How to Make a Hot Water Spa/Bath in Japan (Construction)

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Countryside : One Thread

Greetings all,

I'm a newbie to homesteading. I'll be moving in to our "ranch" (a hundred year old thatched house and barn) here in Japan in a month or so.

One of the most pressing concerns (for quality of life) is putting together a pleasant outdoor bath to soak in after trying to whip the house into shape.

Soooo... I trying to figure out what kind of wood to use and how to build the bath. I was thinking on Cedar, but I've heard it causes "women's problems" I'm not a woman but my partner is. Anyone care to comment on the above?

Also what would be the best way to construct the bath? I was thinking the best idea would be to use 4"X 4" timbers notched log cabin style then bolted through from top to bottom with some stainless steel thread all. The bottom of the bath would be tongue and groove planking sandwiched between the bottom and second course of timbers.

Would this suffice? Am I missing anything? Would the wood swell enough to seal the gaps or would I need to lay in some gasket?

I'll be using an external wood heater for water so the heating fittings should be easy to attach to one side of the tub.

Am I missing anything?

Thanks in advance for you help.

-- Jeff Anderson (guzzi@jcom.home.ne.jp), January 24, 2002

Answers

Response to "

Is there some reason for using wood? All the ones that I have seen in film of old Japanese baths look like they are made out of fired ceramic tile. I would think that it would be easier to clean than wood, and less likely to harbor bacteria.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), January 24, 2002.

ohyo gozaimastu anderson-san!

wanna adopt a nihon-o-phile!?! LOL!

do you have any native/friends/aquaintences that are westen-o- philes that you know there? get them to get you invites to view other peoples furo-baths. hey if you are accepted enough to buy/live in a traditional nihongo home you might be able to actually get in to other peoples homes!

in calif. where it seemed a requirement to own a hot tub, most i saw & used were wood cedar or redwood, no gaskets, just swollen wood.

i heard a few women complain about problems they blamed on the tubs being dirty, not the wood tho. but in properly maintained tubs the bathing was done first outside of the tub, and of course the water was changed out regular like. some were formed concrete w/ tiles, fine in the summer, oh but waiting for one to heat in the winter was a pain.

-- bj pepper in C. MS. (pepper.pepper@excite.com), January 24, 2002.


Ms. Frogskin,

a lot of the baths here are indeed tile baths, but they have their own maintainance problems- ie. grout and mildew. They also, as "Pepper" stated a bit of a chore to heat up. There are also fiberglass tubs- ugly and look terrible quickly and stainless steel tubs- not really that rustic and too small for two... or more =8-). Wood is reasonably cheap, atmospheric, and a good insulator so it will be easier to heat and keep warm once it's hot.

So Wood it shall be. I don't really have the skill to build a "barrel" type tub. Also I like a largish square tub. It's a bit more- well, uh... bath-like.

Bathing will be accomplished in the Japanese manner. I have a hard time going back to North America and bathing in my own soap. The bath will also be drained regularly at the least once every couple of days, so I'm not too worried about bacteria.

Konichiwa "Pepper"-san. I know a few Western- o -philes, and I've even been in their baths. However, their baths are *nothing* like what I want.

I'm sure there are some really great Japanese books out there on how to build a great bath, but my ability to read "Chinese" characters is very poor and my partner's ability to explain technical details in English is almost as bad.

So I hope someone out there has put a great bath together and would like to talk me through it.

Thanks ever so much for your comments folks.

-- Jeff Anderson (guzzi@jcom.home.ne.jp), January 25, 2002.


go to Kappa-bashi near Ueno and buy the largest masu wooden sake cup you can find.

here's a wesite that has a lot of helpful info on tubs in general. your project is on my "one of these days" wish list. good luck and let us know how it works out.

http://www.rhtubs.com/hot-tub-faq.htm

-- B. Lackie (cwrench@hotmail.com), January 25, 2002.


why so complicated? heat water up on cook stove in the winter to add to bath tub,then in summer time set out buckets of water to heat up for the outside tub,what a life I have by the countryside!!

-- Dusty Ross (ourpinkroses@yahoo.com), January 27, 2002.


Aloha, I've seen several old time furo's in sugarcane homes here in Hilo. Quite often they were nothing more than a steel pot in the basement washroom that you filled with a spicket. At the Lyman Museum here the have an old wooden box with a lid that was used to do the trick. The old furo is long gone from our house but the pad for it in the shower room is still there so I'm thinking of building one out of 2x6 t&g with a 3 1/4" plywood bottom. I'll let you know how it turns out! Wish me luck. Aloha, Buck

-- Buck Pelkey (buck@maunakea.com), March 15, 2002.

Moderation questions? read the FAQ