Sauna renovation

I had planned to renew the sauna with sauna wax this year. Suddenly the passage in the smoke pipe was clogged with soot and the sauna heater no longer had a draft, so smoke came into the sauna.
With the help of Pepe, my wife's cousin, we discovered that the smoke pipe had rusted through and now needed to be replaced. The pipe could be pulled out of the wall by pushing the stove away from the wall and so the smoke pipe could be removed from the wall and the sauna heater.
So it was time to start renovating the outdated sauna. We had already moved the sauna heater outside from the sauna.Now it was time to use the drill to unscrew the many screws from below from the sauna frame. This wasn't easy as the screws had become lodged in the wood over the years.Since the sauna boards were still good, we wanted to paint them with sauna wax. First I sanded the boards with the sander and then my wife Anneli painted them with white sauna wax, which is translucent. The boards then had to be painted over a second time so that they became nice and white.In the meantime, I sanded the wax coming out of the wood away from the surface of the walls and ceilings with sandpaper and then painted them with black sauna wax, which went very well. For contrast, I painted the window frames with white sauna wax. I only found a smoke pipe with a larger diameter. I had to use a chisel to enlarge the hole in the wall. The pipe had to be shortened at the bottom and because of the pipe widening I was able to put the cut pipe on top. So the masses were better for the wall inlet. Now it was time to mix the Weber ML SAVI mortar with the correct water ratio as prescribed. Before applying the mortar, the area must be wetted with water. The mortar is pressed into the hole using a trowel and a board and smoothed out.The crack in the wall is also covered.After plastering, cleaning the tools with water is very important.Then I had to work on the rough plaster with a float.Then wait for the mortar to dry for approx. 30-60 minutes before smoothing the mortar later with sandpaper.I treated the wall with Betonipinnoite from Biltema and used almost the entire 1 liter bottle because the wall absorbed this product immediately. As a result, the wall no longer released sand and can now be painted with the heat-resistant paint “Muuri” from K-Rauta with good adhesion. I apply this white and heat-resistant paint “Muuri” to the wall above and behind the sauna heater with a brush and then with a roller. I have now finished with the white paint on the wall, which stands out beautifully next to the black paint. It was a lot of work, great, I'm happy!Welcome to the sauna with the black color in the background and the white color of the sauna heater. Like the wall, I treated the floor with Betonipinnoite from Biltema and then painted it with the light gray color “Betolux Akva”, which also looks nice together. Because of the larger smoke pipe, I had to seal the opening at the bottom of the new smoke pipe with a larger diameter at the transition to the sauna stove pipe with Tytan B1 fire fiber, which is heat-resistant up to 1250 degrees Celsius.Then here we have the new stones that I bought 2 packages of 20 kg each, a total of 40 kg look very nice with the gray-white color. Here I had to replace a cover, a so-called soot trap, because it had rusted through. You can pull out the lid and vent it. It has a lot of soot behind it, which you then have to take out and keep clean and functional. Now comes the second coat with Betolux Akva. First with the pen on the edges and then in the area with the roller. Welcome to this beautiful sauna, which will bring a lot of joy.We're trying to fire up the sauna today and see if it works with the new smoke pipe and hope that no smoke gets into the sauna. See you soon!