Basswood , Cedar , Hemlock, Poplar: Best Infrared Sauna Wood Type Comparison and Inspection

Comparison Comparing sauna wood types is a little tricky if you’re talking to a sauna salesman. Usually they try to steer you toward cedar because it’s more expensive, and they make more money on the sale. In my experience however, the type of lumber used in a home sauna, never contributes to the quality of my sweat. Many others are also trying to avoid VOC’s, and usually sauna companies have a list of the lowest VOC lumber and most hypoallergenic woods. Trouble is, in my latest VOC testing with my own meter, a Poplar sauna is showing higher VOC’s than a Hemlock sauna. Imagine that? So what does that mean? Well, I’m dissecting further right now, and finding that it isn’t just the lumber type that contributes to a low VOC sauna. In fact, the wood type, might actually be the least important thing on the list. Stay tuned for more, but in the meantime, stop letting sauna companies bully you into paying for for a certain type of wood. (only to find out, it isn’t going to change your sauna experience much, if at all)