Over the weekend I got my sauna walls up, some house wrap and the rafters installed with hurricane strong ties. But it turns out I need to remove and redesign the roof. Luckily I only put the rafters on so it’s not a huge deal but it’s still another unexpected challenge.
Mobile saunas can’t be any wider than 8 feet, 6 inches. The maximum height is up to 14 feet. But, even that’s a stretch since on many local roads the clearance is more like 13′ 10″ or 13′ 11″. To play it safe, I’m shooting for 13′ 6″.
![](http://seekingsauna.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/IMG_2693-2.jpeg)
The main issue is the stove pipe which has to be a minimum of 24″ above anything within 10 feet and 36″ above the penetration point. Once I got my walls up and one of the rafters, my dad and I dropped a tape from the peak to the ground to get a measurement of 12 feet, 6 inches.
My stove will be situated at the middle of the building on the short end of the roof near the drip edge. Since my building is 8 feet wide, the pipe will be roughly 4 feet from the peak. According to code I’d have to go 24″ above the peak. I’d be at 14 feet, 6 inches. Given I’ve got a metal roof and because I was in zone to build, I decided to power on, thinking I can probably get away with a 12″ (to 13 feet, 6 inches) clearance, and installed the remaining rafters and ridge beam.
But on further research it turns out the “10-3-2 rule” applies to all kinds of roofs even if they’re metal. Unfortunately, since I want to get insurance for my sauna once it’s done being built, I’ll need to do everything to code which means I’ll need to come up with a new game plan for the roof.
After some consideration, I’m removing all the rafters and redesigning the roof with a 12″ rise instead of 28″ rise.
![](http://seekingsauna.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-12-at-5.55.09-PM.png)