DIY Cedar Hot Tub (Episode 1): Finding Affordable Clear Cedar Boards

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We are currently living off grid on a bare piece of land that we will soon build a home on. We’re living in a RV for the time being and don’t have a large amount of water (especially hot water) on site, so one of the first things we wanted to do was build a hot tub!
We entertained doing a cowboy hot tub our of a rubbermaid or galvanized trough, but in the end, we thought it might look a little tacky and to our surprise, it wouldn’t have been all that much cheaper than building our own cedar tub. We decided to have fun with it and build a cedar tub that we would love and enjoy for years to come.
In this series, we want to share with you how we’re putting the tub together. It’s not extremely detail oriented as the tub you build (especially if it’s a budget tub) will likely be different than ours, but hopefully it’s enough data to be helpful in the building of your own tub.
If you have questions, we’re more than happy to start a FAQ part of our page with additional helpful info! We hope you enjoy!
If you want to learn more about the development of our off grid homestead, visit our blot at purelivingforlife.com
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[@fiendeng]

Can't wait for episode 2!

[@DeepSouthHomestead]

Good info on picking good lumber

[@hkgonra]

Great tip, we actually purchased full bundles of 2nd tongue and groove pine for the interior of our home. Every time we came to a knot or blemish we admired the character of the board. Obviously that wouldn't work for your hot tub but might be something to think about when you get started on your home.

[@jbss7382]

+pure living for life, love the cat checking you guys out. Great.

[@tombottoms6510]

I wish I had half the energy of either of you guys! The tub project is looking great...can't wait to see it completed. Also, I never knew cherry picking was not cool. I built my whole barn cherry picking Home Depot and Lowe's #2 grade for actual #2 lumber :) As always, look forward to the updates and keep smiling, T

[@purelivingforlife]

+Tom Bottoms Cherry picking is a tough subject... we've found LOTS of TERRIBLE lumber at Home Depot and Lowes that has all sorts of bow and wane, so we sorta have to pick through to find stuff that will work for our needs, but yes other places really would rather you not pick through wood. Best to ask if it's okay. We called the guy ahead of time and he invited us to come pick through every piece of his cedar as he kinda has seconds anyways. Didn't seem to bother him a bit, but we wouldn't do this if it would mean stepping on toes. And yes we have a lot of energy but that isn't always a good thing... we are 90% of the time in over our heads because of the number of projects we think we can manage at once! Glad you are enjoying our updates!

[@revtmyers1]

That's a great tip for getting some very good lumber.

[@henryrodgers3409]

That's a great idea you have there . Some lumber yards in my area wouldn't let you sort from the pile . Needless to say they're not in business any more . People aren't that stupid to pay big dollars for warped , big knotted wood when they need really good straight boards for their projects . Prices didn't reflect the type of wood that was available . That's why I never have my wood delivered . I pick it up myself because you just never know what your going to get when you have it delivered .

[@zftransmax1]

good job guys.. I think I'll do this for my hot tub as well here in Ireland... thanks for the helpfull info.

[@Ferelmakina]

cant wait 2 c it completed

[@Paradigm2012Shift]

Very informative. Thanks for sharing.

[@DianeHasHopeInChrist]

You guys ROCK! Actually, I CAN understand why you'd want the hottub first, then to build the house first......it makes sense to me.....you have a great living situation, for the time being.....you have plenty of time....most everything you need...and each other. A hot tub is a morale booster, while getting relaxed, clean, and heated with firewood, instead of electricty. I love your videos.....God bless you both!

[@maximumwoof8662]

using a hot tub to get clean ? hmmmm....

[@DianeHasHopeInChrist]

Well max......have you ever worked so hard, you'd love to relax those sore muscles, in a hot tub? I had a Jacuzzi bath....I'd take a shower, then fill the Jacuzzi bath and light candles, ahhhhh. Nothing like it, after a hard, productive day. Keeps one's mind from becoming overwhelmed and keeps one's morale & spirit, up and more positive. But hey, maybe it's just me....lol.

[@tomboardman5694]

hot tub party!

[@majorgreenz2811]

cool idea ill be watching this build :)

[@hikewithmike4673]

looks like you are on the way to an awesome hot tub...lucky! '

[@1S6NZKYLZBG64M]

Why wasn't the galvanized tub a good fit? You've said it, and I read it in the blog post, but no explanation.

[@zombie4loan287]

Have you been near a big wood dryer. ? Reason i ask is I am from the south. And use to work in a lumber yard and we use to have to cure the lumber in big box steamer.

[@dannyjames8350]

Hi your videos are awesome! Can you tell me anything about treatment of the wood? Thanks

[@FixItYerself]

thanks!

[@JoelHudson]

[@dafizend]

Do you have plans with all the measurements and materials list?

[@kanel123boller]

I have been looking everywhere for a DIY wooden hot tub video! I will most certainly be following this serie. Where did you find the blueprints? Btw you guys are doing one heck of a good job on that place. :-)

[@purelivingforlife]

+Dan Pettersen Blueprints? There are blueprints for cedar tubs on the internet? Ha! We're just wingin' it after observing the build of other wooden tubs. Thanks for the kind words, and hope to get the rest of these videos up soon!

[@dereksimenac8844]

keep the knots and clear epoxy everything

[@tymesho]

I wonder with some imagination, a proper size hole saw drill, (used to make a hole for a door knob) and some durable wood filler with dye it would bring an average board into the mix! polkadot cheap? drill the knot out, fill it with whatever's best, clamp a couple pieces of scrap wood on it till setup, a little sanding? use different colors in the mix? I like it! I'm sure there are plastic materials as well available that would really save money on that really expensive/hard to find clear wood.

[@jamest.5001]

I been wanting to build something similar. but what about splinters???

[@k.cashman427]

Cool vid--thx. Look forward to parts 2 & 3! Wondering when you will start on your barn/1st structure--will it be this year? Just curious if you plan to stay in your present digs another winter or plan to be in something else. B well.

[@purelivingforlife]

+K. Cashman It's not entirely clear when the barn will start. We are still actively in planning stages. Much of the work you see is doing IS starting the barn. We need a lot more tools which we are slowly acquiring and more importantly we need to sharpen our skills. We are going to do some work on the cabin most likely in case we winter over in it one more year. If we don't that's great. Far too many things coming at us to know where we will be about mid-October. Something we discuss often and try to take a modest view. We will kill ourselves if we keep at the pace we have been going.

[@k.cashman427]

+Pure Living for Life Completely understand and really do appreciate all that you both are undertaking. Good to be objective about everything and pace yourselves--but slower(!). Wish you two the best of progress and look forward to future vids!

[@3rdClassFilms]

nearby ... about 90 miles away, haha

[@gypsygirl731]

the way the world is a lot of people wouldnt know what to do how to do things like building things form nature for free until you came about. thanks for the hard work and sharing skills with us

[@Diniecita]

how cold does it get there? Does the tub freeze over or in the winter do you empty it once it gets to a certain temperature?

[@purelivingforlife]

+Stephanie Holladay Johnson Lowest temps are approx -10 F. We keep it heated every day. Filter twice a week.

[@cdirth]

Can you just seal the wood?

[@jeffozimek2178]

Forgive me for maybe asking the obvious, but why don't you want knots? Do they leak?

[@evanconnor7600]

He skirts the explanation in the video, but knots shrink and expand at different rates than the rest of the wood. They can fall out. Not great for a hot tub.

[@jessmullens5191]

I was wondering this too, thanks for posting an answer.

[@SteveWebel]

Seems that a hot tub would not be so high on the list of priorities on such an undeveloped piece of land? What is the thinking spending time on this rather than other more essential/ functional projects?

[@purelivingforlife]

+Steve Webel Subscribe to find out why. Video in the works to answer that question! :)

[@SteveWebel]

+Pure Living for Life Great, I look forward to seeing it. I've been subscribed for a month or so, i enjoy most of your videos. I have very little first hand knowledge of establishing a homestead from scratch, but the idea seems so interesting (and like a LOT of HARD WORK!)

[@sweetcanada17]

Steve Webel - I would say that this is actually very high on the list of priorities. Build the hot tub first, before anything else, and then you have some place where you know that you can relax in after a hard day of work on other much harder stuff. In other words: morale booster. Personally I'd even find it hard to get out of bed in the morning knowing that I'll do a lot of hard work with nowhere to go afterward to relax my achey body.

[@liamwinter4512]

Have you ever considered just going direct to a lumber mill. My fathers done this all my life and pays drastically less then store cost.

[@purelivingforlife]

+Liam Winter Tried to. Didn't pan out on this one. Everyone kept referring us elsewhere. Gladly we found something that worked. Cedar is easy. Clear is hard.

[@Wireman134]

Californians nuff said

[@40jmark]

There is a lumberyard etiquette that you do not go through the to cherry pick. When the next guy goes through your leftovers all there is is trash.. I like what your doing not wishing be negative but as a professional carpenter ( 40 plus years) . Cherry picking is really frowned on. You should be using vertical grain all the way around to keep expansion even. Wood expands at different rates depending on grain orientation.

[@purelivingforlife]

+Mark Jones You're absolutely right Mark! That said, we had permission to do this but other folks should not assume that it is okay.

[@40jmark]

+Pure Living for Life haven't been able to get that info. I think they keep the boat close to Chester. Moms don't do Facebook.....

[@rogertibbetts5440]

I would have to add a thought here. I am the CUSTOMER. I am paying for a product (wood boards in this case). If they don't want me to pick the boards I want then they need to be sure that all of the boards are of equal quality. I often will take damaged boards if the damage will just be in scrap areas for my project cuts but when I need a certain quality board I will cherry pick as I need. I have had some comments in the past but I usually tell them "When I go buy a car, I get the one I want - not just the first one I come to. I can always take my business (and money) to someone who will treat me like a customer. It's not my fault you don't have good quality control of your inventory." They leave me alone after that.

[@40jmark]

Roger Tibbetts Softwoods and hardwoods are graded by number of blemishes, knot size and count, grain direction i.e. Quartersawn, rift and flatsawn. They are priced accordingly. You don't go digging through the number 2 pile for select boards. If you want select then pay for the select. When you cull the stack you leave the next guy the shit. You can do whatever at Home Depot, they don't carry serious grades of lumber.

[@rogertibbetts5440]

I fully understand wood grades but thanks for the thought. I live in a small town with one lumberyard - actually, a building supply that also has some lumber. They have no Premium or Select or Clear or #1. All is #2 - and a lot of that is questionable. So if I need a straight board I will cherry pick (like everyone else out here). If buying for furniture projects, I drive 45 minutes to get to "the city" and buy the grade I need. But even when I cherry pick locally I take the "worst" board that fits my needs - take a lot of end damaged and edge-barked wood. Just part of life out here in the sticks.

[@sara-pl5rr]

you can use non deciduous wood with Knott's in it. the reason you don't want to leave the Knott in there is it will rott however you drill out the Knott and use juniper and something like träkoltjära (whatever that is in English) to seal it in there.

[@jackgeorge5799]

I just don't understand how you heat a spy with fire on a wood deck. Guess we will see.

[@purelivingforlife]

+Jack George stick around to find out!

[@RyeinGoddard]

Why was the steel hot tub not a good fit?

[@purelivingforlife]

+Ryein Goddard List of reasons ended up pretty long. The major factors were 8' wide meant A LOT of unnecessary weight for water that wouldn't be used and would take far longer the heat than a smaller tub. It was approx 750 gal and our current tub is 350. Also 2' deep was not deep enough to be enjoyable. 3' really is a minimum. 4' is actually really deep. Almost too deep for much the same reasons as 8' wide is a waste. Too much weight, long heat up and actually too deep to sit comfortably with your head above water.

[@RyeinGoddard]

Pure Living for Life makes sense...

[@jonathanroberts8037]

So I guess I'll ask the elephant in the room question: What's up with the cat?

[@purelivingforlife]

He's a cat that things he's a dog.

[@owell179]

do you plan to drill your own well yourself

[@purelivingforlife]

+o well No way... we'll have a contractor drill one when we're ready.

[@Doubleodude]

Just question but why don't you just buy a used hot tub off craigslist and move on to building your homestead? Seems silly your living in a travel trailer and building a hot tub rather than a house.

[@purelivingforlife]

+DoubleODude How would you power such a hot tub?

[@Doubleodude]

You have point there. Is the hot tub just a luxury you have on your bucket list. With the weather getting nicer I would think sewer water shelter power source would be more of a priority.

[@Doubleodude]

I'm not picking on you Im just curious. I love the video's.

[@sweetcanada17]

DoubleODude - morale booster. I'd need something like that too. Plus, it helps them relax after a long day of work, soaking achey joints. It makes sense to me. Gotta have some comforts too.

[@RunFromHumanContacts]

DoubleODude learning to build. Better to mess up on a smaller project

[@lewisjackson1967]

Too much emphasis placed on the last syllable of the last word of each sentence...up pitch, once noticed, was all I heard. Sorry dude.