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Northern Steam
(763) 401-2182 Design Your Sauna

Orono, MN · Hennepin County

Custom Outdoor Saunas in Orono, MN

Northern Steam designs and builds custom outdoor saunas serving Orono, from the lakeshore around Navarre and Crystal Bay to the wooded acreage up toward Long Lake. Orono is the largest city by area on Lake Minnetonka, and most of its land is zoned for large lots. That gives a sauna room to be placed well, and it puts more weight on planning the delivery and the power.

Orono is northeast of our St. Bonifacius shop: through Mound and east on County Road 15 (Shoreline Drive), about 20 minutes to Navarre and closer to 25 to the north side of the city.

Design a sauna in Orono (763) 401-2182
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Lakeshore Orono and rural Orono are different jobs

Orono's own plan describes the city as two communities in one. Around the lake, from Navarre and Casco Point up through Crystal Bay, Maxwell Bay, Stubbs Bay and North Arm, lots were developed early and are typically an acre or smaller. Away from the lake, most of the city is zoned for at least two dry buildable acres per home, and the northwest corner for five.

On a rural Orono lot the sauna can sit well away from the house, in the trees or at the edge of a field. The trade is distance: a longer walk in winter, and a longer run for power if the heater is electric. A wood-fired IKI stove takes the electrician out of the heating question, and on two acres there is room for a woodpile.

On the lakeshore, the lot is tighter and everything near the water gets a closer look from the city. We plan those with the rules in hand.

Wetlands, woods and the route to the back of the lot

The city works hard to protect its marshes, wetlands, woodlands and steep slopes, and many Orono properties include some of each. That affects where a base can go and which route a delivery can take across the yard.

Our saunas are built in the shop and delivered finished, so the path in matters as much as the spot itself. Long driveways under tree canopy and soft ground between the drive and the site are what we look for on an Orono visit.

Sizing a sauna for a full house on the lake

If your place fills up on summer weekends and over the holidays, size the sauna for those days. The 8x16 Superior seats 8 or more. A Custom two-zone layout adds a changing room, so guests are not pulling off boots and coats in the hot room.

If it will mostly be two of you on a weeknight in February, the Tuli heats a smaller space and still seats 6 to 8 when company comes.

Which sauna fits a Orono lot

Orono's larger lots can take the Superior (8x16, 8 or more bathers) or a Custom build with a changing room or a covered porch. The Tuli (8x12, 6 to 8 bathers) is still the common pick for a household. On the smaller lakeshore lots around Navarre, the Kota (6x8, 4 to 6 bathers) leaves more of the yard open.

More on how we build them: custom outdoor saunas. What they cost: pricing.

Delivery and site prep in Orono

In Orono the distance from the road to the sauna site is often the main challenge, so we look at access during the site visit and plan the set around it. The site needs a level, solid base that stays dry. If you choose an electric heater, we coordinate with your electrician on the run from the house, which can be a long one here.

Orono's Planning and Zoning staff at City Hall are the people to ask about accessory buildings and lakeshore lots. The whole city is inside the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District, so ask whether the district's rules apply to your site too.

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 Orono

  • Navarre
  • Casco Point
  • Crystal Bay
  • Lafayette Bay
  • Maxwell Bay
  • Stubbs Bay
  • North Arm
  • Smiths Bay
  • Browns Bay

Questions from Orono

Saunas in Orono, answered

Have you built a sauna in Orono?

Not one we have published yet. Our nearest finished projects are in the towns next door: Tuli saunas in Mound and Minnetrista, which both border Orono, and others in Minnetonka and Plymouth. The crew and the shop are the same, and Orono is about 20 minutes from where we build.

Can a sauna go near the shoreline on Crystal Bay or Stubbs Bay?

That depends on the lot and on Orono's shoreland rules, so the first call is to the city's Planning and Zoning staff. Lakeshore lots get closer review than inland ones. Once you know what is allowed on your parcel, we help you choose a model and a position that fit, and we supply the dimensions the city asks for.

Should a sauna set far from the house in Orono be wood-fired or electric?

Both work. On a two-acre lot, a wood-fired IKI stove means no electrical run for heat and plenty of room for firewood. Electric means an electrician brings a circuit out to the sauna, and you get heat without tending a fire. We build both. Tell us how far from the house you want it and how you like to sauna.

Can you deliver a finished sauna down a long wooded Orono driveway?

Usually, but we confirm it in person first. Our saunas arrive finished, so we check the driveway width, overhead limbs and wires, and the ground between the drive and the sauna site. We look at access during the site visit and plan the set around it. If something has to change, you hear about it before we build.

Nearby

We also build for Minnetrista, Mound, Wayzata, Medina and Plymouth. See everywhere we work, or the project map.

Design Your Sauna

Planning a sauna in Orono?

Send us the spot you have in mind and how you want to use it. We will come look at it, talk through size and heat, and send an itemized proposal. No pressure, and no invented urgency.

Design Your Sauna Call (763) 401-2182 Or sit in one first at Nordic Escape