Willy’s Sauna

My name is Willy and I live in Pinehurst. It has been a huge joy to have the NE Seattle Tool Library in my neighborhood.

Last August, I started a lifelong dream project of building a wood-fired sauna in my backyard. I built it from scratch without any real plan except for a few hand-drawn sketches.

I managed to complete the whole project without buying a single tool! I used the tool library throughout every stage of the project. I started by building an 8'x8' platform on top of pier blocks, and then framing out an 8'x6' building on top of the platform, leaving a 2' deck in front. I used a simple 'shed roof' design and added a salvaged window and a homemade door on the front of the building. I bought a lot of the lumber from Home Depot and Dunn Lumber, but all of the beautiful 1"x10" rough-grain cedar that you see on the inside and outside of the building came from a guy I met on Craigslist (of course!) who mills the wood himself in Marblemount, right on the edge of the North Cascades.