The wood inside your sauna affects everything from aroma to comfort to how well it holds up over years of heat and humidity. This guide compares the most common sauna wood species so you can choose the right one for your space.

Finding the Best Wood for Your Home Sauna: Cedar, Hemlock, and More

Choosing the right wood for a home sauna comes down to balancing appearance, aroma, heat performance, and budget. While Canadian Hemlock is a popular, durable choice for many modern saunas, premium hardwoods like Aspen offer an ultra-smooth, non-allergenic, and knot-free finish. Cedar, spruce, and thermowood each bring distinct strengths as well, making it easy to find a wood type that aligns with your design goals and comfort preferences.

Why Wood Choice Matters So Much

The wood inside your sauna does more than just look nice. It affects how the space smells, how comfortable the benches feel against your skin, how well the interior holds up to years of heat and humidity, and how much maintenance you’ll need to do over time. Since you’ll be sitting directly against this wood during every session, getting the choice right matters more than it might for other parts of the build.

Several wood species show up regularly in sauna construction, each with different characteristics. Understanding how they compare helps you make a more informed decision, whether you’re buying a pre-built sauna or working with a custom design.

Canadian Hemlock

Canadian hemlock has become one of the most popular choices for quality sauna interiors, and for good reason. It has a clean, light, consistent appearance with a fine, straight grain that gives sauna interiors a bright, contemporary look. Unlike some other species, hemlock is low in resin, which means it won’t develop sticky or sappy spots even after years of heat exposure.

Hemlock also holds up well against repeated heat cycling and takes finishing and sanding smoothly, which keeps bench surfaces comfortable against bare skin over time. Its nearly neutral scent appeals to people who want the traditional sauna experience without an overpowering aroma.  

Mainely Tubs’ custom sauna line features wide-board, clear Canadian hemlock, clear Western Red Cedar, and clear Aspen to match your exact design goals. While hemlock is a popular choice for its clean look and easy upkeep, premium hardwoods like Aspen feature in high-end models like the Reflection series, offering an ultra-smooth, knot-free finish.

Western Red Cedar

Cedar is the most traditional sauna wood and remains a popular choice, particularly for buyers who want the classic reddish tone and rich, distinctive aroma associated with old-world saunas. Cedar naturally resists moisture and doesn’t secrete resin or overheat, which makes it comfortable to sit against even during longer sessions. Cedar’s main appeal comes down to its appearance and scent, both of which are strong selling points for people who associate that particular look and smell with an authentic sauna experience. Mainely Tubs offers clear Western Red Cedar for custom indoor setups, alongside durable Eastern White Cedar featured in outdoor barrel models.

The tradeoff is a higher price point and a rich, distinctive scent, compared to hemlock’s more pale, uniform color and milder aroma. Which one you prefer comes down to whether you want a warm, classic look or a bright, modern interior.

Spruce

Spruce offers a light, pale appearance and a subtle, resinous aroma that some traditional sauna users find appealing. It’s generally more budget-friendly than cedar or hemlock, which makes it an option worth considering for larger builds where cost adds up quickly across more surface area. Nordic White Spruce is commonly used for wall paneling in pre-built traditional saunas. In traditional pre-built models available at Mainely Tubs, Nordic White Spruce paneling provides an authentic Scandinavian feel.

The tradeoff with spruce is that it can be more prone to develop sticky resin pockets under sustained high heat. Because of this, it is usually used for wall and ceiling panels rather than upper seating benches, which are typically paired with cooler, resin-free seating surfaces like Abachi wood. This thoughtful material pairing ensures the sauna holds up over the long term compared to all-hemlock or all-cedar interiors.

Aspen

Aspen is a lighter-colored hardwood that doesn’t produce resin, making it a mess-free option that many buyers appreciate for its smooth, splinter-resistant surface. It has a bright, clean appearance that some buyers prefer over the warmer tones of cedar or hemlock. Mainely Tubs offers clear Aspen as a popular interior option for buyers who want a bright, knot-free look with a completely neutral scent.

Aspen’s main limitation is its light, soft surface, which can show water marks or sweat stains more easily over time compared to hemlock or cedar, requiring regular wiping to keep its pristine look in a heavily used sauna.

Thermowood

Thermowood refers to wood, often pine or aspen, that has been heat-treated to improve its stability, moisture resistance, and overall durability in high-temperature sauna environments. This treatment process reduces the wood’s internal moisture content, which helps it resist warping and decay better than untreated versions of the same species.

Thermowood is a practical option for buyers who want improved performance from a more affordable base wood, though it typically has a different appearance than natural cedar or hemlock, with a darker, more uniform tone resulting from the heat treatment process.

How to Choose the Right Wood for Your Sauna

For most buyers building or purchasing a home sauna, hemlock offers a great overall combination of appearance, comfort, and long-term durability, which is why it is featured across many of Mainely Tubs’ traditional sauna models.

If a traditional aroma and classic reddish appearance matter more to you than a clean, contemporary look, cedar remains an excellent choice. While spruce can work well for specific budget-conscious builds, aspen is featured in high-end models like the Reflection series, and thermowood is worth considering if you want improved durability from a more affordable base material.

The Sauna Buyer’s Guide covers wood selection alongside other important factors like heater type and sizing, giving you a fuller picture before you decide. If you’re interested in the classic sauna experience with a wood interior built around comfort and tradition, traditional saunas are worth a closer look.

For  traditional sauna buyers who want more control over wood species, layout, and design details, a custom built  option offers the flexibility to choose between hemlock, cedar, and other premium options based on your specific preferences.

Frequently Asked Questions

Find Your Perfect Sauna at Mainely Tubs

Ready to make a sauna a permanent part of your home and wellness routine? Visit any of Mainely Tubs’ showrooms across Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island to get expert help. Our wellness consultants are here to answer every question with honest guidance tailored to your space, goals, and budget.

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