How They Pulled It Off: a Hot Tub Built Into a Boulder

Welcome to How They Pulled It Off, where we take a close look at one particularly challenging aspect of a home design and get the nitty-gritty details about how it became a reality.

With a hot tub built into a boulder, Tyler Quinn’s Joshua Tree project is the stuff dreams are made of. Situated in a fairly remote location in the desert, the modern take on a southwestern-style home is impressive on its face; it’s even more so when you learn that the six-year off-the-grid project was Quinn’s very first build.

 When people think of deserts, they think of heat. Quinn, who’d previously done stints working in film production and as a furniture maker in Los Angeles, says they don’t consider that the dessert actually gets cold and windy, too. "After living on the property for three years in a trailer, I found myself wanting a retreat from the cold more often than the heat, and I always knew I wanted a hot tub. It allows you to revel under the stars on a cold night when you wouldn't otherwise find yourself stargazing comfortably," Quinn says, explaining that this direction just made sense. "I frowned at the idea of a fiberglass spaceship, never cared much for jets, and wondered how I could create a soaking tub with natural materials."  

The tub, which looks like a mirage you’d stumble upon while wandering the landscape, was built right into the bed rock next to the house. Here’s how Quinn made it work.

How they pulled it off: a hot tub built into a boulder  

• "I had a shape in mind for the tub so I started by scoring an 8 foot circle into the boulder as the boundary to work within, and would crosshatch in a checkerboard pattern across the circle one layer at a time," Quinn says. 

• "I accomplished this with a concrete saw, with my cuts about 4-6 inches deep. I would then remove the entire 4-6" layer of granite with hand tools; chisels and hammer."

•  But why didn’t he use just demo hammers or other power tools? "One, I felt I had a much better shot at controlling unwanted fracturing or cracking in the stone by swinging a hammer in hand, doing it one piece at a time," Quinn says. "Two, a demo hammer would have created a pile of useless rubble, and in this case I was able to treat the boulder like a quarry and turn the material into a granite block." 

• Getting the water in the tub is easier than it might seem. "The water comes from the well on the property, and is filtered and pumped through a propane heater," Quinn says. "The pump is a wonderful variable speed which allows me to sustain a low energy draw. Piping is simply plumbed over the rim of the tub!"