Steam rooms in Kenya, tanked on wedi and borehole-tested

Steam rooms fail behind the finish. The tiles in a leaking room usually look perfect; it is the board, the joint tape or the fall beneath them that was skimped. In Kenya the second failure is water chemistry, and it is decided before the generator is even ordered.

Typical project in Kenya: KES 600k – 1,950k, supplied and installed · six to ten weeks per room after the drawing is approved, plus shipping.

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Steam rooms in Kenya, tanked on wedi and borehole-tested

Board, tape and a fall to the drain

We line walls and ceiling with wedi building boards — we have been an official wedi seller since 2015 — with every joint and corner sealed by the system tape, and a liquid membrane over the floor. The screed falls at least 1:50 to a linear drain and the ceiling is pitched a few degrees so condensate runs down the walls instead of dripping on the bench.

Membranes need their curing time between coats and before tiling. A programme that squeezes those days out is a programme that ends in a leak into the room below.

Mains, borehole or harvested rain

Water across Kenya varies more than most clients expect. Many Nairobi and Rift Valley boreholes carry high fluoride and dissolved solids; harvested rainwater is soft but needs filtering; mains supplies differ between estates. We test hardness and total dissolved solids at the tap that will feed the generator.

The result sets the specification: an auto-flush generator, a softener in front of it, or a descaling interval written into the service plan. Skipping the test is how a generator becomes a two-year part.

Generator size, and where it lives

Stone and tile soak up heat before the room fills with steam, so a stone-lined room needs more generator than an acrylic cabin of the same volume. We size on volume and finish, put the generator in a ventilated cupboard a short pipe run from the room, and use 415 V three phase for the larger units.

In Nairobi's drier air a run-on extract timer usually clears the room after use. On the coast the room will not dry on its own, so it gets humidistat-controlled extract and a continuous vapour barrier.

Indicative steam room prices

Room	Indicative, thousand KES	What is inside
2–3 person, tiled	600 – 950	wedi tanking, tile finish, generator sized to volume
4–6 person in stone	1,000 – 1,950	Pitched ceiling, run-on extract, serviceable plant

Want your steam room priced? Send the room size and a photo showing the drain and the distribution board; you will have an itemised figure within one business day.

In short

wedi boards with sealed joints on walls and ceiling; membrane on the floor
Hardness and TDS tested at the property, boreholes included
Run-on timer inland, humidistat extract on the coast
Curing time kept in the programme — rushed tanking leaks

Questions

Steam rooms in Kenya

Can you convert an existing bathroom?

If it has a drain, a place for the generator within a short pipe run and a ceiling we can pitch, yes. It usually means stripping back to the slab.

We are on a borehole. Does that matter?

A great deal. We test it before choosing the generator; high fluoride or hardness changes the unit and the service interval.

Steam or sauna for a Nairobi house?

A sauna is cheaper to build and suits cool highland evenings. Choose steam if anyone in the house finds dry heat hard to breathe.

Your project

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Send us a photo of the spot and the rough size. Within one business day you get photos of comparable rooms we have finished and an itemised, position-by-position quote.

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