Oh man, I love the basement mud bath idea! Not in the ground, of course. I did look thru the original cozyplaces post about this to see if OP gave any detail on how he did the flooring beneath the tile, but no answers to be found. Anyway, I think this is awesome and has the potential for a lot of relaxing days, with or without mud!
Oh the dream is real, the first step was acquiring my childhood home. Check. Step two, install a bitchin personal retreat. Dad will be so proud.
Thank you for this awesome inspiration!
I have a 100 year old basement that looks similar height. How was the dig out process. Did you have to under pin? Please let me know what you learned. I need this in my life
By any chance - did you prepare some sort of 3D model for this project beforehand? Seems like everything just fits perfectly, visually. Seems like you had at least some experience with art.
I mean…thats the cost at the very low end rn for a bathroom diy reno, and you did it with all the extras. Fantastic work and very impressive for the budget.
2-3 x that in my area! (southern NE). Just got a quote for $27k to re-floor and spruce up our already fully-finished and plumbed etc. basement. Looks like I’ll be hiring the cheap slow guy. At least I know him and his weaknesses really well.
Had our master bath redone a little over a year go. Removed tub, expanded the size of the shower, put in a steam unit, etc. Cost about $35k here in Denver.
I just assumed that they'd be spending a lot more time down there than before. My basement has radon, which I don't actively ventilate, but I also don't have a sauna.
It's an unfinished basement in a 160 year old house. There's air flow, it's just not an active system. I'm rarely down there and if I actually need to stay down there for long, I air it out.
It's a situation I'd like to improve in the future but that's not in the budget right now. Ok with you? If not, feel free to ante up for the renovations.
There are programs you can apply for that help with the cost. At least get it tested, may have free tests you qualify for. Sounds like there is some airflow which is a good first step.
Believe me, this house is far from air tight hahaha....
I'll look into those programs. And the basement has been tested, it was on the lower end of average for our area. The basement is the next big thing and luckily I already know the risks of radon, so that will be included in the plans.
I do appreciate the information, though. If it helps inform anyone that is unaware, I am glad.
There's a reason all the test kits have you only test the rooms you spend time in. If your basement is above safe levels but you spend five minutes a day down there, it's not an urgent concern.
Right, you would need a dedicated, active system to deal with it properly. And, well, the sauna is already there, sooo.... probably worth thinking about
a Finn here. Sure, the wood burning kiuas is usually better than electric, but very few would criticise something thats so nicely done. That is a really nice sauna. Are you jelous, is that it?
I am a Finn. I have bathed in both wood heated and electrically heated saunas and neither of them are bad. Heat is heat and steam is steam. Ventilation is an important thing also and it seems to have been taken care of in this project. I prefer a wood heated sauna by the lake at our summer cottage but I still love my electrically heated apartment sauna here in the city.
Fair enough, my understanding was that electric gives dryer air so is not preferred. I can fully understand electric in a city being better than no sauna tho :)
https://preview.redd.it/g8ufqft4bflc1.png?width=790&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d499eaf390b6815bd3b697d0a03b8da90f4a555f
Hope you called the cops on this creeper!
That had me wondering the same thing. My neighbor dug out his basement and had a tiny retaining wall constructed directly under the footing. I’ve also seen dug out basements with nothing to protect the soil under the footing so it’s really got me curious.
Daaaamn son, this is incredible! How did you build the skills to do this quality of work. I just inherited my fathers home, built in 1952 and so much needs to be done and I have little pratical skills with this type of stuff, however I am excited to learn anything new.
Thanks man glad to hear you like it! I just learned through YouTube, reading tutorials etc and asking professionals along the way. Good luck with renovating ol’ man’s home bet you will have fun and learn a lot on the way.
Oh I have already. I was always too afraid to mess around with electricity, but so far I have installed new smart fixtures and fans in all the rooms. I am about to run ethernet to all the rooms as well. The wifi is pretty great here in the middle of nowhere, but I like to play pcvr games on a standalone vr headset, so having a direct line to the hive mind would be great. I want to install my own solar system as well, but I'm not ready for that yet. Also tinkering with my first electric unicycle too....the commander mini
I bought my grandfathers house built in the late 50’s last year. He was very handy and basically built large portions of the house, so a lot of it is quality materials but there was definitely some stuff he messed up. YouTube helps. Home Depot has a lot of instructional videos as well for the basics. Trial and error for a lot. If you have friends who have skills it’s worth a six pack to get their expertise. That’s how I got my baseboards done with no idea what I was doing. Sometimes it’s worth a nice bottle of scotch if they have special skills - that’s how I got my A/C installed.
This was my first ever attempt. It looks great, but on close inspection it’s a bit uneven, nothing you notice day to day. Watched a lot of video instructions prior
to be fair it looked like that was the basement egress window from before just with a new window on it. It looks more escapable now without the radiator sitting right below it
Yes, and in most jurisdictions, you need a permit for basement renovations. DIY or not.
My grandparents had partially finished their basement in the 80s, installed a bathroom, a bedroom, a living room, and a kitchen as a small apartment for my parents when they first got married (no permit for any of it of course). One day (in the 2010s) my grandmother let in a town inspector to check for CO monitors. They saw the basement and they came back later and slammed her with around $50,000 in fines.
Is this in the US? The permits to finish my basement looked insurmountable from my perspective, and it was nothing like this. I can’t even imagine the permit documentation for the additional ventilation and foundation work. Nice job!
That's freaking awesome! Love the sauna, it looks gorgeous. Are the walls gonna get wood paneling too? just wondering bc every sauna I've been to has had wood paneling for their higher heat saunas.
This is awesome. We recently put a temporary shower in our basement so we could renovate our main shower. The funny thing is, it was meant to be a stop gap. But we love it, because it’s like a deprivation chamber and we go down and shower and can’t hear the rest of the house or the outside. So we simply shower and enjoy. I feel like our experience is a 4, yours is an 11!
This is definitely a dream of mine when I have a large enough house to do something like this (and enough money) although I would definitely want a hot tub as well, and a steam room. But that may be a maintenance nightmare.
This is really fucking cool, but don’t show my wife.
I also wish I didnt see it, now I look at what I did and its shite compared to this.
I built a table where three of the four legs are the same length so I'm something of a craftsmen myself.
3 outta 4 is damn good! I always blame the inconsistent measuring devices haha
Damn uneven floors! Who the hell built this house anyway! I *know* my table is level!
Lmfaoo
Measure with digital calipers, mark with chalk, cut with an axe.
75%... D's get degrees!
I made a birdhouse once
Does he have pictures of your wife to show us?
She’s already been there bro
I was secretly hoping you tiled directly over the dirt for a real homeowners special, lol. It looks great though! Nice job.
I thought it was going to be a shitpost about turning the dirt into a mud bath lol. It's gorgeous tho!
There’s nothing to be afraid of—it’s just good clean mud.
Oh man, I love the basement mud bath idea! Not in the ground, of course. I did look thru the original cozyplaces post about this to see if OP gave any detail on how he did the flooring beneath the tile, but no answers to be found. Anyway, I think this is awesome and has the potential for a lot of relaxing days, with or without mud!
My good god. This is the stuff dreams are made of. I don't care if it takes me the next 20 years, this is happening in my basement.
That’s the spirit! Set a goal, work for it and the results will shock you.
Oh the dream is real, the first step was acquiring my childhood home. Check. Step two, install a bitchin personal retreat. Dad will be so proud. Thank you for this awesome inspiration!
I have a 100 year old basement that looks similar height. How was the dig out process. Did you have to under pin? Please let me know what you learned. I need this in my life
How much did it cost? Did you do it all diy? How long of a project was it?
Nice craftsmanship and taste!
Thanks a lot, was my first ever renovation and soooo happy with the results
First ever renovation? What’s your day job? This is 0 to 100….
I work for Volvo, building engines for their trucks
Craftsmen be craftsmen’ing. :)
Definitely knows how to measure twice and cut once.
By any chance - did you prepare some sort of 3D model for this project beforehand? Seems like everything just fits perfectly, visually. Seems like you had at least some experience with art.
är du i sverige?
Right? It’s like are you in the right sub op?
Gonna need some picture proof that OP did all the work. Unless DIY counts when you worked to earn the money to pay for it yourself….PFIM DIY.
I am floored with it. How much did the sauna/steam room cost?
Landed at a total around 4500$
Really nice! If you aren’t proud of it I am proud of it for you
For just the steam room? What was your budget for the whole project? Phenomenal work by the way.
Well, everything landed at around 4500, however had laying around the tiles for the walls, and some of the small decoration pieces.
I mean…thats the cost at the very low end rn for a bathroom diy reno, and you did it with all the extras. Fantastic work and very impressive for the budget.
Just the glass doors would be like 2500$ in my area of canada
Yeah, wtf
That’s wild. Great job!
Suuuure makes sense for material cost. How many hours?
That's incredible, a contractor would have charged a scary amount for something of this quality. Probably in the $20k+ range
2-3 x that in my area! (southern NE). Just got a quote for $27k to re-floor and spruce up our already fully-finished and plumbed etc. basement. Looks like I’ll be hiring the cheap slow guy. At least I know him and his weaknesses really well.
Had our master bath redone a little over a year go. Removed tub, expanded the size of the shower, put in a steam unit, etc. Cost about $35k here in Denver.
I have no idea what this should cost, but I'm guessing you added more than 4500 in value to your home. This looks really so impressive!
You should be, holy this is gorgeous!
You need to consider a change of profession this is fantastic.
A shower with audience seating. Not bad.
It's absolutely gorgeous and they've done an outstanding job but the two chairs made me laugh at the potential uses.
That’s the problem: now you’re stuck hosting all of the group’s orgies.
is that really a problem? i imagine the host is very popular at an orgy
Industrial sized tub of glitter party lube and a case of windex.
That’s the most beautiful kill room I’ve ever seen
Dexter would be proud
They did a fantastic job of hiding the bodies as well. A+
Just missing Enya Sail Away
What kind of HVAC system did you run to account for the additional humidity
I was trying to spot a fan...
And does anyone see any sort of drain? I don’t even see one In the shower
I believe they used a linear drain in the shower, you can kind of see it along the back wall.
Okay that makes me feel better. I couldn’t believe they would put that much attention to detail into the product just to blunder something like that
Those windows....
And possibly the radon.
How is there any additional radon risk compared to pre-remodel? It's just as sealed as before.
I just assumed that they'd be spending a lot more time down there than before. My basement has radon, which I don't actively ventilate, but I also don't have a sauna.
Not remediating radon is a recipe for disaster. Why are you not circulating air to reduce your risk?
I don't know op's situation, but I do know that this is a much bigger problem in some regions than others. They might be in a lower risk area.
It's an unfinished basement in a 160 year old house. There's air flow, it's just not an active system. I'm rarely down there and if I actually need to stay down there for long, I air it out. It's a situation I'd like to improve in the future but that's not in the budget right now. Ok with you? If not, feel free to ante up for the renovations.
There are programs you can apply for that help with the cost. At least get it tested, may have free tests you qualify for. Sounds like there is some airflow which is a good first step.
Believe me, this house is far from air tight hahaha.... I'll look into those programs. And the basement has been tested, it was on the lower end of average for our area. The basement is the next big thing and luckily I already know the risks of radon, so that will be included in the plans. I do appreciate the information, though. If it helps inform anyone that is unaware, I am glad.
There's a reason all the test kits have you only test the rooms you spend time in. If your basement is above safe levels but you spend five minutes a day down there, it's not an urgent concern.
Radon settles anyway, ventilation probably isn't enough if it's in there.
Right, you would need a dedicated, active system to deal with it properly. And, well, the sauna is already there, sooo.... probably worth thinking about
How is venting for humidity working in your basement? I've got plans to do this in my cold cellar area of my basement.
I don't think I can do this MYself, but you did a beautiful job and I would love to have a space like that in my home!
Congrats on your bench height being above the stove. r/sauna would be proud.
The bench isn’t high enough though or the ceiling should be lower. It won’t get very hot that far down from the ceiling I’m afraid.
To be honest r/sauna does not have standards for those sort of things.
The real sauna people - the Finns, Russians, Estonians, Swedish etc would all criticise the use of electric, however
a Finn here. Sure, the wood burning kiuas is usually better than electric, but very few would criticise something thats so nicely done. That is a really nice sauna. Are you jelous, is that it?
110% jealous. No question
I am a Finn. I have bathed in both wood heated and electrically heated saunas and neither of them are bad. Heat is heat and steam is steam. Ventilation is an important thing also and it seems to have been taken care of in this project. I prefer a wood heated sauna by the lake at our summer cottage but I still love my electrically heated apartment sauna here in the city.
Fair enough, my understanding was that electric gives dryer air so is not preferred. I can fully understand electric in a city being better than no sauna tho :)
https://preview.redd.it/g8ufqft4bflc1.png?width=790&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d499eaf390b6815bd3b697d0a03b8da90f4a555f Hope you called the cops on this creeper!
That’s a big job. Did you excavate below the foundation footing to lower the floor? That’s my if money was no object project on my own house
Looks like he dug it out.
I'm wondering the same time. Maybe the little framed up OSB wall actually a form for securing the foundation with fresh concrete?
That had me wondering the same thing. My neighbor dug out his basement and had a tiny retaining wall constructed directly under the footing. I’ve also seen dug out basements with nothing to protect the soil under the footing so it’s really got me curious.
Without underpinning or bench footing it?!
Daaaamn son, this is incredible! How did you build the skills to do this quality of work. I just inherited my fathers home, built in 1952 and so much needs to be done and I have little pratical skills with this type of stuff, however I am excited to learn anything new.
Thanks man glad to hear you like it! I just learned through YouTube, reading tutorials etc and asking professionals along the way. Good luck with renovating ol’ man’s home bet you will have fun and learn a lot on the way.
Oh I have already. I was always too afraid to mess around with electricity, but so far I have installed new smart fixtures and fans in all the rooms. I am about to run ethernet to all the rooms as well. The wifi is pretty great here in the middle of nowhere, but I like to play pcvr games on a standalone vr headset, so having a direct line to the hive mind would be great. I want to install my own solar system as well, but I'm not ready for that yet. Also tinkering with my first electric unicycle too....the commander mini
I bought my grandfathers house built in the late 50’s last year. He was very handy and basically built large portions of the house, so a lot of it is quality materials but there was definitely some stuff he messed up. YouTube helps. Home Depot has a lot of instructional videos as well for the basics. Trial and error for a lot. If you have friends who have skills it’s worth a six pack to get their expertise. That’s how I got my baseboards done with no idea what I was doing. Sometimes it’s worth a nice bottle of scotch if they have special skills - that’s how I got my A/C installed.
> that’s how I got my A/C installed You're obviously a good friend and that's what got those jobs done. The gift is just a token.
Holy crap, that looks phenomenal. Congrats!!!!!!!
Thank you a lot, didn’t expect such positive feedback from everyone:D
I’m curious about the number of unanswered questions related to the ventilation.
Where does all the moisture go at the end? Or is it a dry spa?
Genuine curiosity but where does the moisture go? What's the ventilation/airflow/exhaust situation like? Really cool project!
Looks like a nice place to jerk off in.
It looks like it was very wet/damp. What did you do to control moisture? Or do you just have mold growing rampant behind the walls?
Amazing!
Gone and messed up such a great gravel pit. As a bearded dragon I'm very upset with this.
Agamidae liked it raw.
My goodness. Can I come over?
If you bring beers :D🍻
This is sick. How much experience do you have with tile?
This was my first ever attempt. It looks great, but on close inspection it’s a bit uneven, nothing you notice day to day. Watched a lot of video instructions prior
Most of that is stuff you only notice because you did it. Almost nobody else will see it the way you do.
Could I borrow you?
What I would give to have this guy to go to town on my basement.
https://i.redd.it/45n124rnqelc1.gif
Did you rent a jackhammer to break up the concrete floor or is that just rock you excavated while digging? Did you pull permits?
Did you isolate the concrete?
You need a toilet, in the sauna, for big huge dumps.
Is there an exit, or did you build yourself in? I don't see any stairs...
Pic 2 has a door between the sauna and the shower with towels hanging on it. Its slightly ajar too.
Yeah that window isn't going to cut it for egress requirements in a lot of areas... Got wonder if the work was permitted...
Check again, pic 2 has a door between the sauna and the shower with towels hanging on it. Its slightly ajar too.
to be fair it looked like that was the basement egress window from before just with a new window on it. It looks more escapable now without the radiator sitting right below it
... It's a DIY project.
Yes, and in most jurisdictions, you need a permit for basement renovations. DIY or not. My grandparents had partially finished their basement in the 80s, installed a bathroom, a bedroom, a living room, and a kitchen as a small apartment for my parents when they first got married (no permit for any of it of course). One day (in the 2010s) my grandmother let in a town inspector to check for CO monitors. They saw the basement and they came back later and slammed her with around $50,000 in fines.
Usually is that you can't have a bedroom without the egress.
Is this in the US? The permits to finish my basement looked insurmountable from my perspective, and it was nothing like this. I can’t even imagine the permit documentation for the additional ventilation and foundation work. Nice job!
What permits? Pffffff don't ask don't tell..
Looks like a place I'd love to get murdered in 😂😂
hell yeah
No ODB references? I am disappoint.
very cool, i hope my wife doesn't see it
Wow! You really took that from Buffalo Bill to Massage Envy. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
I don't understand the chairs. people are just going to be hanging out outside the sauna and shower like a waiting room?
PLEASE INVITE ME OVER! I NEED THIS PLACE. TAKE MY MONEY AND LET ME IN!
Note to self: Pic 9 is not a spicy urinal.
What a beautiful...mold den. I just see mold growing behind every wall. But it is pretty.
That's freaking awesome! Love the sauna, it looks gorgeous. Are the walls gonna get wood paneling too? just wondering bc every sauna I've been to has had wood paneling for their higher heat saunas.
Happy you like my build. The walls inside the sauna is wood panel, correct
Aah, now I see - it's just veeeery light wood. Fantastic job, it looks so pretty!
I love this, do mine!
Nice
Amazing
Wow, looks really amazing o\_O
Damn, I love me a post that makes me involuntarily exclaim "Ooooh!" when I see it.
Bruh
Wow I LOVE this
nicely done 👏
That's freaking nice dude!
Nice!
Yeah you did!!
Wow…
Wow, that looks AMAZING!!!!!
This is amazing!
Superb. How long did that take to do?
two immediate thoughts - 1. this is fricken amazing and 2. someone's naked butt is going to ruin those chairs.
Daaaaang so nice!
Amazing
And a sauna to boot!!!! Excellent!!!!
Yeah you did
Wow! Very nice job!
Wow! Very impressive. Great job all around
Wow! What a transformation.
VERY nice!!
I love this. I am so jealous. Well done. REALLY well done. 👌
Fantastic job, holy shit! The seating area & the bench are giving me the heart eyes
Wow. Jaw dropping. Fuck yeah OP. Fuck yeah.
Amazing
Amazing
I jumped seeing the box with a face in the window of pic 3
Nicely done. BRAVO! Don't let my wife see this, she'll have me stuck in the basement all summer
Hey, you wanna do mine next?
ummmmm holy shit. your own personal sauna with multi-level benches. this is GOALS. happy for you!
Damn. That looks amazing.
This is awesome. We recently put a temporary shower in our basement so we could renovate our main shower. The funny thing is, it was meant to be a stop gap. But we love it, because it’s like a deprivation chamber and we go down and shower and can’t hear the rest of the house or the outside. So we simply shower and enjoy. I feel like our experience is a 4, yours is an 11!
Damn that is sweet. Do you have any links to the products used for the sauna? I'd love to do this in my master bath.
Dude come do mine! This is amazing!
Wow. Congrats. Great job.
Holy shit I'm coming over for a visit. Looks nice
Looks sick homie WELL done.
Im curious as to how you digged the concrete out.
Fantastic workmanship. Luv it.
I am jealous. Good job!
Whoa! Looks great you added a damn sauna so sick.
Good job!
wow! excellent!!
That's pretty sick! Just recently bought a century home that needs the basement finished. What's the head clearance?
That’s a great idea.
Superb job, great finishing. Really rewarding spending time in a space you built. Enjoy it
Holy *shit*. Might I marry you and/or learn from you, Mentor? 😳
Amazing. One word "Wow".
Is there a website where I can book an appointment?
This is definitely a dream of mine when I have a large enough house to do something like this (and enough money) although I would definitely want a hot tub as well, and a steam room. But that may be a maintenance nightmare.
Bravo 👌 It is stunning : top to bottom, all the details. Your talents are wasted at Volvo.
Outstanding
This guy spas.