Last winter, my husband and I received a Sun Home Luminar 5-Person Sauna to test. I live in gray and rainy Portland, Oregon, which has a pretty robust sauna culture to combat the February blahs.

Not only was I ecstatic, but almost everyone I knew was too. For the several weeks that I had the Sun Home box in my driveway, I received a constant stream of texts from friends. “Do you have a sauna? ” they all asked, hoping to get invited over soon.

Since then, I’ve had several friends build their own backyard saunas, and I realize my experience may have been atypical. Still, I gleaned a few useful learnings that you can take away if you’re looking to install one of your own. If you’re considering dropping several grand on an outdoor sauna, here are a few things you might consider.

Lesson #1: Choose Your Sauna Type

There are several kinds of saunas. Traditional Finnish saunas use a wood stove and stones to heat the interior.

If you’re looking at modern electric-powered saunas, there are two types here.…