Steam rooms in Makassar for homes, hotels and gyms

What separates a steam room from a dry sauna?

Temperature and water. A dry sauna holds 70-90 degrees at 10-20 per cent humidity inside timber; a steam room holds 40-45 degrees at close to saturation inside tile and glass. The lower heat suits people who cannot take a hot cabin, and the wet air is why hotels near Losari and gyms on Jalan Pengayoman put one next to the changing rooms.

• A 6-9 kW steam generator sized to the room volume, mounted in a serviceable cupboard nearby.
• Full tanking of floor and walls before any tile is laid, with a floor fall to the drain.
• A sloped ceiling so condensate runs to the walls instead of dripping on the bench.
• Mosaic or large-format tile, a moulded seat, tempered glass door and an aroma dosing point.

Nothing here is decorative. In a city at 80 per cent ambient humidity, a steam room that leaks vapour into the surrounding wall will show it on the paint within a season.

Why must a steam room Makassar build be waterproofed like an inverted bathroom?

Because vapour pressure pushes outwards continuously, not only when someone showers. We treat the enclosure as a tanked box: membrane on the slab and up every wall, sealed pipe penetrations, a fall of at least one per cent to the drain, and glazing set in a channel rather than a bead of silicone. The ceiling slopes a few degrees so condensation tracks sideways.

The same logic applies to renovations, a large part of our work here. Older hotel and gym rooms around Panakkukang and Tanjung Bunga fail in one of three places: tanking under the seat, a scaled generator, or a flat ceiling. Rebuilding runs at an indicative IDR 15-50 million.

Power, water and drainage

A 6-9 kW generator needs 7,700-11,000 VA, so most houses face the same PLN upgrade as a dry sauna, paid by the owner. It also needs a clean water feed, ideally softened, because Makassar mains water scales the element and a scaled element is the most common reason an old steam room stops making steam. A drain with a trap sits under the room, and the generator gets its own breaker and ELCB.

For hotel and gym rooms we size for a 12-16 hour duty cycle rather than a family evening, which changes the generator, the ventilation and the tile adhesive. A commercial room of 3x2.4 m and above starts at an indicative IDR 150 million over four to eight weeks. Houses in Tamalanrea, Hertasning and Sungguminasa take the 2x2 m turnkey version.

The three to five week sequence

Week one is demolition and tanking. Week two the generator, pipework and electrical runs. Weeks three and four the tiling, ceiling slope, seat and glass. The last days are commissioning: we run the room to temperature, check the drain, the door seal and the ELCB with you present, and hand over the maintenance schedule, which is mainly descaling the generator every two to three months.

If you are still choosing, the dry sauna is the drier and faster build and the cold plunge is what most gyms install alongside a steam room. Indicative figures for all three are on the price page.

Indicative pricing

Indicative in rupiah; civil works outside the enclosure are quoted separately.