Paul’s DIY Hot Tub Journey

Paul decided to take the plunge (pun intended!) and build his own hot tub, and I’m excited to share his progress in this blog post.

We opted for one of our standard designs from the buildahottub.com store – these are a great way to save money and still get a fantastic hot tub, especially if you’re handy and want to customize it a bit. You can find links to all the standard designs here

Standard Design

Paul took a standard rectangular design and added some curves to it, making it a bit more unique. He also reduced  the number of jets for a more personal touch. This is a great example of how you can take a pre-made design and personalize it to fit your vision and budget. 

This saves you a whole bunch of money compared to having me do a custom design for you. Not that I want to talk myseld out of business of course!

You can also find me on my socials;

Groundwork

Once the design was finalized, Paul focused on the groundwork. He mapped everything out on a gravel base to ensure a perfect fit. There are two main approaches to building the hot tub seating: some folks excavate a large area and build the seating separately, while others like Paul and myself dig out the contours of the seats directly into the ground. This method saves on concrete and blocks because you can utilize the compacted dirt and gravel under the hot tub for additional support.

After digging out the seat contours, Paul added insulation to create an insulated box that will form the footwell of the hot tub.

The next steps will involve pouring the concrete base for the footwell and then building the interior structure of the hot tub walls, which will house all the plumbing.

June 2024

Major progress has been made! The walls of the hot tub are now fully poured, and Paul even managed to create a cool little lounger area – perfect for soaking and relaxing those muscles after a long day.

We also chatted a bit about the heating system, and Paul’s decided to go with a dual approach: a cozy log burner for a rustic touch, backed up by a reliable electrical Spa Pack for those times when convenience is key.

As any DIYer knows, leaks are a constant worry. To stay ahead of the curve, Paul did a smart move and performed a water test on his plumbing.

Pressure testing can be tricky for DIY hot tub builds, so filling it up and looking for leaks is the next best step. Thankfully, his efforts paid off and everything seems nice and watertight!

Now, here’s where things get a little interesting… Tiling the hot tub interior turned out to be a bit more time-consuming (and maybe a touch frustrating) than Paul anticipated. And let’s just say his daughters were getting pretty darn impatient for a test soak!

They managed to convince their dad to fill it up for a quick dip, even though the tiling wasn’t quite finished. Let’s just call it a well-deserved reward for all his hard work!

Fast forward to today, and the good news keeps rolling in! Paul’s finally finished tiling the hot tub and even got the grouting done. Now comes the hardest part (at least according to Paul): waiting for those tiles to cure before he can fill it up again. The anticipation is definitely building!

Conclusion to Paul in the UK September 2024 

Paul is done with finishing up his hot tub now. He shared a video with me giving an update regarding the project and there are a few key takeaways that he took from the final project.

Tiling

Finishing up the tiles was much trickier than originally thought. This was due to the use of curved surfaces which, while looking beautiful, are tough to tile and you can only use specific tile sizes for them. 

Paul’s recomendation is to avoid curves if you can!

Custom Setup

Using a customised set up according to your needs can make a huge difference. Paul decided to use 6 jets and 4 inlets but more importantly, he has used a wood burning stove for his build. That will help keep the running costs down as he has an abundance of free timber on his property that he can burn.

The Pump Room

Paul set up the pump room in a beautiful way and made it as big as he possibly could which is something I recommend to everyone! However he still claims that it could be bigger. Bigger is always better when it comes to a control room – you just have more space and can get to all the parts to service them a lot easier.

 

Paul’s Hot Tub features two pumps for water one for ciurculation and the second for jets and he plans on installing a solar thermal system in the near future.

 

While purchasing the equipment for the pump room, Paul went with both new and second hand products. However, his savings went out the door when he had to spend extra on the connectors and realised his air blower was not working too – my recomendation is always buy new if you can.

 

Another thing that came up was the use of pipes. Paul used pipes from my store along with that of another provider. He found that given my pipes were 5m in length, it was easier to carry out the installation as compared to using the 1m pipes from the other brand. 

Accessories

Paul also went ahead and added a wood burner and JBL sound system to really set the mood when he likes. This shows just how much flexibility you have when making your own DIY Hot tub set up. 

A Successful Project

Paul hopes to get the hot tub running by the weekend to host his friends. Only the tidying up is required and his unique DIY hot tub will be ready. 

 

This project was a lot of fun and it was a pleasure to work with Paul. Thank you for the video and photos you have supplied during your build Paul – Cheers Andi

 

Can I Help You?

If I can help you in any way I would love to hear from you. You can get in touch using the form below.

Thanks - Andi

 

Hi, Andi here. I own Buildahottub.com and also write all of the articles and info pages on the site. Some years back now, I built my own hot tub but struggled to find the information I needed. So, once my tub was complete, I started this website to help others in their own pursuit of hot tub and plunge pools DIY building information.

Today, I've helped over 1000 DIY customers just like you all over the world build hot tubs and pools. Have a good look around the site, there are lots of resources here. Please do get in touch if I can help you. - Cheers, Andi