Alder Sauna Wood

Alder Sauna Wood: Alder, Black Alder Alnus glutinosa

Is Alder a good sauna wood / timber choice?

Customers often wonder, what wood types are best for building their home sauna? Naturally there are a range of options to suit your design, usage and aesthetic preferences. One such sauna wood option is Alder, Alnus glutinosa in latin. Alder is a hard softwood, known for its use as a sauna timber option for both sauna cladding and sauna bench boards. Historically Alder has been chosen for a sauna wood due to its abundance in Nordic and Baltic countries, with a relatively low density (making it cooler to the touch at temperature), few knots and lack of resins that could weep from the wood when hot, and it’s durability when exposed to moist and humid conditions. Note that Alder has been historically used to make jettys due to rot resistance, even when submerged.

Alder typically ranges from a light pinky brown colour to a dark rich salmon, especially once treated with Sauna Paraffin Oil to seal the timber. Particularly in the warmth of a sauna, Alder boasts a subtle meally smell, similar to freshly cut hay which most people enjoy and find very pleasant - a less acquired taste than some sauna wood options.

Alder makes an excellent sauna timber option for:

• Sauna Cladding
• Sauna Bench Boards
• Sauna Corner Mouldings and Edge Trims
• Sauna Headrests
• Sauna Accessories, including sauna buckets and wooden sauna ladles
• Sauna Vent Covers

Alder is a good sauna timber choice for customers looking for a light coloured sauna wood interior, but not as light as aspen and therefore less likely to show up dirty marks. Its budget price point means that Alder is a relatively cheap sauna wood option, for both sauna cladding and sauna benching. This makes alder an excellent sauna wood for some outdoor and garden saunas and for families with young children using the sauna.

Sauna Timber Grading: All Finnmark’s Alder is Grade A as per the Nordic Timber Grading Standards.

Sauna Wood Provenance: Finnmark sources all it’s Alder timber products from Finland and the Baltic countries, never the Far East, Russia or Belarus.

Recommended wastage allowance: Raw, non-thermally treated alder is naturally resilient and not as brittle or knotty as other sauna timbers and therefore we recommend a wastage allowance of 15% when ordering wood for your sauna installation. We also advise ordering  one size larger than the length required, so that you can trim either end before installation to get a fresh clean edge and reduce the chance of transit end damage propagating into splits.

Alder sauna wood is available in the following types of sauna timber profile and dimensions:

STP Profile Tongue and Groove Cladding: 15mm thick by 90mm, 125mm, 140mm and sometimes 160mm wide.

STS4 Profile Tongue and Groove Cladding: 15mm thick by 90mm, 120mm, 140mm and sometimes 160mm wide.

STV Profile Tongue and Groove Cladding: Finnmark can source Alder STV though this is profiled to order.

STEP Profile Tongue and Groove Cladding: 27mmx64mm

Kallio Profile Tongue and Groove Cladding:  15mm thick by 90mm, 120mm and 140mm wide.

Rustic Unedged Alder Planks: 22x250mm (120-250 effective coverage)

SHP Bench Boards: Typically 28mm thick by 90mm, 120mm, 140mm and sometimes 160mm wide. 

Check out our wide array of Alder Sauna Wood products below: