New home? Hot Tub, Inside or outside?

[des1re06]

When we were considering a hot tub/play room, I had contractors come over and submit ideas. We got everything from a screened in porch that had roll-down canvas for privacy to a "treehouse". The treehouse was the coolest design! He kept our original open deck for grilling and sunbathing, and added a walkway to the treehouse. Very cool! It wasn't actually in a tree, but was built up on stilts. If you live in TN, you likely have a sloped yard like us.

I liked it best because it was in a wooded area behind our house and gave privacy. It was just different.

Good luck coming up with ideas!

[Alura]

Our hot tub is located on our covered veranda on the back side of our house. The sides of the veranda are open to our back yard.

We've found that we seldom use the spa in the summer. Sitting in hot water in warm weather causes your face to perspire, which we find uncomfortable.

We had to prepare a platform for the spa to sit on. Here in Tulsa, and perhaps elsewhere, open porches are required to slope toward the outside. That caused the water level in the spa to not be even all the way around. It was easily solved by building level forms and filling the void with self-leveling concrete (available at Home Depot).

We situated the tub near the outer edge of the porch so the drain hose hangs over the edge and drains into the soil.

Mr. Alura

[MRnMSbhaven]

Ours is outside. Winters pose a challenge since you do have to shovel a path to get to it. Other than that, we use it almost everyday. Even in the summers. We just turn the heat down a bit and we're good to go for hours if we want to.
I love being able to look at the stars and feel the wind. If it were indoors I wouldn't be able to see the Aurora when it makes a rare appearance and the meteor showers just wouldn't have the same effect.

The important thing is that you use it and enjoy it no matter where you put it.

Ms B

[lovinher]

I'm a contractor so I'll list some requirements. Most have been mentioned already.

A separate heater and or ACU for the room. Have the thermostat (low voltage) within reach of the hot tub.
The room MUST be separate from the rest of the house.
A dehumidifier would help. (not an issue when the AC is used).
Have a good quality exhaust fan installed. 100 cfm minimum. The more the better. You could have it on a speed control.
Use bathroom paint with fungus inhibitors. Semi-gloss is best. Do not use flat paint.
Get speakers out there on a volume control. Have it within reach of the tub.
Also a TV. I love watching porn in the hot tub!
A textured floor is good. Stay away from using outdoor carpet. Eventually it stinks when used inside.
The room should be drywalled with green board. DO NOT use stucco. It catches too much moisture.
Use coated trim if possible. (the plastic stuff)
A ceiling fan is a good idea. Recessed fixtures with baffle trims on a dimmer are nice also. They cut down on the glare.
I would stay away from using wall tiles. You WILL get mold in the grout.
If floor tiles are used-seal the crap out it and do it every couple of years.
Any nails or screws should be covered with caulk. If exposed, use stainless steel.

Keep in mind the cover will help reduce moisture in the room, but most hot tubs have a blower cycle that will put moisture laden air into the room.

No 120/240 volt wiring can within 5 ft of the inside walls of the tub. This means lights, receptacles and switches.
The disconnect must be within 5 ft of the tub.
IMO, a GFI breaker should be used-not a GFI disconnect. This way ALL the wiring feeding the tub is GFI protected, not just the wiring after the disconnect.

This may seem like overkill but trust me, it is not.

So when is the party?
WHAT? NO PARTY?
I'll PM the bill then.

[8inches]

I have a hot tub outside on my porch with a nice view of the Pacific Ocean. I really think the only advantage to having the hot tub indoors is energy/cost savings since the cost to heat an outdoor tub wiill be higher.

The cool air is really not a problem since your body is submerged and if you set the temperature high can actually be a benefit. Also, being outside in the fresh air under the stars is vastly superior than being indoors in my humble opinion....

[JustAskJulie]

If the idiots who owned this house before me had had any sense they would have built our sunroom on the back of the house - and it would have been a perfect place for a hot tub. As it is,if we add one it will be on the back patio (where the sunroom should have been).

I am a bit torn between indoor or outdoor. The idea of being able to get out, dry off and jump into bed is a great one.... without having to run through half the house naked. However, I had friends up north that had an outside hottub and we would enjoy that no matter what the whether, there's just something about sitting in a hot tub outside while it's snowing and 30degrees... actually that's the only way to enjoy that kind of whether.

[Brian and Jo]

Our hot tub is inside in our basement. The room is comfortably furnished with soft chairs and a pull-out sofa. We often set up a larger play area in the adjoining family room. It is an ideal set-up for an evening with our swinging friends.
We have found over the years that the hot tub is a very good ice breaker, especially if we are meeting a couple for the first time. Once everyone is nude and relaxing in the tub, the barriers come down and one thing just seems to lead to another. We are free to move between the tub room and the family room to play, watch, take a break or whatever. We would not organize things any differently if we were doing it over.

[steversk]

We have ours outside, which is great for looking at the stars at night. However, we live in the high desert north of Los Angeles and the wind is a big factor. It gets down into the 20's at night, which is not a problem when the wind isn't blowing. As a result we can only use the tub about 1/4 of the time. Having it indoors would be nice, but that presents other problems. Water condensation would be a big problem. The room should be heated and well insulated so you don't get condensation on the walls or windows. Do the s walls and flooring like you would in a bath where water is present (tile or linoleum). We just ordered a dry infrared sauna to warm our acking bones when we can't use the spa tub (not as fun to party in though).

[ncmd_couple]

We spent New Years eve with a great couple that have their hot tub inside. Some water got sloshed out. If you are thinking about putting it inside, I recommend that you also put in a floor drain so that if any water gets on the floor it doesn't just puddle.

S

[djjwp]

Originally Posted by ncmd_couple

We spent New Years eve with a great couple that have their hot tub inside. Some water got sloshed out. If you are thinking about putting it inside, I recommend that you also put in a floor drain so that if any water gets on the floor it doesn't just puddle.

S

Ditto on this. I had not installed one and have had several messes to deal with.

[IndyTraveler]

I am not a contractor (or even qualified to drive a nail in wood) so I will yield to correction by lovinher in case we did anything wrong when we built our room addition with the hot tub. I think we followed most of the guidelines (may have one outlet within 5 ft of the tub), however I will make a couple of other suggestions.

Since we knocked out an existing deck for the room we were above ground level where you entered the room. We made the decision to recess the hot tub into the floor. It really adds to the appearance of the room with a sunken hot tub. The one negative is that even though we planned the area under the room to make servicability easy (e.g. good size entry, extra large cement pad which comes right up to the entry, etc) we are subject to an extra labor charge since they must go under the room.

My wife (much more talented than me) worked with a friend and did an excellent job of doing the interior walls in redwood and staining and sealing them.

Not sure you will get all the steam and condensation during the winter that we do north of you, but we went with an outdoor rated ceiling fan because of the moisture we thought it would be exposed to (and during the winter there is a lot of condensation on it).

One other item that really adds to the room (I love to spend other people's money ), is a fireplace. While my wife wanted a wood burning fireplace, we realized that we would frequently want to get in for a quick dip at night and not want to fool with starting a fire so we went with propane (we do not have natural gas run to the house so that was not a practical option). We were also told that because of the moisture (with chemicals) we should not use a vent free. It's really nice to go out in the evening, turn on the fireplace and relax with a glass of champagne before going to bed.

Tom

[twoingeorgia]

My vote would be outside. Ours is and it's great. We've always been lovers of sex outdoors and a hot tub, though not always used for that reason, just go hand in hand to us! Ours is on our back porch, on a cement slab, accessible from our living room & bedroom and very close by to these two doors which makes it better in cold weather.

We were in it earlier this evening. It was 45* outside, enough to give us a real chill here in the south but we were cozy warm in that tub! I would think it would be more of a chore indoors but i guess if it's situated in the correct room with drains etc it might be quite enjoyable.

I do guarantee that it will be one of the favorite parts of your house whether it's in or out!!

[celtic239]

We had ours outside on the back deck. Just got rid of it after ten years (it got more expensive to repair every year). We got a lot of enjoyment out of it but living in NY made it real expensive to run (electicity is on the expensive side) and it was too cold outside to use during the winter months so we would winterize it.