Our Sauna Blog
Understanding the SaunaLife CL5G: A Comprehensive Overview
Sep
Anyone looking for an outdoor sauna that makes a visual statement without compromising Nordic function will want to consider the SaunaLife Model CL5G. This 4-person outdoor cube sauna features a bronze-tinted, floor-to-ceiling tempered glass front that floods the interior with natural light, and it’s priced at $5,990.
Most outdoor saunas blend into the backyard. The CL5G was built to anchor it, and it sits as the largest model in SaunaLife’s Cube-Series lineup.
Construction and Materials
The CL5G’s exterior walls are built from 42mm (1.7”) Thermo-Spruce staves, a heat-treated Nordic softwood engineered to resist moisture, warping, and biological decay without chemical preservatives. The benches and backrests, by contrast, are knotless Thermo-Aspen, chosen because it stays comfortable to the touch even at full sauna temperature.
Thermo-Treated Wood and the Glass Front
Thermal modification changes wood at a structural level. It drives out moisture and makes the wood more dimensionally stable, so it doesn’t warp or crack as it swings between a freezing January morning and a humid July sauna session.
The fun part is the 8mm bronze-tinted glass front, and it does more than make the sauna Instagram-worthy. During the day, it opens the interior up to whatever view your backyard has. After dark, the cabin becomes a lantern, lit from inside and visible from across the yard. If part of why you want an outdoor sauna is the ritual of walking out to it at night, this detail delivers that feeling.
Roof and Exterior Details
A shingle roof with drip rails, fascia boards, and black-painted trim round out the exterior. Together with the treated wood and tempered glass, these details are what let SaunaLife call this a four-season sauna and mean it. A lot of “outdoor saunas” are really three-season saunas that quietly become storage sheds every winter. This one keeps working at 10°F, which is the whole point if you live somewhere with real weather.
Interior Lighting and Smart Technology
The CL5G comes with a “dotless” LED system: two light bars running on low-voltage 24V DC with IP67 connections rated for heat and moisture, controlled through a Wi-Fi app or the included remote. The system can expand to four light sources if you add more later.
The app lets you set brightness and adjust light placement before you go outside. Articulating and flush-mounting clips let you angle each light bar to graze the wood grain rather than shine directly outward as a visible fixture.
Choosing a Sauna Heater for the CL5G
Like every SaunaLife sauna kit, the CL5G ships as a complete room, including walls, glass, roof, benches, heater guard, and installation instructions, with the sauna heater sold separately so you can match output and control style to how the space will actually be used.
Heater Options and Room Sizing
The $5,990 price doesn’t include the heater. That’s standard across SaunaLife’s lineup, so you’re not stuck with whatever heater happened to be bundled in. You can choose based on how you’ll actually use the space.
Your options here are the Harvia The Wall SWS80 (8kW), the Harvia KIP80W (8kW), the HUUM DROP 6 (6kW), and the Harvia Spirit SP80E (8kW). All four are rated for roughly the same 177 to 431 cubic foot range, so none of them are underpowered for this cabin. The real question is how fast you want it to heat up and how many people you expect in there regularly. If it’s mostly going to be you and one other person on a normal weeknight, the 6kW HUUM DROP is enough, and it’s the more budget-friendly pick. If you’re regularly filling all four seats, or you don’t want to wait for the room to warm up, the 8kW options heat up faster.
Electrical Requirements
A dedicated electrical circuit sized to its output. Call a licensed electrician and confirm your panel actually has the capacity before you order anything. Guessing here is how a sauna ends up sitting in a crate in the garage for six weeks. Heater systems and accessories ordered with the sauna usually ship free in a protective box on top of the crate, though heavier units that need a second pallet may add a freight charge.
Space and Capacity
Before you fall in love with any outdoor sauna, ask yourself: will it actually fit your yard, and will it feel roomy enough for the people who’ll actually use it? The CL5G is rated for four, but it’s worth understanding where that number comes from instead of just taking the brand’s word for it.
Interior and Exterior Dimensions
| Dimension | Imperial | Metric |
| Exterior Width | 80.7” | 205 cm |
| Exterior Depth | 63” | 160 cm |
| Exterior Height | 82.7” | 210 cm |
| Interior Width | 77.2” | 196 cm |
| Interior Depth | 55.1” | 140 cm |
| Interior Height | 74.8” | 190 cm |
The layout isn’t a single bench line, it’s L-shaped and two-tier: a 73.2” lower bench, a 76” upper bench along the back wall, and a 17.3” side bench. The lower bench runs 31.1” deep and the upper one 17.7” deep. That extra depth lets it fit four people, since it’s deep enough for a bather to sit cross-legged or stretch out fully rather than just perch on the edge.
Is This the Right Size for Your Yard?
The CL5G makes the most sense for a mid-size backyard, big enough that a full cabin sauna would feel like overkill, but with enough room that this doesn’t feel cramped against the fence line. It’s a good fit if your real usage pattern is “me and my partner most nights, occasionally three or four of us on a weekend.”
Also, check your local code before you commit to a spot. Most jurisdictions require 18 to 24 inches of clearance around a freestanding structure like this, so build that into your measurements for the deck, patio, or gravel pad.
CL3G vs. CL4G vs. CL5G: Which Cube Sauna Fits
All three Cube-Series models are the same 80.7” wide and built the same way underneath. The only real variable is depth, which is really just a proxy for how many people comfortably fit.
If it’s just you and one other person, and your side yard is tight, the SaunaLife CL3G is the compact option built for exactly that. The SaunaLife CL4G splits the difference at 49.2” deep, capacity for three, a good call if you host occasionally but don’t need a full four-person room every day. The CL5G, at 63” deep with that two-tier L-shaped bench, is the one to get if more than two people regularly sauna together in your house, or if stretching out fully during a session matters to you.
| Model | Depth | Capacity | Best For |
| CL3G | Compact | 2 people | Couples, tight side-yard placements |
| CL4G | 49.2” | 3 people | Couples who host occasionally |
| CL5G | 63” | 4 people | Households sharing regularly, or room to lie down |
Delivery, Site Prep, and Assembly
The CL5G shows up as a precut, numbered flat-pack kit on a wooden pallet, shipping weight 1,680 lbs. Flat-rate curbside delivery attracts extra costs. Also, it comes by appointment, and the driver’s job ends at lowering the crate to the ground, not carrying it to your backyard, so you still need to plan your own path from the curb to the install site.
Before the truck shows up, make sure your site is level and load-bearing, whether that’s a concrete pad, compacted gravel with pavers, or a reinforced deck section a bit larger than the sauna’s 80.7” x 63” footprint. From there, SaunaLife designs this as a weekend build for two people with basic hand tools, and the kit comes with a full manual and mounting hardware.
The SaunaLife Lineup Beyond the CL5G
If the CL5G isn’t quite it, but you like the brand, it’s worth knowing this is one entry point into a bigger catalog. SaunaLife’s outdoor collection covers cabin-style builds beyond the Cube-Series, and its barrel sauna line offers that more traditional rounded silhouette with the same contoured, ergonomic seating philosophy.
And if you’re thinking bigger than just a sauna, building out an actual backyard wellness setup, SaunaLife also makes wood-burning hot tubs with fiberglass tubs for up to six people, plus cold plunge tubs with a Thermo-Pine shell and a 200-gallon fiberglass basin for the contrast-therapy crowd who want a cold dip right after their sauna session.
The Bottom Line
The CL5G’s main differentiators are the glass front, the four-season-rated construction, and the app-controlled lighting system, features that affect how the sauna looks and functions rather than just its seating count. For a mid-size backyard where a full cabin sauna would be too much, and where the year-round durability and the glass front’s visibility both matter, the CL5G is a reasonable fit at its price point.
