HOT TUBS in gardens.....

[SubtitlesOn]

Does anyone have one in their garden?

How much do you use it?

Is it all year?

How easy was it to prepare the ground works for it?

Is it inside a building like a summer house type of thing?

Or completely in the open?

Do you have friends/family that come round to use it with you?

Are they a nuisance or easy to keep clean?

How many people go in at a time?

Please could you link to a website, if possible, to show which one you have?

I don't fancy it myself. I bet you would use it much less than you think. Like a swimming pool!

Mmmmm chemicals.

Does anyone have a blow up version they would recommend?

Chlamydia soup? Don’t be daft.

And less chemicals than you need for a swimming pool. Nobody bats an eyelid at swimming in a public pool but for some reason the idea of having a spa in your garden used by your family as opposed to half the town makes people shudder.

I don’t get the hate. Don’t want one? Don’t get one. But don’t get all sneery at those of us that do have one please.

Ive toyed with the idea as we have a spot on the patio on which one would be perfect but we are unsure how much we would use it in the rainy north.

You're quite right Sidge. In future I will keep my grossed-out-ness to myself and indeed refrain from buying hot tubs. As you were.

Mind you don’t accidentally put one in your trolley at B&Q Itwill 😁

You guys are amazing

So much information, thank you so much

We are not going to be selling our house for ages so it doesn't really matter what appeals to buyers - thank goodness

The one thing for certain is that we need to do loads more research

Also, we would like it to be half in the ground and half out - so that we could get in and out easily due to. Mobility issues

Talk to showroom staff about the half in the ground thing, I think there needs to be access to one of the sides for servicing.

I think people enjoy being sneery . Their loss! Had ours since December highlights:

Glass of wine early evening Fridays with DH
Gales of laughter as DD2 friends (9) spend hours playing in it
Tweenage cool as DD1 friends (11) enjoy it
Rolling in snow then jumping in and out of it
Christmas morning champagne in it with my parents
Sunday mornings in it with the paper

Totally recommend!

We have one. It's a 6 seater. It's under a covered veranda. We have a tv there too and watch films and sports from there.

We don't have it on all the time but we do use it as a plunge pool in summer.

In winter and between seasons we only use it when we feel like it and when we have people over to stay.

We didn't need to do anything to prepare for ours and I have known people take theirs with them when they moved!

I love being in there when it's cold and there's a stom and then sitting in front of the fire in a big fluffy dressing gown with a hot chocolate after.

There's no frolicking in ours. Tried it. Didn't really work for me.

We've had ours 6 years now and its come with us for 2 house moves so no need to worry about putting people off!
Ours is out in the open as like many we like star gazing.
Usage really varies, some weeks in every day then we can go 2 weeks without using. Ours takes 24 hours to get to temperature so once it's there it's cheaper to leave it hot and rely on the insultation than trying to warm up water everytime you use it. We've seen wood burning ones which whilst they look pretty and romantic don't seem practical to me for impromptu use.

Resale value they are worth very little - you can buy them now for half what we paid so a second hand one is worth really very little, we're looking at adding resistance pool but wouldn't bother getting rid of our hot tub and getting an integrated one as it just isn't worth it financially so we'll have them both running.

We've always put ours on a patio and had an electrician in to put a breaker outside, usually costs around £300, very few hot tub places we're willing to do this and it needed to be there in advance of the hot tub.
In terms of drainage we use a pump with hose and put it down the drain as I don't want chemicals on the grass/plants.

The last day week before we drain the kids go nuts, water fights etc jumping in and out with all their mates, then the last day we let the dogs have a go...probably makes cleaning out the filters and bit more time consuming but who cares if everyone is having fun.

Finally - I personally wouldn't bother with stereos in them, my SIL broke quite quickly and you need it pretty loud to hear over the water. Depending on how close your neighbours are it can be annoying to them to have the music on

Oh one more thing, ours came with a 5 year warranty. The pump broke after 4 years and the hot tub company claimed because we moved house and the removal men moved it, not them the warranty was void. Luckily it was on finance, so I made a claim via Barclays "goods and services bought with credit section 75" and they very quickly forced the hot tub company to reconsider and fix the tub under warranty as no-where in their t&cs did it say we couldn't move house or had to use them to move it. If there is a finance option (ours was very low %) then I would certainly use it as they are blummin expensive to fix if they go wrong and gives you added protection

Yes and no need to worry about snooty house buyers - ours is a transportable one and we will be taking it with us if we ever moved (which we don't intend to as in forever house)