Deck Reinforcement For Hot Tub?

[rhild]

I am looking to get a hot tube for my deck. The deck is not even a year old and below are the specs

Size – 30’ x 16’ (30’ attached to house)

Highest point of deck is 5’ off the ground; this is where the hot tub will be.

Two 30’ 2x10 beams held by 6x6’s every 5 feet. (Beams are actually 2 2x10’s nailed, glued, and screwed together)

Beam one is 7 feet from house and beams two is 14 feet from the house.

Decking is 2x6

Joists are 2x8 16oc.

We are looking to put the hot tub away from the house and at the highest point which is only 5 feet off the ground.

What are your thoughts on what I need to do to enforce the area where the hot tube will be?

Thanks in advance!

[hd2000]

I'm no engineer, but your deck is very similar to mine and I've had a tub on mine for 17 years and it hasn't budged a inch in that time. I've had a tub as big as a Sundance Marin on it. My dealer sent inspectors to look at my deck and wiring prior to delivery to insure it was adequate, which it was. I believe the guys that did the inspections were a building contractor and an electrician, but I wouldn't swear to it. I know the electrical guy was a licensed electrician, but I'm not sure about the other guy. You might want to check with whoever you are getting your tub from. They may offer the same service. It didn't cost me anything and my dealer required it. I know when I built the deck, I looked at the building codes and then overbuilt the deck. If code called for 4x4 posts, I used 6x6. If it said 2x8, I used 2x10. If it said max span 16 feet, I spanned no more than 8. That sort of thing. I also used 2x6 decking as you have.

[BillinKingstonSprings]

I would recommend researching deck framing and local building codes before I made any decision. When we installed our tub we did the following. Specifically For the hot tub we installed 6x6 posts outside each corner of my tub to create a deck box 8x8 banded together for the tub to sit on. My entire lower deck is 16x14 built on 6x6 posts, I would never recommend building a deck on 4x4's. To further brace the tub we placed two more vertical 6x6's in concrete then spanned a horizontal 6x6 wedged between the top of the vertical posts and the 2x8 floor joists. We used truss type mesh braces to tie the 6x6's together. It might be overkill but my tub is 10' in the air. The cost of the additional bracing is minimal compared to the damage or injuries the tub would cause if it fell. Also if you ever sell your home you want to be sure the home inspector doesn't find an issue with the decking.