DIY Decking for hot tub.....

[RyanW8]

Hey all!

I'm planning on building some decking for a hot tub we have as our garden is extremely sloped (yay new builds). We have a Lazy Spa Paris which comes in at just over 1.2 tonnes when filled (without people), so I'm planning on it to support 2 tonnes.

I'm starting the decking out to be just big enough for the hot tub (with a little room side by side), so roughly 3mx3m.

For the posts, I've got 16 4x4s (trying to get more but struggling to find any at a reasonable price) and I'm planning on digging each post hole about 800mm deep with an engineering brick on the bottom and 2 bags of postcrete to secure it in place

For the joists I've got 20 C24 graded 6x2s which I hope should be enough to support the weight (I've read online that quite a few people decide to go with 8x2 or 10x2s however this deck is going to be as close to the ground as possible so I can only fit 6x2s.

My plan is to put 5 posts below where the hot tub is going to be (1 in each corner and one in the centre) with joists running across. I've seen that people quite often use joist hangers for joining the joists to the posts however I'm planning on cutting a dip/rectangle out of each post and let the joists sit on those for further support (is this overkill?).

Would be great to hear peoples opinion!

 

[Captain Nemesis]

Take care not to breach the regs on raised platforms

 

[RyanW8]

Take care not to breach the regs on raised platforms

Shouldnt be breaching any regs, our gardens on a slope so this is going to be as close to the ground as possible to level it out for a hot tub

 

[sxturbo]

You can use 4x2 for joists. Do joist spacing at 400mm.

Also no need to dig the posts so deep.

I'd be tempted to lay a concrete base, this only needs to be a 6 inches deep, a couple of inches of hardcore and 3-4 inches of concrete. Driveways tend not to be much thicker.

This will be easier than digging the amount of posts and how deep your posts are going to be.

You can then mount your decking on top with as many posts and joists as you feel you require.

 

[big-all]

16 makes them a 1m in between [0/1m/2m/3m]
25 brings it down to 750
36 is nearer at 600

 

[RyanW8]

16 makes them a 1m in between [0/1m/2m/3m]
25 brings it down to 750
36 is nearer at 600

Yeah going to try and get some more, but struggling to find any at a reasonable price!