Hot Tub Deck Ideas: Four Ways to Build a Deck Around a Cedar Hot Tub

A hot tub deck does one of three things: it sits beside the tub so you step in from deck height, it wraps the tub so the rim meets the boards, or it swallows the tub so the water sits flush with the surface. Each is a different build, a different cost, and a different life with the tub afterward. Here are the arrangements that work with a round cedar tub, whether wood burning, electric or hybrid, what the deck has to carry, and the small things owners add that make the difference between a tub on a deck and a place people stay.

Start with the number: filled weight

A 5 foot cedar tub weighs 3,200 lbs filled, a 6 foot 5,000 lbs, a 7 foot 7,000 lbs, and 44 or 48 inch deep builds add roughly 1,000 lbs. Over a 60 to 84 inch circle that is a concentrated load far beyond what a standard deck is framed for, and it is the number that decides whether the tub sits on the deck or on the ground beside it. An existing deck usually needs a structural check and often extra posts and beams under the tub; a new deck is framed for it from the start. If you would rather not engineer it, arrangement one below puts the tub on the ground and the deck around it, which is what most owners choose.

Four ways to put a hot tub in a deck

1. Tub on the ground, deck built up to it

The tub sits on its insulated base at grade and the deck is built to meet the rim on one or more sides. The deck carries people, not water. You keep the tub moveable, the equipment steps stay on the ground side, and the deck edge becomes the place to sit and slide in. Most of the built-in look with none of the structural cost, and the arrangement to choose if the tub might ever move.

2. Deck cutout with the tub on its own footing

A raised deck with a circular cutout, the tub standing on a pad or posts below so the rim comes up through the boards at whatever height you want. The deck frame carries none of the water. It needs planning before the deck is built, since the footing, the drain and the plumbing ports on an electric or hybrid all live under the boards.

3. Flush, or sunken

The rim sits at deck level with built-in seating around it. It is the cleanest look and the easiest tub to slide into off the edge, and it has three trade-offs worth knowing before committing. The lids are not designed to be walked on, so a flush tub is a hole in the deck with the lid off, and access means kneeling to get in or stairs from below. A fabric lid's skirt has to tuck between the boards, which a cedar lid avoids. And the lid cannot be locked unless the rim sits a few inches proud. A partially sunk tub, rim four to six inches above the boards, solves the lock and the skirt and keeps most of the look, though the raised edge is less comfortable to sit on.

4. Wraparound surround and steps

Not a deck so much as a platform built around a ground-level tub: cedar decking at seat height on two or three sides, steps up on the fourth, the whole thing sized to the tub. It gives the sit-and-slide-in of a flush install with the lid, the lockability and the access of a tub on the ground, and it is the arrangement we see most at cabins and rentals.

Where the plumbing ports and the drain go, how the equipment on an electric or hybrid can sit under the deck rather than in the cedar steps, and the dimensions a builder will ask for are all in the installation options guide.

What every hot tub deck needs

• Ten feet of clear air above the chimney on a wood fired or hybrid tub, and nothing flammable near it. A pergola or a roof over the deck rules out wood; an electric tub has no chimney and sits under either.
• A drain route. The drain kit stubs out through the side of the tub and takes a garden hose. On a deck, plan where that hose goes before the boards go down, and lead the water downhill and clear of the posts. On a flush install with no access below, the tub is propped four inches on rigid insulation to fit the drain.
• Room to load the fire. Enough clearance on the firebox side to stack and feed wood without brushing the hot fence, and a spot for a week of dry wood within a few steps.
• Insulation under the tub. 3.5 inches of rigid board on any pressure-treated deck, both for heat and as a barrier between the aluminum and the treated wood.
• Somewhere for the lid. A cedar lid wants a rest or a rail beside the tub; a fabric lid wants a clean dry place to fold onto.
• Non-slip boards near the tub. Wet cedar is fine; wet composite is not. Grooved boards or a mat where people step out.

The details owners add

• Steps. Cedar steps 24 wide and 20 deep in two risers, or the equipment steps on an electric or hybrid, which house the heater and filter and double as the way in.
• A drink tray that hangs on the rim, and a small table at deck height for the rest.
• Towel hooks and a rail within reach of the tub, not across the deck.
• The cedar tone. Left alone it silvers to gray in a couple of seasons; stained, it can match the deck or contrast with it. Copper-free stain on the exterior only.
• A privacy screen from cedar slats, lattice or planting on the neighbor side, kept clear of the chimney.
• Low lighting on the steps and the path, not over the water.
• An outdoor shower or a cold plunge beside it, which turns a tub into a routine.
• Somewhere to sit out of the water. The evening does not end when people get out.

In-ground and sunken hot tubs without a deck

The same flush arrangement works in a patio or a lawn: a lined excavation with a compacted gravel base, the tub set in on its insulation, and stone or pavers finished to the rim. Everything said about flush installs applies, plus drainage of the pit itself, which needs a way out for rain and spills so the tub is not standing in water. An aluminum tub can be left empty in a pit through winter; an all-wood tub cannot, which is why sunken installs suit the one and not the other.

Decks at rentals and glamping sites

At a guest property the deck does extra work: it has to make the tub obvious, easy to get into, and hard to get wrong. The wraparound surround with steps is the usual answer, with the firebox side fenced off from the seating side, a laminated card on how to fill and light, and the lid on a rail so it goes back on every time. A host's guide to wood fired hot tubs covers the rest, and the properties at accommodations with an AlumiTub show how it has been done.

For more arrangements owners have built, the gallery at where AlumiTubs live runs from docks to rooftops. Before the deck is designed, how to prepare for arrival covers what the site has to provide, and the dimensions guide has every measurement a builder will ask for. Sizes and heating options are on the cedar hot tubs collection.