Why We Build with Michigan White Cedar

When I started building saunas, I wanted to understand everything—the heat, the steam, the materials. That curiosity took me to Finland, where I sat in century-old saunas and learned from people who've been doing this their whole lives. But here's something interesting: they don't have cedar in Finland. They use what grows there—Nordic spruce, aspen, occasionally pine. And if you ask them about cedar? They'll tell you they'd use it if they had it.

What Makes Cedar Perfect

Cedar thrives in the exact conditions that destroy most woods. The heat, the humidity, the constant expansion and contraction—it all makes cedar stronger, not weaker. I've walked through 30, 40, even 50-year-old saunas built from cedar, and the wood is still solid. No rot. No warping. Just a deepened patina that tells the story of thousands of sessions.

The natural oils in cedar are doing the work. They make the wood naturally resistant to moisture, decay, and insects. In a hot room where you're creating steam by throwing water on rocks heated to 400+ degrees, that matters. Cedar doesn't need coatings or treatments—the protection is already built in.

Built to Be Renewed

Here's something beautiful about cedar: it can be sanded back to its original glory. That's why we use 1.25" thick boards for our benching. When the wood develops character after years of use, you can sand it down and reveal fresh wood underneath. You've got real material to work with. A sauna bench that can be renewed instead of replaced—that's the kind of longevity we're after.

The Thermal Properties

Cedar is a softwood, which means it doesn't conduct heat the way denser woods do. You can lean back against a cedar wall at 180°F and it feels warm, not scorching. The wood stays comfortable to touch even when the room is properly hot—the way a sauna should be.

It also responds beautifully to the humidity shifts. When you throw water on those rocks and the room fills with löyly (that soft, enveloping steam), cedar absorbs just enough moisture without getting waterlogged. Then it releases it gradually as the room cools. It breathes with the sauna.

Stability in the Heat

Cedar has very minimal contraction when it's installed properly. This is a dimensionally stable wood that stays put through thousands of heat cycles. It doesn't move on you or create gaps over time. When you install cedar the right way—proper spacing, proper fastening, proper acclimation—it settles in and stays there for decades.

Growing in Our Backyard

Michigan white cedar grows right here. The Great Lakes region produces some of the finest cedar in the world, and we don't have to ship it across an ocean to use it. There's something right about building with wood that comes from the same climate where the sauna will live. We're blessed to have this material in abundance, right in our backyard.

The Finns would use it if it grew there. That tells you everything you need to know.

Built to Last Generations

I'm building saunas I want to use for the rest of my life. When I source cedar from Michigan mills, I'm looking at boards that will still be performing when I'm old. Boards that can be refreshed, not replaced. That's not marketing—that's just what happens when you choose materials that are proven over decades and have the thickness to back it up.

The old cedar saunas I've seen aren't just surviving. They're still the best rooms to sit in. The wood has settled into itself. It smells right. It feels right. And when they need a refresh, there's wood there to work with.

The Perfect Wood

Cedar is naturally resistant to moisture and decay. It stays comfortable to touch in extreme heat. It's dimensionally stable. It can be renewed. It smells incredible. And it grows right here in Michigan.

When you step back and look at what a sauna actually needs from its wood, cedar checks every single box. It's not just a good choice—it's the perfect choice. And we're fortunate enough to have it growing all around us.

The Finns taught me to respect the heat and the steam. Michigan white cedar lets me build rooms that honor both, and that will still be here decades from now.

At Nightjar, we're not trying to reinvent the sauna—we're building on thousands of years of wisdom while using the best materials we have right here. Sometimes that means going to Finland to learn. Sometimes it means recognizing the incredible resources growing in our own forests.