Asked on Mar 22, 2012
Building a deck for a hot tub
by
Lisa B
+2
We are going to build a 10x14 deck to put our new hot tub (delivered in 2-4 weeks) on. It will be on ground that is flat on the front side and will be about 3 feet off the ground in the back. Does anyone know how many 4x4 footings we will need under the hot tub itself (8x8)?
5 answers
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This depends a bit on the size of the hot tub? 2 person 6 person etc. My deck design software normally calculates 4 (4") columns under a basic 4 person hot tub with 2 x 8 min joist size. Doubled up joists rest on top of the columns which are set with full depth concrete piers ( 8" sono tubes and simpson AB44 post brackets) In this project (a much smaller deck) ab44 were set in 6" tubes) http://www.hometalk.com/Kevin/project/2602
KMS Woodworks
on Mar 22, 2012
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The hot tub is a 7 person, 7-1/2 x 7-1/2 feet, weighs 4,350 filled then when add weight of 6 people on the deck gotta figure it needs to hold 5,550-6000 pounds.
Lisa B
on Mar 22, 2012
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Ok...that's about 100 pounds per sq foot. Most decks are designed with a "dead load" of 40 psf. I tend to build on the "beefy" side of things so If I were building this I would bump the posts to 6" and sink 4 of them below the tub. For joists I would go with 2 x 10 for the entire project and for under the tub use a "tic tac toe" type of joist grid. With the deck being 3 feet high On one end, this qualifies for "permitting" and should go through your local building regulatory office. Here they may require, an engineers "stamp" for the hot tub part.
KMS Woodworks
on Mar 22, 2012
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Thanks for your input. We like to build beefy too! We were thinking about using 4x4 posts but putting 3 rows of 3 under the tub part and using tic tac toe joist grid. The section of deck (10x4) that the hot tub is NOT over would be built for a load of 40 psf. I hope that will be sufficient.
Lisa B
on Mar 22, 2012
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40psf is pretty standard in the warm parts of the country....at 8500 feet in the rockies a lot of what I built are 60 -70 psf for snow load.
KMS Woodworks
on Mar 23, 2012
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