My stress and anxiety during this pandemic have doubled being a wife, business woman, and mother at the same time. Ever since I started using this, I love waking up and reconnecting with myself. The cold plunge, I believe, changes my life. It relieves my stress and clarifies my thinking, which is really huge help for people like me.
Two phones, one couch, and the evening is gone. A sauna twenty steps from the back door can be the one room neither of you brings a phone into. It comes down to five decisions, and four are made before anything is delivered.
A short call, by phone, free, both of you welcome.
Who is writing this. PlusLife is a husband-and-wife business, founder-operated since 2021, and we still use our own sauna every day.
Two, three and four are decided before delivery. Skip to the call.
Most couples who buy a backyard sauna have already had one for years. It just belonged to a gym: a clock on the wall, a stranger's phone face-up on the bench, and the heat off when the gym said so. Moving it home buys the part the gym never could: a door you can shut, nobody else's schedule, and no reason to have a phone in the room at all.
There is the house, where the admin lives, and there is work; most couples have nowhere that is neither. That nowhere is the third space in the title, and a sauna is one of the few things you can buy that becomes one. Get it wrong, the wrong corner, sized for one, a wait that defeats you, and it is the expensive box at the end of the garden by March.
One thing first, because most couples have not said it out loud to each other. One of you has spent six weeks on heater models and can defend every line of it; that work is worth doing, and it is not the reason either of you wants a sauna. The reason is somewhere to sit with each other for twenty minutes with nothing else going on, and it is the one that decides whether you are still using the thing in year three.
Five decisions, then. Four cost nothing but attention. The first is the title.
But I get time with my son and wife, without screens and without distractions... I believe it has brought my wife and I closer together.An owner on a public sauna forum, Australia. Not a PlusLife customer.
Rule one is the whole thing and it is free. Phones stay on the kitchen bench, face down, with the rest of the evening's admin. Make it a rule rather than an intention, because the phone always has an excuse: it is the timer, it is the music, it is in case the kids call.
So replace the excuse with an object. A hook by the door, two folded towels on it, and a timer that is not a phone. A sand timer costs almost nothing and does the job better, because it does not light up and nobody checks it twice. It sounds slight. It is the difference between twenty minutes of talking and twenty minutes of two people scrolling in a hot room.
One thing nobody mentions, so we will: the first few times are awkward. Twenty minutes with no screen is an unusual amount of nothing for two adults, and for a session or two you will both reach for a phone that is not there. It passes around the third or fourth go. Push through the awkward ones; they are the tax on the rest.
Agree the rule now, while it is theoretical and neither of you is defending a habit. Buy the hook and the timer the same week the sauna is ordered.
The thing that quietly kills the ritual is not motivation. It is the gap between deciding and sitting down. Traditional heat takes time to build, so at nine on a cold night the honest question is "do we want a sauna in forty minutes", and that answer is no far more often.
The fix is moving the wait to when neither of you is standing in it, and on a traditional build that is a controller question. Every traditional sauna we sell can be optioned with the Wi-Fi controller (a premium applies) or comes with built-in controls, depending on the heater you pick; prices are on the website and confirmed on the call.
Harvia is behind the app. We partner with Harvia, the biggest sauna heater manufacturer in the world. Set the sauna from the app before you leave: it learns your cabin's heat-up time and notifies your phone when it is ready, so it is warming while you drive home. From cold, count on 20 minutes to an hour on average, depending on the temperature you want. The wait still happens; it just happens without you.
Decide now who sets it, and hang it off an existing habit: one starts it leaving work, the other walks out the back door later. Nobody waits, so nobody talks themselves out of it. And a brand that talks about the app but goes quiet on the heat-up time has told you something.
Two down, and the next three change what you order. Bench length, glass orientation and footprint are settled before the truck is booked. One call does all three for your yard.
Settle size and placementTwo people upright on a short bench, knees almost touching, is a different room from two people lying down with space between them. The first is a heat box. The second is where the talking happens. So the size question is not "how many does it seat"; it is whether one of you can lie down while the other sits, for twenty minutes, without anyone rearranging themselves. That usually means a bench run about the height of the taller of you: measure it rather than guess.
Then the guest allowance: it is the two of us, but sometimes four. A cabin that fits two exactly fits two exactly forever. The trade the other way: a bigger cabin wants a bigger heater, a heavier electrical requirement and a longer wait from cold, so going two sizes up can cost you decision two.
The dimensions that decide it are internal: bench run, internal height, one tier or two. They are on the product pages, in millimetres, and read against your room on the call. Benches in Aspen or Alder, knotless and smooth so you do not get burnt. Bench heights are set for proper loyly, so the whole cabin is heated.
Three traditional models that suit two plus a guest:
| Model | Price | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| Cove Barrel Sauna | $10,490 to $17,990 | Barrel form, the smallest way into a traditional build |
| Mini Traditional Sauna 2.0 | $11,990 to $16,990 | Two people plus the occasional third, tighter yards |
| Max Traditional Sauna 2.0 | $14,990 to $19,990 | Two lying down with room left for guests |
Prices as displayed on pluslifehealth.com.au on 13 August 2026, subject to change.
Lie on the lounge-room floor, one along the wall and one across, then tape that rectangle onto the deck or slab where it is going. Ten minutes with a tape measure beats a decade of a bench fifteen centimetres short.
This is the decision people spend the least time on and regret the longest, because it cannot be undone without a crane. The view from the bench is the room: you will look at whatever the glass faces for twenty minutes at a time, several nights a week, for years.
A garden bed, a tree line, some lawn and sky, and the cabin feels twice its size. A paling fence at eye level, and the glass stops being a window and becomes something you sit with your back to. At which point you have bought an expensive cupboard.
Three things to look at, at dusk on a cold weeknight rather than Sunday at noon.
What the glass looks at. Aim it down the longest sight line you have, even if that means turning the cabin off square to the fence.
What looks back. Check the upstairs windows next door, not just the ground floor. Tinted glass helps in daylight and less at night with the light on inside. Glass specification and door hand are model questions for the call.
The walk. Twenty steps on a lit path is a different proposition from forty across wet grass behind the shed, and distance from the back door is what predicts July.
Stand in the spot at dusk, both of you, phones inside. One argues the view, the other the walk. Where they agree is where it goes. Then send us a photo of the spot: placement, clearances, base and delivery access get answered on the same call.
The last decision cannot be bought, and it is the reason for the other four. Do not build a roster. Rosters fail the way gym memberships fail: the first missed session becomes evidence the whole thing is not working.
What holds is looser and far more durable. Pick the two evenings already quiet in your week and let those be the sauna evenings, most weeks. Not every week. Most. If one goes, nothing has broken and nothing needs restarting, because there was no streak to lose.
The two of us have been at this since 2021 and are still in ours daily; it is where we slow down and talk, about the business and everything else.
If one goes, nothing has broken and nothing needs restarting, because there was no streak to lose.
Which raises the question couples almost never ask a seller: will we actually use it enough to justify this?
If the honest answer is twice a month, a sauna might not be for you. Twice a month is a nice day out, not five figures in the backyard.
If it is two or three evenings most weeks, the trip and the wait that stopped you at the gym are both gone at home. That is not willpower; it is twenty steps and a room already warm.
If one of you is further along than the other, say so out loud now rather than after the deposit. The five above are a fair test: read them together and see whether both of you can picture a Tuesday evening in that room.
If one cannot, you have your answer and it cost you an afternoon. A sauna two people wanted gets used. A sauna one person was talked into becomes the most expensive place in the house to hang washing.
In the first fortnight, name the evenings out loud, then skip one on purpose so you both learn nothing bad happens. The habit that survives a missed week is the one still running in year three.
You already have the six lines the forums put to every listing: heater, walls in millimetres, timber, vents and bench, warranty in writing, and where it is built. Run them on everything you have open, this brand included.
What this page adds is the line the list has no room for: a sauna is the one room neither of you brings a phone into. So run the six lines on the listings, then run these five at the sellers; whoever has thought about the room being used has the answers to hand.
So here are ours. Warranty: Max Traditional 2.0 is five years residential, extendable to ten. Every model's term comes in writing before any deposit.
Origin: Our traditional saunas are designed in Australia and 100% built in Europe, where sauna was born. The whole traditional range is 100% built in Europe, including the Arc, Cove and Meridian. A certificate of origin is available on request. The infrared line is Australian design, available indoor and outdoor.
On heaters: make any seller name theirs, in writing and sized to your cabin; "a quality heater" is not an answer. We partner with Harvia, the biggest sauna heater manufacturer in the world. Harvia is a publicly listed company, with options based on your usage and sauna size.
On timber and walls: Timbers are Thermo-Aspen and Thermo-Pine, chosen for harsh Australian climates. 42mm walls, and the why: thicker walls mean better insulation and faster heat-up.
People buy saunas for their health, and the case is real: decades of research, including the well-known Finnish studies, point to physical and mental benefits, year-round. Paired with an ice bath, you get the instant hot-cold contrast on your own schedule. Buy it for the two of you, for the room with no phones in it; the rest comes with the habit.
Screenshot the table; it is the conversation, condensed. The middle column is the decision at your place; the right is what to settle on a call with any seller, ours included.
Decision one can start tonight; decision five starts the week the thing lands. The middle three are fixed at the order, and changing your mind later is a crane, a second electrician's visit, or living with it.
| The decision | At your place | Settle it on the call |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Phones at the door | Phones stay on the kitchen bench. A hook by the door, two towels, a timer that is not a phone | Nothing to settle. It is free and it works on any brand |
| 2. Set it from the car | One of you starts it leaving work; you both walk into a warm room | Wi-Fi controller option or built-in controls for your heater, and heat-up runs 20 minutes to an hour on average |
| 3. Bench for two, room for a guest | Tape the footprint on the deck or slab and lie in it before you order | Internal dimensions and bench run, and the electrical requirement at that size |
| 4. Glass at the garden | Stand in the spot at dusk. Longest sight line wins; check the upstairs windows next door | Footprint, clearances, base, access, and whether orientation is set at order |
| 5. The same evenings most weeks | Two quiet evenings, most weeks, and no streak to lose | Delivery window for your model |
I believe it has brought my wife and I closer together.
Both of you home, the room already warm because one of you started it at the lights. Twenty steps down the path in the cold. The door shuts and the noise of the house stops with it.
Phones on the kitchen bench where you left them, two towels on the hook, a sand timer somebody turned over without really looking at it. Nothing to do for twenty minutes but sit in the heat and talk to the person you live with, about nothing much. Then back inside, and the evening carries on as it would have.
That is it. That is the thing being bought, and there is no line for it on anybody's spec sheet, ours included. The alternative is not a disaster. It is just the evening you already have: two phones, one couch, and a conversation that never quite starts.
Settle the five properly and what five figures in the backyard buys is not a cabin. It is an evening, in a build chosen carefully enough to still be standing in Australian weather years from now, bought once so neither of you does any of this again.
Yes. Every traditional sauna can be optioned with the Wi-Fi controller (a premium applies) or comes with built-in controls, depending on the heater you pick. Harvia is behind the app: set it before you leave, it learns your cabin's heat-up time, and your phone tells you when it is ready. From cold, 20 minutes to an hour on average, depending on the temperature you want.
Yes, for a traditional sauna: it hard-wires to a dedicated circuit and does not run off a standard 10 amp outlet. Electrical costs are not on the website because they vary by property. If a figure is needed the electrician is about $1,500. We also have a network of sauna-trained electricians we can recommend.
Our traditional saunas are designed in Australia and 100% built in Europe, where sauna was born. The whole traditional range is 100% built in Europe, including the Arc, Cove and Meridian. A certificate of origin is available on request.
Warranty is per model, in writing before any deposit. Max Traditional 2.0 is five years residential, extendable to ten.
Use the test in decision five: if the honest answer is twice a month, a sauna might not be for you. Two or three evenings most weeks, and the trip and the wait that stopped you at the gym are both solved at home. Nobody on a call will push you past your own answer.
Free, by phone, both of you welcome. Bring your postcode and a photo of the spot. You leave with:
What the call actually is. A phone call with someone here who knows the models, not a demonstration and not a script. One of you is fine.
Not knowing your model yet is the normal way to arrive. Nothing is paid, signed or reserved, and you keep the numbers whether or not you call back.
And if you are nowhere near deciding, take it anyway. Most people don't wake up one morning and decide to buy a sauna. It takes weeks, sometimes months, of research and discussion with your family. The numbers above are what the research runs on.
Free, no obligation, no deposit taken on the call, and nobody chases you afterwards.
Showrooms are open by appointment. Ask on the call whether there is a host within reach of you.
Not sure which sauna or ice bath fits best? Speak with our team to get clarity and confidence before you buy.
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