Ofuro Design
I think I previously talked about our plans on putting an ofuro, or Japanese soaking tub in our bathroom. For those of you who don’t know about ofuro’s, let me break it down for you real quick. The traditional Japanese bathing experience differs from the American bathing experience in two basic ways. First, an american bath tub is long and shallow, whereas a Japanese tub, in order to economize square footage is short and deep. The other big difference is that traditionally in Japan, you would sit on a stool outside the tub and use a low spigot to fill a bucket and use it to scrub off before getting into the bath. That way the water stays clean and the whole family can share it throughout the day.
Long story short. We wanted one. A real ofuro is usually made of hinoki, which is a high grade cedar. Unfortunately this is not only high maintenance but also high dollar. We considered just tiling it in, more like a roman bath, but I was worried about leaking. Ultimately we decided to do it out of stainless. My father in-law knows how to weld, and was kind enough to take on the project. The picture above is the design I sent him. It was lots of fun getting to do some industrial design since I wanted to go into that field in the past. I’ll go into some of the design features when I show the finished tub later.
If you are looking to do some reading, “The Japanese Bath“, is a great book, as well as the more light hearted “How to take a Japanese bath“.
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[...] Well after several weeks of waiting, we finally started to make some more progress in the bathroom. For a little background, check out this post about our ofuro tub plans. I’ll give more details about the tub later. We finally decided on a tub filler for our ofuro. We ended up going with the Danze Parma, mostly because it fit our style, and more importantly, our budget. That doesn’t mean of course that it was really affordable. It ended up being right around $300, which seems like a lot of money until you see what the other options are. Before we could put our ofuro tub in, we had to rip out the old shower and tub. It turned out to be a pretty easy job with only one big surprise. The wall below the window was mostly rotted out from water damage. Luckily we plan on replacing that whole window, and so we will need to frame out that section of the wall again anyway. Getting the ofuro in place was fairly straight forward. It was a lot lighter than the other tub. I lined the two side walls with dura rock, so we will be ready to tile them soon. We were kind of nervous that our boiler and water heater would have a hard time filling the huge tub. I think we figured it was over 100 gallons pretty easy. To our pleasant surprise, our boiler did just fine. The tub accommodates two people quite comfortably. My wife and I spent about an hour soaking in it the first night it was done. We also had our mirror delivered finally, which makes the bathroom feel a lot bigger. Check out the pics after the jump to see what I mean. [...]
Hi.
I’m a brasilian engineer. I would like to do an OFURO for myself. So, if you have any sort of plans or instructions, I would like to recive it. If necessary I can pay for it.
Thanks,
René
jrenece@yahoo.com.br
Actually, these days, most new baths installed in Japanese houses look just like tubs from Kohler, same length and depth. Most people have never seen a hinoki bath.
If you go to an actual bathing establishment, such as a hot spring, most likely you will find the soaking bath is made out of a concrete slab with block walls, and tile or stone facing. Typically it will be a rusticated granite with a non-slip finish. But you really could finish it with river stone, etc.
I think this concrete plus stone approach is the most economical and DIY friendly.
I was looking for an ofuro bath and ended up faxing plans almost identical to a few stainless welders. They weren’t interested in the project, so I ended up going with an aqua-therapy tub from Ebay for 250. It’s worked out really well. I have to build some seats for it because it is 36″ deep. We also went with the Danze Parma faucet, so you must have good taste. Good luck.
Hmm. Nice design. How does it feel inside? I’m thinking marine plywood with applied teak or cedar inside and rim, with fiberglass sealant, with and an unfinished teak or cedar outside. For deck use, a top that doubled as a serving table.
The traditional heaters (? Chuba) are siphon-fed propane, electric, or wood fired. A place called northern cedar sells these for about $700.
Dennis, it feels good inside. We haven’t decided on if we will be using a external heater or not. I would like to though. It seems like a waste to just dump all that water into the sewer.
mother earth news has a great article on hot tub nirvana for a hundred dallars,we built our first tubs,just slightly larger than the plans they have…we put some garden hose in a coil on a piece of plywood on the roof with black tar covering it.SUPER HOT WATER..was the result.small pump 12v,or garden submersible pump will work, to circulate,(dont forget to siphen the return to get it flowing !!)we also but a small copper coil occasionally on the grill if you put the grill lower than the tub it will thermosiphon,no pumps needed,stock tanks work well also,my mom just runs a hose off the washer to fill hers ,go mom this is the best thing you can make her!!!next tubs will be built with foam board 3″ thick,for max heat retention…making someone a ofuro is the best thing you can do for a loved one…you can put it in the bath tub!!!!!! live to love love to live…be good family..chance soulrebel777@gmail.com for any questions
We’ve constructed our steel ofuro after reading about your project. It’s sitting in our basement now, ready for a supporting frame which we’ll build next. Question for any and all: what type of sealant would you use along the welds, just to insure no water leakage?
B & C C
We didn’t seal it with anything, but we did make sure it was water tight before we framed it in. We filled it with water for a day or so to look for leaks. If you do sealant, I’d do it on the back side with some sort of a silicone caulk. Good luck. Send us pics when it gets done!
Hey there,
What a fabulous find! I just met some welders today.
As far as plans, where might we find some?
Thanks!
[...] Ofuro Design [...]
I lived in Japan as a child in the late 50’s and early 60’s. We have a domestic who lived with us that became a member of the family-she took me everywhere with her including the bath house. Those memoriees are still special all these years later. I have been searching in vain to find an affordable bath that will rekindle those times. Can you please send me the demensions. I would be very grateful-we are drawing up a new addition for a master suite and I would love to make an ofuro a part of it. Thanks!
Hi,
If you want to trial an ofuro or just want a cheap occasional experience, might I suggest using a large Rubbermaid-type storage container. I found one with the right dimensions (about 35″L by 25″ deep by 24″W) and bought it for $12 and put it in my bathtub for my ofuro. I fill it with my hand-shower and bail it to empty it (after the warm water has heated up the bathroom and bedroom and I mop my floors with it too and then water the plants).It’s been a great way to experience the neck-deep soak. Plastic is much kinder to water temperature and your bum than steel! I have used mine for a year and many friends have borrowed it and soaked in mine. When you are finished, you can use the container for storage or pass it on to another ofuro experimentor as I’m doing. I’m now looking at purchasing a Tagaki Kobune free-standing ofuro from at-home.com. They retail for about $800 and are much cheaper than installing a soaking tub. I was giving a beautiful Kohler one-person soaking tub, but to install it will be about $4,000 and I like to soak, but not THAT much!
Tagaki Kobune free-standing ofuro from at-home.com.
I cannot seem to get this site to see this tub Lesley is talking about.
I have been dreaming of an ofuro for so long, Has anyone actually
used anything more green to generate the heat?
Thanks so much for your reply!
Found the Tagaki kobune free-standing ofuro –
It is http://www.at-house.com — hope this helps!!
Thanks for the spark! The wheels are turning..Soaking is a life style..Go green..
We inherited an acrylic over fiberglass furo (about 40 gallons) which we turned into a continuous hottub using a water tank heater and a hot tub pump ($125 and we’ve gone through 2 so far). The tub and mechanics are inside a super insullated cedar box frame and lid, so it is economical to run (110v). However, one caveat, after five or more years or use the finish has blistered and popped and needs refinishing. So, your choice of stainless seems the best to us. That said, the entire set up was around $800 not including labor, repair and maintenance. We used bromine and baking soda and changed the water often rather than super chlorinate it. You could put an ozonator on it and reduce the need to treat it. I consider furos an essential part of life now.
Have you seen the ofuros at rhtubs.com ?
Yeah. Roberts Hot Tubs makes a traditional ofuro out of hinoki.
I have, they are gorgeous. The price really isn’t too bad considering what you get. The only thing that turns me off about the traditional hinoki is that you have to stay up on the maintenance. If you don’t use them a lot they can dry and crack etc.
I have sold over 100 military surplus snorkel stoves on ebay under jrjohnryanjr These were designed to heat water in clean garbage cans so that soldiers could wash their mess kits after eating in a company sized field kitchen They are non electric and burn pretty much any flammable liquid giving 30,000 btu some people put them in 150 gal rubbermaid stock tanks that cost about 100 dollars I expect to begin selling them again soon the winning bids on the heaters are usually 80-100 dollars They are usually used outdoors just in the woods my email is jrjohnryanjr@yahoo.com
Japanesebath.com is a US ofuro builder. They use hinoki or cedar.