I get a ton of phone calls and regular email asking about room sizes for tanning beds. For salons, one of the most common mistakes is making the room so small, that most tanning beds won’t fit inside. This limits their choices when it comes to beds and causes heat issues. For the home tanning bed, it is much simplier, since most people are not trying to build a dedicated room for the bed. Here is a good general guide for room sizes:

Home Tanning Beds:
You need to look at the specifications for the bed to get the exact size. Most 24 lamp home tanning beds are going to have a footprint of about 3 foot by 6.5 foot. This means you need an area at least 7 foot against the wall, and enough room in front of the bed to get in and out. a 7 foot by 5 foot area is adequate for most home beds, but again, look at the bed specifications before you order, so you can make sure the bed will fit in your house.

Salon Tanning Beds:
For some reason, many new salon owners also want a 7 x 5 area for a tanning bed, but this simple too small for a dedicated tanning room. Your room should be at least 8 foot on the wall that the tanning bed is going to be installed against, and should be at least 7 foot wide, to allow easy access in and out, as well as room for a small chair and table. A 7ft x 8ft room should be considered a MINIMUM size.

If you ever expect to have beds larger than 32 lamps, then you need to be looking at a room size closer to 9ft x 8ft minimum for those room. Remember, many larger or “super” beds have venting that must be run outside the room, so you need room to install the vents from the bed though the ceiling. You might not be buying any huge beds today, but you are better off if you have at least a couple of larger rooms in case you want larger beds in the future. Also, the larger the room, the easier it is to keep cool.

Another consideration for salons is door size and orientation. I can’t tell you how many times we have gone out to install a tanning bed, and the bed will not fit through the door. You should use a 36″ door, and never anything smaller. Also, have at least a 48″ hallway (which is code in most states anyway). Another consideration is the door “swing”. If the door swings into the tanning room itself, make sure it can clear the bed. If not, change to swing into the hall, which isn’t ideal but allows the best use of room INSIDE the tanning room. Otherwise, you will be hitting the bed everytime you open the door, particularly if the rooms are small. Also consider full vent doors, which cost more but make keep the place cool a lot easier.

With room size, bigger is better. A small bed in a large room allows the customer to enjoy the experience much better than a large bed in a small room, where they are too cramped to even get undressed.

Dennis