Salt-Cave

How Much Does it Cost to Build a Salt Cave

A salt cave is one of the best ways to provide halotherapy, the treatment where dry salty air is inhaled into the lungs. Building a salt cave or salt room can be so beneficial to the health of your local community.

Salt therapy has been used for hundreds of years around Europe to help people with lung and skin conditions such as COPD or psoriasis.  In recent years, however, it has been gaining more interest in the United States as a unique business opportunity for spa facilities.

Expanding your health spa’s services can not only bring therapeutic benefits to your clients, but it can also help your spa generate more revenue as well. 

Minimal investment, low maintenance requirements, cross-marketing capabilities, and fast-growing popularity make adding a salt cave to your business a no-brainer.

But how much does it all cost? Keep reading to find out!

Origins of Salt Cave Therapy

The benefits of salt caves were discovered in the early 19th century by a Polish physician named Feliks Boczkowski, who observed that salt miners had significantly fewer respiratory ailments, and looked much younger for their age, than coal or metal miners.

He believed these health benefits were a result of breathing in the air in the salt-rich atmosphere in the salt mines. Shortly thereafter, going to salt mines and caves for healing purposes became a popular form of therapy throughout Europe.

Salt Cave Therapy Today

Today, technology has allowed halotherapy to become more easily accessible to everyone seeking the benefits of salt caves — without the need to venture into underground salt caves. In North America, halotherapy is a growing drug-free, natural treatment for relieving many respiratory, skin, and health conditions.

You may be familiar with the use of wet salts in baths, scrubs, and neti-pots. Halotherapy uses dry salt, which the body absorbs through the lungs to achieve its benefits. Wet salt treatments are beneficial, but wet salt crystals are already saturated with moisture and therefore can’t offer the same results as dry salt.

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Generate More Revenue For Your Spa With A Salt Cave

Halotherapy is one of the top five trends in wellness in the United States and has been growing in recognition over the last 10 years. Due to its minimal operation costs and high ROI, more and more spa and wellness facilities are adding halotherapy to their services.

Adding salt therapy to your practice is relatively simple. Almost any closed room can be converted into a salt room. Repurposing an underutilized room into a salt cave is one of the easiest ways to expand your business. 

Fortunately, salt rooms can be flexible in both size and location within your facility. If you don’t have a lot of space to work with, a SALT Booth® may be better suited for your needs. Depending on your financial and space constraints, SALT Chamber can provide you with a custom salt cave solution.

Salt Caves: An Easily Marketable Service

As a health benefit, halotherapy is easy to market to clients. It’s convenient and affordable for any budget. Clients can spend less than $50 for a quick session on their lunch break or before a night out. 

It can also make a great add-on for before or after a massage, or as part of a special package paired with other services. The fee you can charge per session can range from $25 to $55, based on the size of your space and the number of clients you can handle.

Costs of Building a Himalayan Salt Cave

As the salt therapy industry continues to grow, more and more people and businesses are wanting to know how they can get started or add salt therapy to their existing business.

And with that interest, people also ask…how much does it cost?

The simple answer to that question is…it depends.

There are various concepts for providing salt therapy, whether in your home or at your health spa business.

There are new stand-alone, multi-room salt therapy facilities, single-room conversions, add-ons to existing businesses, our trademarked SALT Booths® and SALT Beds®, and custom solutions for personal use and private residences.

The range to build a Salt Cave is $4,995-$17,995+. This greatly depends on the space and technology required. For example, a smaller single-room conversion will cost much less than a multiroom salt cave.

Let’s take a closer look at the costs associated with adding a salt cave to your business.

Start-Up Costs

Perhaps the most important part of expanding your business to include a salt cave is to hire a professional salt cave builder like SALT Chamber. We will work with your general contractor (GC) to build and set up your salt cave correctly since salt caves require a different type of expertise. 

Since salt bricks aren’t the same as typical bricks, they must be handled with special environmental control measures and building practices. SALT Chamber has the Himalayan salt bricks to add as a salt decor element for your project. You may find a general contractor with experience building salt rooms, but your best bet will be to employ a professional salt cave builder like SALT Chamber to work with them.

Set-Up Costs

The most important piece of equipment in a salt cave is the halogenerator. The halogenerator is the machine that disperses dry salt aerosol into the salt therapy room. Working with the HVAC system, the halogenerator controls and regulates the salt aerosol and concentration levels in the room. It works by grinding or cutting pure-grade sodium chloride into micron-sized particles.

Although you will be responsible for ordering the correct equipment and preferred furnishings, your salt cave builder will be responsible for the framing and soundproofing, as well as flooring and wall installation, according to your design specifications. They will also ensure that your space is properly reinforced to support the salt cave.

Ongoing Costs

The ongoing costs of a salt therapy room are much lower than many other new services offered by wellness facilities. Aside from insurance and maintenance costs, labor and inventory are the only costs that cut into your bottom line.

Labor, often one of the greatest expenses associated with a new service, is minimal. Hiring new employees is rarely necessary to staff your salt cave since existing workers can handle the light cleanup required between treatments. Additionally, there is no special certification required to operate the halogenerator.

One 10lb. container of salt for the halogenerator (HaloSaltâ„¢) costs only $25 and is typically enough for several hundred treatment sessions. One of your current employees can handle the responsibility of replacing the salt in the halogenerator as needed.

Salt Room Projects

There are three components to a proper salt room or salt cave:

  1. The Halogenerator (the primary equipment that crushes, grinds, and disperses pure sodium chloride into the room).
  2. Room modifications, technical requirements (HVAC), and environmental concerns.
  3. Salt Décor (the largest variable expense) and furnishings.

Salt rooms can range from small rooms (up to 150 sq. ft.) to larger relaxation and multi-purpose rooms (up to 450 sq. ft.).

The size of the room will determine which halogenerator is best, as well as salt décor quantity and other furnishings such as seating, lighting, music, etc.

Additionally, the following are a few basic requirements for setting up your salt room:

  • The room needs a fixed ceiling
  • There should be adequate ventilation
  • Proper placement of the halogenerator

Contact SALT Chamber to receive our 32-page price guide magazine and learn more about how we can help you build your very own salt cave!