MOTHER EARTH NEWS

A DIY Sauna Project on the Cheap

Readers, to mark our 50th anniversary as a magazine, we’re reprinting some of the more colorful stories from our archive. This was originally published in the March/April 1978 issue.

MOTHER

The advertisement showed a towel-clad model reclining on a redwood bench in a handsome paneled room. Healthy beads of perspiration trickled down her brow as she ladled water from a wooden bucket onto the stones in the heater. The caption read, “Build this beautiful, healthful Finnish sauna. Kits as low as $449.” [That’s nearly $1,800 in 2020 dollars.]

I said to myself, “Sure

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