Saunas are dry heat, stand-alone units or little closet-sized rooms. Steam rooms can be steam showers or stand alone steam rooms. Usually in a residential setting steamers are also showers. They are different animals. What do you prefer: dry heat or wet heat?

The best dry sauna I ever experienced was outside near a hot tub in a cold climate. It was shaped like a big circle and fit 2 people comfortably.

Steam showers require a very experienced tile professional. If you go that route make sure they are certified and have at least 5 years or more experience specifically building steam showers.

Neither is necessarily in or out of date. The appeal or non-appeal to any future buyer would be the layout and function of the bathroom and your choice of materials.

Perhaps if you buy or build an outdoor dry sauna for your back patio or yard, you can take it with you when you move. A steam shower will just need to be explained to potential buyers.

I sit in the steam room sometimes at the gym, but prefer the dry sauna. I have a far infrared sauna at home that I need to use more often than I do. The one at the gym is just a regular (electric I think) sauna heater with lava rock on the top of it. I really like having that heat to sit in after I swim. I will wash my hair and rinse off before the sauna and I sit there and bake 15 or 20 minutes and it is so relaxing. The trouble is, if you had it at home, it would not be "on" all day. You would have to turn it on and wait for the heat to get high enough to give you that wall of heat effect. It would not feel so good if it was just warming up when you got in. Like my far infrared one, it means planning ahead to turn it on and then going back and getting in it at the right time. It is too easy to get distracted. So think about all of that and try to think if you have the time for the warm up and will not get distracted and forget to go back for your sauna.

A two or three person far infrared sauna cabinet can be had for $2000 - $3000. I don't know what a regular sauna costs. The steam shower is $10,000, I have read here. But is there a wait for the steam? I don't know.

I agree with Nancy in Michigan. I was ecstatic that the house we bought had a sauna in it. Size is about 6 x 6, with an L-shaped bench. I prefer it with dry heat, DH prefers steam (or hot tub), so usually I start off and then afterwards he dumps the water on the lava rocks. Two caveats: (1) as Nancy said, it’s not instantaneous—you have to plan to turn it on ~ 15-20 min in advance; (2) at least in ours, there is a significant difference in temperature as you go up toward the ceiling, and I wish I had some kind of insert to raise the bench about 2.5 ft higher. We live in FL, so only use it in winter, but I find it very relaxing.

The nice thing with a sauna is it can be anywhere so often either outside or in the basement easy to install a steam room requires a heck of a lot of work and in many cases I would think a turn off for buyers

Steam rooms require periodic maintenance and have a much higher price point. A shower with a steam feature is definitely a job for an extremely qualified contractor. Steam rooms can range from 104°F to 116°F at 100% humidity. Traditional Finnish sauna operate from 158°F to 203°F at 5% to 15% humidity (upper bench level).

Both feel very nice to the senses. I prefer wet heat ....steam shower. Very luxurious if you have a chaise in your shower.

Sauna for beauty is not the best. It dries out your skin and hair.

You can always buy a sauna at Costco, so you can even have both. You do not have to install a built-in sauna to enjoy the heat.

Sauna, it is better to buy the smaller one. (1-2 people) They take a while to heat up, etc......and, then you use for a very short time.

I am in my far infrared sauna for 45 minutes.