Every sauna maker has to answer one question before anything else: which wood? It lives outside through rain and snow, gets heated to 180°F with people leaning bare skin against it, and is expected to look good doing it for decades. The shortlist is short, and Eastern White Cedar (Thuja occidentalis) sits at the top of it. It's the wood our Canadian Timber saunas are milled from by Dundalk LeisureCraft in Ontario, where the trees actually grow.
Light in color, tight in grain: Eastern White Cedar weathers to a silver-grey if left untreated, or keeps its blonde tone with a UV-protective exterior stain.
It shrugs off weather
Cedar's natural oils make it resistant to rot, decay and insects, with no pressure treatment and no chemicals. The USDA Forest Products Laboratory rates Eastern White Cedar heartwood as resistant to very resistant to decay. For an outdoor sauna that means the shell itself is the weather protection; a breathable stain on the exterior is the only maintenance most owners ever do.
One detail worth knowing: the protective oils sit in the heartwood, not the pale outer sapwood. On any sauna you're considering, the exterior staves and structural parts are where heartwood matters most.
It stays touchable at 180°F
This is the property people underestimate. Cedar is one of the least dense softwoods, full of tiny air pockets, so it conducts heat poorly. The bench you sit on and the wall behind your back stay comfortable even when the air is not far from boiling. Dense hardwoods would sear you; cedar doesn't. Cedar also carries very little resin, so there's no hot sap on the benches, and its low density means it moves less and checks less through constant hot-cold cycling.
The same wood inside and out: walls, benches and roof boards are all milled from the same cedar stock.
And then there's the smell
Open the door of a cedar sauna and you get the scent before the heat: soft, clean, slightly sweet. Eastern White Cedar is milder than Western Red Cedar, which some people prefer. Years in, a hot session still smells like the forest the wood came from.
Eastern White vs Western Red Cedar
Western Red Cedar is darker, with a stronger aroma, and usually costs more. Eastern White Cedar is lighter in tone and more affordable, with the same resistance to rot and the same low heat transfer where it counts. LeisureCraft uses Eastern White Cedar for its Canadian Timber collection and Red Cedar for its premium Dundalk collection, built with the same construction methods and hardware.
Caring for a cedar sauna
- Inside: leave the wood bare. Never use varnish, sealer or stain inside; a surface film can't take the heat and traps moisture.
- Outside: let it weather to silver-grey, or apply a semi-transparent, UV-protective stain every few years to keep the original color.
- Airflow: open the vents and door after each session so the wood dries fully. A sauna that dries between uses rarely sees mold.
- Each spring: check bands, roof, door seal and vents. It takes under an hour.
What to look for when you buy
Not all cedar lumber is equal. Worth checking on any sauna: clear (knot-free) boards for benches and backrests, since knots can run hotter under skin; bevel-milled staves that lock tight as the wood moves with the seasons; and stainless-steel bands and hardware that won't streak the wood with rust.
Every sauna in our outdoor sauna collection is milled from Eastern White Cedar by Dundalk LeisureCraft in Ontario and carries LeisureCraft's 5-year residential limited warranty (heaters carry their own manufacturer warranty). We're an authorized Dundalk LeisureCraft dealer. Compare the barrel saunas, cabin saunas and POD and Luna saunas, or call us at +1 (307) 309-8328 and we'll walk you through the wood up close on video.