How to Clean Your Sauna

There are oodles of fantastic things about saunas. One of them that saunas are super low maintenance. Unlike, say, hot tubs, there are no chemicals to balance, pumps to leak, or water to change.

Cleaning your sauna is simple and straightforward. We’ll do our best to keep this how-to-clean-your-sauna article as simple and straightforward as is.

How to Clean and Maintain Your Sauna

Generally speaking, a good pattern is to clean your sauna once a month and do some light maintenance of the wood of your sauna once a year.

Clean your sauna once a month (give or take a few weeks depending on how frequently you use your sauna):

1. Make sure the sauna is “cold” and off
2. Sweep or vacum the sauna
3. Scrub the sauna and any sweat stains with warm water, a natural cleaner (like Dr. Bronners), and a soft brush
4. Rinse the cold water
5. Leave the door open to your sauna to air out and dry

Do some light maintenance of the wood once a year:

1. Make sure the sauna is “cold” and off
2. Pressure wash the exterior of the sauna (not the interior)
3. Let the exterior fully dry
4. Apply a UV protective no VOC stain to the exterior of the sauna (not the interior)
5. Use a fine sandpaper to lightly sand any stains from the interior

How to Keep Your Sauna Clean

Keeping your sauna clean makes for a sweeter experience and means that you have to clean it less.

We highly recommend:

1. Not wearing shoes inside the sauna
2. Creating a culture of always sitting on or wearing a towel in your sauna to minimize sweat stains in the wood
3. Leaving the door open for a while to air out your sauna after each use

To Sum It Up

Good culture around your sauna, a little cleaning, and yearly maintenance of the wood can keep your sauna looking great and serving up sweet experiences for you, your family, and friends for decades to come.