Locker room sauna doorway with timber benches

October 22, 2026 Brayden Thomas

Locker Room Sauna Design: Layout, Safety and ADA Basics

A good locker room sauna sits at the end of a clear path: lockers, shower, sauna, then back to a dry changing area. It uses moisture-proof surfaces, a glass door you can see through, a heater with guarded controls, and at least one accessible unit where the rules require it. Get those five things right and the room is easier to clean, safer to run and more pleasant for members.

This guide is for gym owners, wellness studio operators, property managers and contractors planning a sauna in or next to a locker room. It covers placement, sizing, materials, doors, access rules and equipment. It is not a substitute for your local code official or a licensed architect, who must sign off on any commercial build.

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TL;DR

Place the sauna between the shower zone and the dry changing area, so members never cross high-traffic floor space to reach it.
Avoid wood flooring outside the hot room. Use tile, sealed concrete or heavy-duty commercial vinyl.
Where saunas are clustered, at least 5% (and no fewer than one) must be ADA accessible. That drives door width, bench and turning space.
Use a clear glass door, a thermostat, an automatic timer and a guarded heater. Local rules may add more.
Check your city and state code before ordering equipment, because requirements differ by jurisdiction.

Where the sauna belongs in the locker room
Sizing the hot room
Flooring and wall materials
Doors and glass
ADA and accessibility
Heat, controls and safety
Ventilation and cleaning
Our view on locker room saunas
Plan your locker room sauna with us
A planning checklist
FAQ
Sources

Where the sauna belongs in the locker room

Start with flow, not fixtures. One facility design guide names the most common locker room layout mistake as letting shower traffic cross changing areas, which wets floors and creates slip hazards. Apply the same rule to the sauna: members leave the hot room damp and heading for a shower, so the sauna should sit on the wet side of the room, beside the showers.

A workable sequence looks like this:

Entry and lockers (dry zone).
Pre-sauna rinse shower (transition zone with floor drains).
Sauna door, opening onto the wet zone.
Cold plunge or cool-down shower, if you have one.
Return path to lockers over slip-resistant flooring.

A gym layout article on organizing sauna placement also advises positioning the sauna so members can move from the locker room or shower area without crossing through busy exercise space. That keeps wet footprints off the training floor and keeps hot-room traffic out of the way of people working out.

Dry bench space next to the door

Builders often recommend a small changing or staging area of about 3 to 4 feet outside the hot room, with hooks, a bench and good ventilation. In a locker room you may already have that space. If so, put a bench and towel hooks within a short reach of the sauna door, and a bin for used towels close by. Members who have somewhere to set a towel down do not carry wet ones across the room.

Changing bench, towel hooks, and used towel bin

Separate rooms by use

If the facility serves men and women in separate locker rooms, each room needs its own sauna or a shared coed space outside both rooms. Plan this at the start. Splitting one sauna into two later usually means new wiring, a second heater and a second ventilation path. Our guide on commercial sauna design walks through three layouts and the heater checks that go with them.

Sizing the hot room

Compact rooms heat faster and use less energy, so resist the urge to build the largest sauna the footprint allows. Size it from peak demand: how many members will realistically be inside at once during your busiest hour?

Use these planning rules:

Count seating, not floor area. A bench seat for each person is the basic unit.
Add a second bench level if space is tight. Two tiers let members choose their heat and seat more people in the same footprint.
Keep ceiling height reasonable. A taller sauna reduces the head-to-toe temperature difference less comfortably than people expect, and a tall room also takes longer to heat. One published design guide notes that taller rooms feel more comfortable only in that sense for some users, so test the layout against your heater’s rated room volume instead of guessing.
Match the heater to the room volume the manufacturer lists, then add allowance for glass, because a large glass door loses more heat than a solid one.

At this stage, send us your room dimensions and expected peak occupancy. Heater selection is the step where a mismatch costs the most, and it is easy to correct on paper.

Flooring and wall materials

The hot room and the surrounding locker room need different materials, but both must handle moisture and cleaning chemicals every day.

The Health & Fitness Association’s best practice guidelines for saunas and steam rooms say wood flooring should be avoided in commercial sauna design. It absorbs perspiration, discolors quickly and is very hard to disinfect. Their recommendation is moisture-impervious materials such as tile, sealed concrete or heavy-duty commercial vinyl.

In practice:

Area	Recommended surface	Why
Locker room floor near sauna	Slip-resistant tile or sealed concrete	Handles wet feet and daily cleaning
Sauna floor	Tile or sealed concrete, with removable slatted mats if you want a warmer feel underfoot	Mats lift out for washing
Bench and wall lining	Kiln-dried softwood or thermally modified wood rated for sauna use	Stays comfortable to the touch at temperature
Floor drain	Required in the hot room floor plan or immediately outside it	Lets staff hose and squeegee the floor

For the floor structure itself, our homeowner-oriented piece on sauna flooring options explains why a sealed base plus duckboards lasts so long. The same principle applies commercially, with tougher materials and a stricter cleaning schedule.

For a hospitality-focused take on finishes that survive daily cleaning, see our hotel sauna design article.

Doors and glass

In a locker room, the door does three jobs: it holds heat, it lets staff and other members see inside, and it provides safe exit.

Safety guidance for public-facing facilities calls for clear viewing windows in sauna doors, and for automatic timers, typically with a 60-minute limit, to reduce fire hazards. Cities add their own rules. New York City’s sauna and steam room rules, for example, call for thermostatic temperature control and specific alarm and cut-off provisions.

Typical door choices for commercial rooms:

Full clear glass: best visibility and a bright feel. Our ProSaunas prehung clear glass door in Thermo-Aspen, 24x81 is one prehung option.
Solid wood with insulated glass window: holds heat well while keeping a viewing panel. Examples include the prehung solid wood door with insulated glass, 24x80.
ADA-width glass door: a 36x81 door gives the wider opening that accessible units need. See the ProSaunas prehung ADA clear glass door in Thermo-Aspen, the Black Alder version or the tinted glass option if you want more privacy.

A door width alone does not make a room compliant. Confirm swing direction, threshold height and clear floor space against the standards below.

ADA and accessibility

Saunas and steam rooms in public accommodations must be accessible. According to the U.S. Access Board’s guide to saunas and steam rooms, where two or more are clustered in one location, at least 5%, but not fewer than one, must be accessible.

The same guide lists the main design requirements for an accessible unit:

A 60-inch diameter turning space for a wheelchair.
A fixed bench at least 42 inches long, set 17 to 19 inches above the floor.
Bench seat depth of 20 to 24 inches.
A structure able to support a 250 lb vertical or horizontal force.
Door openings that do not swing into the clear floor space required at the bench.
Door thresholds no higher than 1/2 inch.

Practical consequences for a locker room plan:

The room gets bigger. A turning circle of 60 inches is larger than many compact commercial saunas. Plan the footprint before you choose the heater.
Outswinging or sliding access helps. A door that swings into the bench clearance fails the standard.
Flooring must be flush. A raised wooden platform at the door can break the threshold limit.
Check state rules. California, for example, publishes its own provisions in Section 11B-241 of its building code, and Chicago’s building code has its own saunas and steam rooms provision that also sets a 5% minimum, with at least one per type of use in each cluster.

The federal baseline sits in the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design. Your architect should confirm which edition applies in your state.

Heat, controls and safety

The heater is the part of the design with the most safety weight. A few points apply in almost every commercial locker room.

Guard the heater

Heaters should be protected from accidental contact. Ohio’s administrative code, for one, requires a guard made of low-conductivity material, such as wood, around sauna heaters. Rails of that kind also set the bench clearances around the unit, so draw them into the plan early.

Controls and timers

A commercial room should have a thermostat, a high-limit cut-off and a timer so a heater never runs unattended. The Health & Fitness Association’s guidelines list temperature management as the first of their five essential sauna practices. In a locker room, mount the controls outside the hot room where staff can reach them, and consider wifi-enabled controllers if you want remote monitoring and scheduling.

Heater types for locker rooms

Electric heaters are the usual commercial choice: no combustion, simple venting, and easy thermostat control. Wiring and breaker capacity must be reviewed by a licensed electrician.
Wood-fired and gas heaters need flue and fuel-supply work, which is difficult to fit in an interior locker room. They suit outdoor or standalone buildings better.
Steam rooms are a separate design, with their own generators and waterproofing. If you want both, plan them as two rooms, not one.

Some heater packages worth looking at for compact commercial rooms: the Harvia KIP45W package with wifi and stones, the IKI Pillar 9kW with wifi controller and glass and the Saunum Air 7 heater package. Confirm the rated room volume for each against your plan before you buy.

Ventilation and cleaning

A sauna inside a locker room shares air with showers, toilets and lockers. Humidity and odor travel, so ventilation needs two parts: a fresh-air inlet and an exhaust path in the sauna itself, and dedicated exhaust in the shower zone. As the locker room design guide points out, odor is almost always an airflow problem, not a cleaning problem, so the room needs dedicated exhaust that pulls humid air away before it reaches changing areas.

Build cleaning into the design:

Slatted benches that lift or fold up so staff can wash beneath them.
Wall surfaces without ledges where dust and sweat collect.
A floor that slopes to a drain.
A storage spot for squeegees, disinfectant and spare towels that is outside the hot room.

Towels are part of the hygiene system too. Members sit on them in the sauna and use them after the shower, so sizing the supply to peak hours matters. If you buy in volume, spa and hotel textiles come in commercial grades made to withstand frequent laundering.

Our view on locker room saunas

We supply sauna heaters, kits, controls and parts to homeowners, contractors and wellness professionals, and the same questions come up on commercial projects again and again. The first is footprint: owners plan a sauna around a heater they like, then find the accessible turning circle will not fit. Start with the room, then pick equipment.

The second is the heater-to-room match. A heater that is too small struggles on cold mornings, and one that is too large wastes energy and heats the bench unevenly. We help buyers check rated volume against their actual dimensions, including glass, before an order is placed.

The third is the door. Owners often treat it as an afterthought, but it affects heat loss, visibility, accessibility and daily cleaning. Choose it with the layout, not after.

Finally, treat code as part of the design, not a final check. Local authorities have the last word, so involve your architect and inspector early.

— Teddy

Plan your locker room sauna with us

Sauna Heater Supply carries electric, wood-fired and gas sauna heaters, controls, doors, full sauna kits, steam room equipment and cold plunges, along with professional installation and custom design services. Browse the sauna heaters collection or the saunas collection, or contact us through the Sauna Heater Supply site with your room dimensions and we will help match a heater and door to your space. Ask us about our price match guarantee.

A planning checklist

Before you finalize drawings, confirm each of these:

Sauna placement is on the wet side, near showers, with a dry bench zone outside.
Peak occupancy is estimated and the seat count matches it.
At least one accessible unit is provided where saunas are clustered, with a 60-inch turning space and a compliant bench.
Floors outside and inside the hot room are tile, sealed concrete or commercial vinyl, with drainage.
The door has a clear viewing panel and meets threshold and swing rules.
The heater is guarded, thermostat-controlled and tied to an automatic timer.
Ventilation includes both the sauna and the shower area.
Local code, including city and state amendments, has been checked by your architect.

FAQ

How big should a sauna in a gym locker room be?

Size it from your busiest hour, counting one bench seat per person. If you need an accessible unit, you must also fit a 60-inch wheelchair turning space and a bench at least 42 inches long. Compact rooms heat faster, so avoid building bigger than demand requires.

Does every locker room sauna have to be ADA accessible?

Saunas and steam rooms in public accommodations must be accessible. Where two or more are clustered, at least 5%, but no fewer than one, must comply. Your state may add stricter provisions, so confirm with your architect or local building department.

What flooring is best around a commercial sauna?

Use moisture-impervious materials such as tile, sealed concrete or heavy-duty commercial vinyl. The Health & Fitness Association advises against wood flooring because it absorbs sweat, discolors and is hard to disinfect. Removable slatted mats can add comfort inside the hot room and lift out for washing.

Which heater type suits a locker room sauna?

Electric heaters are the usual choice for interior commercial rooms because they avoid flues and fuel lines. Have a licensed electrician confirm circuit capacity before you buy. Wood-fired and gas heaters generally suit outdoor or standalone buildings.