Choosing the Right Sauna for Your Home
Choosing a home sauna comes down to heat, space and power
Pick traditional heat or infrared, then decide between the garden and a room indoors, and check the power you have. Our home saunas start from £1,199 for an infrared cabin that plugs in, and every outdoor sauna we sell stands below 2.5 m.
This guide walks through each choice with the real sizes and prices of the saunas we sell, from Outdoor Living, Hekla and Jacuzzi®.
Traditional heat or infrared
This is the first choice, because it decides the room, the power and the price.
A traditional Finnish sauna has a heater that warms the air and a load of stones. You throw water on the stones for a burst of steam. You can run it hot and dry or cooler and softer: Harvia, who make the heaters in our saunas, describe 80 to 100°C as hot and dry and 50 to 60°C as humid and soft.1 An infrared sauna has panels that warm your body directly, so the air stays cooler, there are no stones and no steam, and most of our infrared cabins plug into a normal socket.
| Traditional | Infrared | |
|---|---|---|
| How it heats | Harvia heater and stones warm the air | Panels warm you directly |
| Steam | Yes, water on the stones | No |
| Where it goes | The garden or a room indoors | Indoors |
| Power | Heater hardwired on its own supply | 13A plug on our Outdoor Living and Hekla cabins |
| People | 2 to 6 | 1 to 3 |
| Our prices | From £3,498 with a heater | From £1,199 |
In the garden or indoors
Outdoor saunas are complete buildings with a roof, built to stand on a base in the garden. Indoor saunas go inside a room you already have, such as a spare bedroom, a garage or a home gym. Here are all ten of our outdoor saunas drawn to the same scale against a 1.8 m fence, with the price including the lowest priced heater.
Swipe sideways to see every sauna.
The Hekla Barrel 210 and 250 look the same from the front; the 250 is 41 cm longer. Tap a sauna to see it.
Outdoor Living Barrel Sauna
Our lowest priced garden sauna: a spruce barrel for four, 180 cm wide and 180 cm tall, from £3,498 with a heater.
Hekla Traditional 160
An indoor sauna room for two or three with a glass front, 161 by 120 cm and 200 cm tall, from £4,899 with a Harvia heater.
How many people it seats
Size the sauna to the number of people who will use it together most often. Each sauna's page shows the people count and the outside size, so you can check it against your space.
Power and the heater
Infrared: a 13A plug
Our Outdoor Living and Hekla infrared saunas plug into a standard 13A socket, so there is no new wiring to plan. The Hekla cabins are rated at 1.5 to 2.4kW.
- Outdoor Living Infrared Sauna, 2 people
- Hekla Infrared 100, 1 person
- Hekla Infrared 130 and 160, 2 people
Traditional: a hardwired heater
Every traditional sauna is sold with a Harvia heater of 6 to 9kW, wired on its own supply by a qualified electrician. A registered electrician can certify the work under the Building Regulations for you.5
- You choose the heater on the sauna's page, and the price includes it.
- The recommended heater has Wi-Fi control, so you can warm the sauna from your phone.
- The Hekla Cube 210 and 250 and Barrel 210 and 250 can also take a wood burner.
Planning and the base
A garden sauna is usually treated as an outbuilding. In England it can normally go up without planning permission if it is single storey, no more than 2.5 m tall within 2 m of a boundary, not in front of the house, and if buildings and extensions together cover no more than half the garden.4 Our outdoor saunas run from 180 cm to 235 cm tall, so all of them sit below that line. Listed buildings, flats and maisonettes, and designated land such as National Parks have their own rules, so your local planning authority can confirm the position for your address.4
An outdoor sauna needs a firm, flat and level base, such as a concrete slab or paving. The Hekla cubes stand on their own foundation beams on top of it, and the manual for each model gives the base size.
What it costs to buy and run
Harvia says a 6kW heater uses about 4 to 5 kWh in the first hour while the sauna heats up and 3 to 4 kWh in the second, about 7 to 9 kWh in all.2 At the October to December 2026 price cap of 26.32p per kWh3, that is about £1.85 to £2.40 a session. An infrared cabin rated at 1.5 to 2.4kW uses about 40p to 63p an hour even at full power.
Saunas arrive flat-packed. Most of our outdoor saunas are £149 for kerbside delivery or £899 delivered and built, the Hekla indoor rooms £149 or £399 built, and the Outdoor Living infrared saunas come with free delivery. You can see saunas on display at our Hull, Carlisle and Garforth showrooms.
Questions about choosing a sauna
Quick answers on price, rooms, plugs, planning and running costs.
How much does a home sauna cost in the UK?
Our home saunas start from £1,199 for a 2 person Outdoor Living infrared sauna. Indoor sauna rooms start from £4,899 and outdoor garden saunas from £3,498, both including the lowest priced Harvia heater. The largest Hekla cubes are £8,298 to £8,698 with a heater.
Can I put a sauna in a spare room?
Yes. An infrared cabin or an indoor sauna room fits a spare room, garage or home gym. The Outdoor Living infrared sauna is 120 cm wide and 105 cm deep, and the Hekla Traditional rooms run from 161 by 120 cm up to 221 by 215 cm. Measure the floor and the ceiling height before you choose.
Can a sauna plug into a normal socket?
Our Outdoor Living and Hekla infrared saunas plug into a standard 13A socket. Traditional saunas have a 6 to 9kW Harvia heater that is hardwired on its own supply by a qualified, registered electrician.
Do I need planning permission for a garden sauna?
A garden sauna is usually treated as an outbuilding, so in England it can normally go up without planning permission if it is single storey, no more than 2.5 m tall within 2 m of a boundary, not in front of the house, and buildings and extensions together cover no more than half the garden. All our outdoor saunas are under 2.5 m tall. Listed buildings, flats and designated land have their own rules, so check with your local planning authority.
What does a sauna cost to run?
A 6kW heater uses about 7 to 9 kWh over a two-hour session, including the hour it takes to heat up. At the October to December 2026 price cap of 26.32p per kWh that is about £1.85 to £2.40 a session. The Hekla infrared saunas are rated at 1.5 to 2.4kW, about 40p to 63p an hour at full power.
Sources
- Harvia, What is the correct sauna temperature?, Harvia support, accessed October 2026.
- Harvia, FAQ about the energy consumption of sauna bathing, accessed October 2026.
- Ofgem, Changes to energy price cap between 1 October and 31 December 2026, 2026.
- Planning Portal, Outbuildings: planning permission, accessed October 2026.
- Electrical Safety First, Part P of the Building Regulations explained, accessed October 2026.
Paul Margerison
Managing Director & Founder, Outdoor Living
A sauna is a long-term part of your home, so it pays to get the heat, the space and the power right first. This guide puts every sauna we sell side by side to make that choice simple.