Reinforced Deck

[Biz]

Was just wondering if anyone had any specifics, on what must be done to reinforce a deck for a hot tub?

Thanks

[cplarsen]

A lot depends on the existing deck of course, but at a minimum, usually you'll need to beef up the beams.

Find somebody who knows what they're doing. It's no fun when your deck falls down.

Especially if you're on it.

[waterboy]

the site was too busy and lost my first post so I will be brief this time. you will as a minimum need to add post and beams near your house and possibly a central beam and posts. Here is a website for post beam and joist design. Your tub will weigh approx 100#/square foot so you will have to reduce spans as some charts are based on 40#/square foot.

http://www.ideas-for-deck-designs.com/deck_beam.html

a local small engineering firm may also look at it for you for around $300.00.

Good luck

PS here is a better link from the same website

http://www.ideas-for-deck-designs.com/deck...d_capacity.html

[kengorman]

Was just wondering if anyone had any specifics, on what must be done to reinforce a deck for a hot tub?

It's hard to give specifics without knowing how your existing deck was designed. Most decks are designed to meet the minimum standards of 10 psf dead load and 40 psf live load. Every variable in deck design (i.e. joist spacing, joist span, size of joists, decking material used, beam size, post size, etc.) influences the loads the deck can handle.

To retrofit an existing deck to support the weight of a hot tub, its occupants, and the water it holds usually requires extensive modification unless it was planned for ahead of time. Consider that a typical hot tub weighs 700 lbs, holds 3500 lbs of water and can hold another 800 lbs of occupants and you can quickly realize how much a deck would have to be reinforced for this additional load. Adding 5000 lbs of weight onto a typical area that is 7'x7' (49 sf) adds 100 psf for a deck that was designed to support a fraction of that weight.

A structural engineer can suggest how to reinforce an existing deck by doubling up the joists, adding additional beams, adding additional posts, and digging additional footers. He can also do the calculations that show that the new reinforced deck will handle the additional weight. In my area, the local permit office won't even give a permit for a hot tub on a deck unless the plans have been stamped by an engineer.

Regards,

Ken

[Hex92]

Was just wondering if anyone had any specifics, on what must be done to reinforce a deck for a hot tub?

Thanks

See my reply to this in my thread....