Thread: Hot tub height

Shouldn't a hot tub be higher than the floor level? I took the attached photo and it struck me "funny". The cover just sits on the top of the hot tub...no secure attachments.

Don.

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Originally Posted by Don Jackson

Shouldn't a hot tub be higher than the floor level? I took the attached photo and it struck me "funny". The cover just sits on the top of the hot tub...no secure attachments.

Don.

No attached photo

When you say above the floor (the whole tub) or the top of the tub above the floor. I am asuming you are talking the top being level with the floor.

A hot tub constantly filled with water with the top level with the floor is a safety hazard. It would have to have a securable top. With out it just becomes a whole in the floor filled with water such as a pool and then would need a barrier around it with a secured self closing self latching door/gate. I have seen them like that before and it is a drownig hazard without proper safety measures take. Even sitting on the floor constantly filled with water with out a securable child proof top/lid would be a drowning hazard.

Sorry...see attached photo

Don,

I don't see any more concern with the height of the tub than I would with an in ground swimming pool.
.

I agree. Nothing wrong with buring a acrylic spa in the ground as such.

Seen a number of them over the years. Saw one last month.

rick

Nothing wrong with that ... as long as that spa is approved for installation in the ground (some are, some are not).

With the exception that it is an open pool of water and needs protection from your grand babies getting to it . It has to be treated with the same safety concerns as a pool. If the top cannot keep access from a child you have a real safety concern.

I child getting hurt is one child to many, Don't yeah think?????

JP,

I was waiting for you to maybe comment that those windows should be safety glass.

rick

Or that the metal window frames must be bonded?

Or that those windows appear to go to a yard area and not into the house, meaning the child protective barrier is not there?

Or where is the pump, etc., (but that was hidden in my statement that some are, and some are not, approved for in ground use)?

Nah, tried just sticking to the question this time. I try that now and then, never seems to work out that way, though.

Thanks! It is a sun-room attached to the home, but has two sliding glass doors as entry areas. I am recommending that a higher locking mechanism be installed so that small children could not reach, and to have the cover securely fastened (child-proof) to the floor. Another image is attached.

Don.

Originally Posted by Don Jackson

Thanks! It is a sun-room attached to the home, but has two sliding glass doors as entry areas. I am recommending that a higher locking mechanism be installed so that small children could not reach,

Don't forget that applies to those windows too. Those window locks need to be 54" above the floor is there are locks on the exterior side of them, and (this will be the really hard part) those windows will need to self-close after opening ... otherwise the rest of the barrier will be of no use. A way around the window problem is to remove the removable screens which likely came with the sunroom windows and install permanently attached screens over those window openings - that way, even with the windows open the barrier is still intact ... meaning the windows can open and close as desired and remain open as long as desired.

The door latches need to be at 54" above the exterior grade and the sliding glass doors need to be self-closing and self-latching, again, if not, the rest of the barrier is useless. Raising the sliding glass door latches is easy, making them self-closing AND self-latching will be the more difficult part.

That is so they can make the sliding glass doors as child-resistant as possible, technically, being as those doors slide instead of swing outward, they really should not be counted as part of the child protection barrier, but if the sliding glass doors self-closed and self-latched, that would give 'almost the same' protection ... 'not quite', but 'almost the same'.

The biggest difference will be if a child ever drowns or is injured in the spa, then that difference become HUGE, simply because the sliding glass doors are not acceptable for that use - then wrongful death claims and lawsuits start, with the potential for the insurance company to disavow coverage due to that violation.

Jerry

Self closing, self latching windows?????? For that matter a screwed on window stopping device like you would for security where the window cannot be opened more than what, 4 3/8s of an inch, as in stairs. As long as they cannot be readily opened with out some type wrench, screwdriver or such I am sure that wood be fine.

You are right about secure screening though. That would make the most sense.

As Rick said I thought for sure you would stress the safety glass for the slip and fall thing.

Adding to the door thing. Self closing sliding doors would be tough

Originally Posted by Ted Menelly

Self closing, self latching windows?????? For that matter a screwed on window stopping device like you would for security where the window cannot be opened more than what, 4 3/8s of an inch, as in stairs. As long as they cannot be readily opened with out some type wrench, screwdriver or such I am sure that wood be fine.

4 inches would be the maximum allowed opening size. The self-closing comment was to wake people up and think about the windows - I guess it did.

You are right about secure screening though. That would make the most sense.

That is a no brainer, and my first thought (and why go to any other trouble anyway? But that comment about ...

... self-closing windows ... that was a wake up call to think about "open windows" in the barrier. They are still "openings" in the barrier.

Adding to the door thing. Self closing sliding doors would be tough

"Self closing sliding doors would be tough"

Precisely.

Another wake up call about openings in the barrier.

I hate the phrase "thinking outside the box" because that indicates that one is even in a box to start with, as home inspectors we basically have to "stay out of that box" at all times. Sometimes the obvious is hidden the our desire to find the not-so obvious.

Ever walked around a house with those old fashioned awnings? You are looking at everything else and the obvious (the awning) literally smacks you in the head as you walk into it.

Every once in a while we need something like (of course, though, no need to draw blood as doing that awning smacking thing does every time).