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Installing Your Hot Tub

If you've ever installed an outdoor deck and patio and hooked up an indoor dishwasher, you've got the skills needed to install your own hot tub.

Depending on the layout of your yard, installation choices vary from a simple gravel and sand pad to a raised platform. You can get help designing your installation from one of the many good home design software packages available. They don't pour concrete, but they'll help you visualize the results, provide measurements and sometimes even contain local building codes.

Start by measuring the base of your hot tub, then add two feet around each side for access. Multiply the width (plus the four extra feet) by the length (plus the four extra feet). That gives you the area occupied by the installation.

Now find out how much water your tub holds. You could calculate the volume, but most manufacturers will list the figure in the specs.

Each gallon of water weighs about eight pounds (3.6kg). A filled tub can weigh 5,500 pounds. Add the weight for, say, four people and that total is over 6,000 pounds on average. You need to ensure that the surface holding your tub can support that weight over the area of the tub.

If you're installing on the ground, level the surface with a rake and long two by four, ensuring there aren't any rocks that can puncture the underside. If your tub has a wooden skirt, you may not have to do anything more than lay some weed paper over the dirt.

A raised wooden or concrete platform helps to increase the beauty and utility of your tub. It gives you a nicer view of the yard and can help prevent moisture buildup around the base, which leads to mildew and wood decay.

Once again, the key is to ensure you have a level surface and that it can support the needed weight over the area. The pressure on a surface is the force - in this case the weight - divided by the area. It's the pressure that really counts, not just the total weight.

Making concrete platforms that are strong and level requires skill and patience, but it's within range for most do-it-yourself'ers. You'll need to build a retaining box into which you pour the concrete. Follow the guidelines provided by local building codes.

A wooden platform is both attractive and fully capable of supporting most tubs. A series of a dozen 2 x 6's laid on edge, bordered with 2 x 6's and attached via good L-braces on a platform of 4 x 4's can support a medium sized hot tub safely. 4 x 4's could be used for the entire platform, though of course the results will be lower by the two inch difference.

Lay out the grid on level ground, ensuring the spacing is compliant with local building codes, generally no more than 12 inches between joists (individual boards). Boards can be attached via bolts and nuts through pre-drilled holes, or via strong L-braces.

Even empty hot tubs weigh in the neighborhood of several hundred to a thousand pounds. You'll need several strong helpers to move the tub into position.

Most wiring jobs, to run the controls, lights and motor are best carried out by an electrician. But if you're skilled in that area, it's possible to do this step yourself, as well.

Run PVC conduit from the junction box at least 18 inches deep in a trench. Use an electrician's fish tape or similar device to pull wires from the 240V GFCI protected equipment. Connect the wires according to the manufacturer's instructions.

(Fish tape is a flexible reel used to snake down pipe. Wires are attached and pulled back through. Computer cable installers use long flexible wire hooks to perform the same task.)

Be sure to have your installation inspected before filling the tub. If you can avoid it, you don't want to have to drain the tub in order to re-do anything that's non-compliant. Hot tub cleaning chemicals can be hard on nearby grass, and you'll have wasted the money to fill and heat the tub.

Enjoy!