water heater. 

Once you’ve got the generator appropriately fixed and have it linked electrically to the control board, you need to plug the equipment in and test it via the control board. If all the essentials are set up well, it should illuminate. 

Now, if everything looks great, pat your back for an excellent job! It wouldn’t damage to have an electrician and plumber come in and see everything to ensure the installation is solid and safe. Regardless of the situation, don’t keep the steam room engaged 24 hours. The ample time allows connections to dry. 

Planning the Layout of the Steam Room: 

  • Seating – ensure there’s sufficient space for the number of users that might use the room. If there’s enough space, leave the steam room to lie down; 
  • Door – you may utilize a sufficiently-sealed shower entryway. If need be, you may visit the steam accessories store; 
  • Steam outlet – the delivery steam pipe ends with a 22mm male link into a steam outlet that’s specially designed, including the steam generator. When thinking about the outlet area, remember that the outlet steam is hot. It’s thus ideal for getting it far from bathers’ feet; 
  • Lights – you’ll require LED lights or IP-rated low voltage for the steam room. You might likewise wish to get two levels of light, soft for bathing, bright for cleaning, or even color light therapy; 
  • Ventilation – there is no necessity for extraordinary ventilation within the steam room. But the space outside your steam room will require extraction since steam will escape from the entryway once you open it; 
  • Steam generator – the generator should be situated in a dry and easily area, which is ideally 5m from the steam room. For instance, you may store it in a pantry, carport, or loft. Space requires a water supply and a reliable electric supply.  You also need the option of running a copper pipe into the steam outlet, including the control cables that enter the steaming room for thermostatic control. 

Planning the Construction: 

  • Floor – similarly, as with a shower, the steam room floor should be waterproof, particularly where it joins the dividers. It should also power into a waste gulley to enable the water to deplete away. 
  • Walls – you can build it in studwork, blocks, or some other stable structure. Next is to line it with a tile-backer board that’s ready for end finishes. 
  • Benches – you may purchase these from a steam room store or build similarly as the dividers and line them with a tile-backer board as you wrap up. 
  • Ceiling – build them as you do the walls. It’s ideal if it’s slightly inclined to permit the condensation to run away. Thus, you may either have a central pitch, domed or slope one way, rolled or barreled. 

Planning the Shower & Accessories and Finishes: 

  • Tiles – It’s the most conventional approach to finish the inner part of a steam room. Practically any kind of tile is suitable if the outside of the tile is non-permeable; 
  • Grout and Adhesive – there is no compelling reason to utilize unique materials since anything appropriate for the shower is good; 
  • Shower – you can likewise install the shower in the steam room or close by to utilize once you move out from the steam; 
  • Accessories – you may choose to include a color light therapy, an automatic essence dosing system, or a stereo system to your beautiful team room 

The main issue of utilizing a bathtub area or current shower is water fume. Hot steam will rapidly relocate through any tiny permeable cracks or divider materials. When it interacts with a colder surface, it will gather again as water. This will harm the dividers after some time. 

how to build a steam room at home

Essential Factors on How to Build a Steam Room At Home 

Insert unique steam-room entryways that suitably seal the walls when shut are accessible at the most building supply outlets and bathrooms. They don’t look much different from customary bath entryways, but they cover every other opening. Steam-room entryways additionally have weather-stripping in the entire joints. 

  • Tile is the ideal wall covering to utilize in your new steam room. The material is built in a thin-set mortar, and apart from sealing the surfaces well, it also lasts for long. By choosing different tile hues, you can make a relaxing and exclusive look in your steam room. 
  • Choose your steam generator dependent on the wall materials and the steam room size being utilized. They are accessible from most big fixture producers, and they can furnish you with diagrams demonstrating suggested generator sizes. Generators are mainly situated 15 to 20 feet from the steam room for purposes of convenience, but the closer in every case, the better. 
  • When constructing your steam room, utilize a polyethylene film water barrier all-around your whole room. Put a 6-millimeter polyethylene film layer above the tile floor. Double it over the film edges to make sure it stretches out to the dividers a bit. The film on the dividers will stretch out down within the floor film to guide the condensed water into the same. 
  • For the best dampness safety, utilize an enormous single bit of polyethylene film when covering all the walls and the ceiling. If you experience difficulty getting the film, make contact with commercial firms that offer supplies to proficient concrete installers. They’ll have the best substances. Staple or nail the film to the divider and roof framing lumber. 
  • Backerboard should now be installed on the ceiling and walls. This is the unbending board that the tile is appended to. A cement backerboard is the ideal substance to utilize. There is water-safe drywall accessible, but a concrete backerboard is impenetrable to dampness and lasts for many days. It isn’t significantly more difficult to operate with than the ordinary drywall. 
  • After you install the backerboards, don’t attempt to fit them consummately together. It’s ideal when small gaps are left to enable you to lay a silicone caulk thick bead in the gap. It’s fine if you use an 8-inch gap to give room for some movement but without making the backerboards separate. 
  • The next step is to add the tiles. You need to utilize a thin-set to join the tiles to the supporter board. This ideally resists the hot steam moisture as compared to other kinds of tile adhesives. Attach the caulk and steam-room door around it to ensure your steam room is satisfactorily vapored tight. 

You may have the option to find special steam room entryways at your nearby home center store. But if that’s not possible, you may attempt a custom kitchen/ bathroom shop or a building supply outlet from a professional. While steam room doors resemble the ordinary shower doors, they cover the entire openings making them well sealed.

Consider this for a Steam Room 

Steam rooms measure approximately 7 feet in height and shouldn’t be taller than 8 feet. Steam goes upwards, and constraining the height of the room guarantees that plentiful steam shrouds the users sitting on benches.

The idea is to keep the twirling steam inside the room, hence uncovered surfaces must be waterproof and leak-free. This retains moisture from creeping into nearby areas, and if that’s not handled well, it might cause structural damage. 

Install vapor-barrier substances before putting the non-porous stone, tile, or solid surface to the floor, ceiling, and walls of the room. The vapor-proof door that you install should open outwards for safety.

Ensure the floor is slip-resistant to avoid fallings. Besides allowing condensed steam to flow, a slightly sloped ceiling likewise stops direct dripping of condensation to the users’ heads. The following are other essentials that you need whenever you budget and plan on how to build a steam room at home.

Add-On Amenities  

Your steam room will need one or two teak benches for reclining or peacefully sitting under the diffused vapor-proof lighting. You need a unique “chromatherapy” LED lights to establish custom-color steam to set a wide cluster of temperaments. 

Consider having a vapor-proof docking station and speakers to enable you to listen to tunes. You can boost your experience by putting aromatherapy oils into the fume. Add fog-free mirrors, regular & rain showerheads, and handheld sprays, to transform your steam room into a pampering relaxation station. 

If constructing a steam room appears like an enormous task, converse with a handyman about putting steam functions to your current shower. 

Thermostats 

A thermostat is a great fixture that the majority of people ignore when planning to establish their steam rooms. In most cases, the steam generator will incorporate an indoor regulator. But in case it doesn’t, you have to buy and install one. 

Contractors 

It might be ideal if you locate an expert contractor to install items in your steam room. There are numerous things to consider, including enclosures, electrical connections, proper plumbing, and several other aspects.

While this might be overpowering to the layman, a contractual worker can ensure that these components will are taken into account for an effective home steam room. Now that you’ve learned how to build a steam room at home, you may start planning by following the tips mentioned above.