Cabin-era lots on Three Points, the Island and the Highlands
Mound began as a summer place. The city's comprehensive plan describes a lakeshore cabin community platted with small lake lots and narrow street rights-of-way, and that pattern is still on the ground in Three Points, the Island (Island Park), the Highlands and Shirley Hills. Three Points is a long peninsula. The Island really is one.
For a sauna, that means every foot counts. We measure the open yard and the side yards we would have to pass through before we talk about models. The Kota, at 6x8, exists for lots like these. Plenty of Mound yards can still take an 8x12 Tuli, and the one we built here shows it, but we would sooner tell you early if yours cannot.
Bays on three sides and commons along the shore
Lake Minnetonka wraps Mound to the north, east and west, with Cooks Bay, Harrisons Bay, Seton Lake and Black Lake among its bays. Lake Langdon and Dutch Lake sit on the west side, and Lost Lake is beside downtown. The city counts about 47 miles of shoreline inside a small footprint.
One Mound detail matters for a sauna near the water. A good share of the shoreline is commons: land dedicated when the town was platted and managed today through the city's Docks and Commons program. On those stretches a lot can end at the commons instead of at the water, even with a dock right there. Before we sketch a sauna at the lake's edge, confirm where your property line is. The city can tell you.
The Tuli we built in Mound, and why it preheats from the house
Our Mound project is a Tuli with an IKI Pillar electric heater on WiFi controls, so the owners can start it heating before they step outside. An entry porch is built into the design, and a large viewing window faces the yard. That preheat control earns its keep in January, when walking out to a cold sauna is the hardest part.
Mound's hills shape the job too. The city describes its terrain as rolling and its streets as narrow, laid out to cross waterways and avoid steep grades. We check the route in and the slope of the yard when we visit.
Which sauna fits a Mound lot
The Kota (6x8, 4 to 6 bathers) is the natural fit for Mound's smallest cabin-era lots. Where the yard allows it, the Tuli (8x12, 6 to 8 bathers) is the common pick and the model we built in Mound. The Superior (8x16, 8 or more bathers) needs more room than most of the Island or Three Points offers, and a Custom build lets us shape a sauna to an odd corner.
More on how we build them: custom outdoor saunas. What they cost: pricing.
Delivery and site prep in Mound
Narrow streets and tight side yards are normal in Mound, so we look at access during the site visit and plan the set around it. The sauna needs a level, solid base, which on a sloped lake lot can take some site work first. For an electric heater we coordinate with your electrician on getting power to the site.
Ask the City of Mound's planning and building permits staff at City Hall what applies to an accessory building on your lot, including anything about the lakeshore and the commons. All of Mound lies inside the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District, so ask whether the district's rules touch your project as well.
We can also handle the site work: the gravel pad or piers, the electrical trench and hookup, and building on site where a finished sauna will not fit through. The full rundown is on our site work, delivery and installation page.
Around Mound
- Three Points
- The Island (Island Park)
- The Highlands
- Shirley Hills
- Cooks Bay
- Harrisons Bay
- Seton Lake
- Lake Langdon
- Dutch Lake
A build in Mound
Questions from Mound
Saunas in Mound, answered
Have you built a sauna in Mound?
Yes. Our Mound project is a Tuli, the 8x12 model, with an IKI Pillar electric heater on WiFi controls so the owners can preheat it from the house. It has an entry porch built into the design and a large viewing window. It was planned as an everyday sauna, simple to run and built to be used often. Photos are on our projects page.
My lot in Mound is small. Which sauna size makes sense?
Start with the Kota. It is 6x8, seats 4 to 6, and fits yards where a larger building would not. If we measure and find room, the 8x12 Tuli seats 6 to 8 and is the model we built in Mound. What decides it is your open yard and what the city allows on your lot.
Can a sauna sit by the water on Cooks Bay or Harrisons Bay?
Maybe, and two things decide it. Mound has rules for building near the lakeshore, and in many places the strip along the water is city commons, not private land. Ask the city where your property line is and what can be built near it. Once you know, we will help you plan a spot that works with the view and the rules.
Is a wood-fired sauna realistic on a tight Mound lot?
It can be done, but most people on small lots choose electric, and our Mound build is electric. A wood stove puts a chimney and smoke close to the houses next door and needs dry wood storage. An IKI electric heater needs a circuit from an electrician and little else. Ask the city whether any rules apply to wood-burning on your lot.
Nearby
We also build for Minnetrista and Orono. See everywhere we work, or the project map.