Monday, April 26, 2010

Going to a Hybrid Steam Room

Hybrid Steam Rooms
It is human nature to solve problems. Although the problem with steam rooms may not affect the average persons daily life, it does however affect those people who bath in steam rooms or run/maintain facilities with steam rooms. Hybrid steam rooms are
a new material design approach that takes advantage of advance plastics construction that reduce porous surface area by over 90% and also incorporate new cleaning technologies that practically eliminate the need for daily chemicals and scrubbing.
The new hybrid steam rooms are brilliant white - sterile steam room environments that stay fresh and clean all day and allieve health or sanitary concerns. Gone is the need for re-grouting every 2-3 years and retiling every 5-7 years. Hybrid steam rooms are practically maintenance-free and remain fresh,clean and sterile with only once-a-week cleaning with mild (organic) soap and water. Hybrid steam rooms do not require traditionally large boilers, they heat up within five minutes and
use 30-50% less energy than traditional tile rooms. Because of their rapid heat-time and superior heat retention, many clubs opt to eliminate their 24 hour timers and switch to 60 minute timers. Therefore, the steam room only runs when members are present thus decreasing energy costs by up to 60%.

Conversion Case Study
Typical Tile Room
Boise Idaho - The West YMCA and Aquatic Center located in Boise Idaho was build in 1996. A state of the art YMCA with three swimming pools and all of the expected services of a contemporary YMCA; child care, basketball, racquetball, rock climbing, children’s and adult locker rooms… including sauna and steam rooms. Within seven years the steam rooms were literally falling apart. According to Scott Apple, Facility Director “we were doing everything we could to keep the rooms together”.
Adding further, “no matter what we did, we could not stop member complaints… the rooms were basically nasty”. According to Alfonso Castaneda, long time YMCA member “there was a large group of us that would voice our concerns to the Y on a weekly basis urging them to fix the steam room”. According to Apple, they had to move quickly as the room was leaking and the moisture was seeping into the walls and the floor. “It got to the point where the moisture was threatening the integrity of our floors and walls” claims Apple. In 2005, Apple contacted Am-Finn Sauna & Steam, a
preferred vendor for the YMCA for over 12 years, to solve the problem. The solution was to convert the traditional tile room to a new Hybrid steam room. In the summer of 2006, full conversion of both men’s and women’s steam rooms and (sauna renovations) were completed in one week.
Step 1
Removal of benches and expand door entry way to a 6ft wide by 7ft high rough opening.
Step 2
Construction of Hybrid Steam Room inside existing steam room.
Step 3
Insertion of the full glass door frame assembly with vision panel
Step 4
Sealing of panel seams and base seam.
Step 5
Exterior finish to blend with sauna creating a beautiful custom look.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Steam Room Conversion


from Tile to Today (Hybrid Construction)Over the years, the YMCA had evolved into a complete offerings facility. Originally, the YMCA was established to be a place for young men to play sports, learn life skills and study the bible. However, in the 1950s, YMCAs began to grow in numbers and
in services, quickly becoming a recreation destination for the whole family. For most communities around the country, the YMCA was the only place where families could go to swim, play a wide variety of sports and attend numerous forms of classes such as art, science and social skills. Across the country, YMCAs were very success full in both raising funds and attracting memberships.As a result, YMCAs adopted a standard facility design model that included an unparalleled range of facilities thus becoming the ultimate family destination. Part of this design included saunas and steam rooms.
Sauna and Steam - a necessary evil.
Steam rooms and saunas have a long history in Europe and Asia, it is estimated 25% of homes in Northern Europe have saunas or steambaths. Historically uncommon in the United States, the YMCA is the first organization to bring the benefits of Saunas and
Steam baths to the general public. Today, the public expects, when going to a YMCA, to find a sauna and steam bath in the facility. In the early years, it was primarily the older male generation who systematically bathed in the saunas and steam rooms.
However, today we find people of all ages and genders that require sauna and steam bathing as part of their weekly regiment. According to Bud Herman, Facilities Maintenance Director for six YMCA’s in Philadelphia PA “its ok if we close down the
racquet ball court or the pool for a week, the members can handle it. However when the sauna goes down or the steam room is not clean some members get very aggitated”. As noted at the YMCA national maintenance conference in Las Vegas, July 2007,
steam rooms are one of the most problematic areas of the facility to keep clean and maintain.

Tile Rooms = Problems
Traditional steam rooms use tile construction primarily because there were no other material alternatives. All forms of tile are porous to varying degrees, combined with grout, the overall steam room interior surface is a rough and semi-permeable surface. In most scenarios, such as swimming pools and locker room floors, tile is an acceptable material option mainly due to the chemicals present (chlorine)or acceptable cleaning chemicals used in the evening. Steam rooms, by contrast, are enclosed rooms (no ventilation) that maintain a consistent warm (105F to 110F) and wet environment. These conditions combined with heavy human traffic create the ideal environment for mold, mildew, bacteria to flourish. Additionally,these conditions are ideal for the preservation and transmission of human elements such as
viruses and human related bacteria such as Staphylococcus which can survive in temperatures of up to 140 deg F. (making saunas (180 deg F) more sterile). Maintenance managers, Facility Directors and members do not need statistical or scientific data to prove the health concerns of their steam room… one step inside a traditional tile room and the musty smell is an immediate indicator of the rooms condition.

Stay tuned for how to fixed these issues!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

To Steam or Not to Steam, that is the question

Since the tender age of 18, I have been a member at a gym of some sort or another. I do everything from group classes, treadmill, free weights (never was a fan of the weight machines), swimming and relaxing in the sauna after a good swim. One amenity that I could never stomach was the steam rooms! The idea of sitting on that ceramic tile in all of that mold, mildew and viruses such the Staph made my skin crawl. And lets face it, most gym employees aren't the most motivated when it comes to cleaning. So I just avoided the rooms altogher.


However, recently I went to a gym where, when I walked past the steam room I actually stopped and looked. No tile. No grout. Instead was this new "futuristic" looking steam room that looked clean and inviting. I stepped in the steam room and sat for a spell actually enjoying myself, not feeling like was being being attacted by agents that should not ever come in contact with the human body. I loved this new "hybrid steam room"!


Okay, okay, I'll come clean....I work for Am-Finn Sauna and Steam. But was I described above really did happen. When I was brought on to work for Am-Finn I knew I needed to get some first hand product knowledge. Luckily for me, the gym I go to had 2 new locations that did install the new hybrid steam room. And according to the regular members at those gyms, they love the new steam rooms.


But don't take my word for it, check out the article that Club Solutions wrote up about the new Hybrid Steam Rooms. I'm not the only one who loves them!