For those with Hot tubs....... (and handymen/women)

For tub owners: Do you winterize your tub?????
For handypersons: any suggestions to down below????

We are debating on it this year.... It's either winterize it or build an enclosure for it.

Here is where our hottub is:



(pic was the day we lifted it up there, fun stuff....suffice to say, if we ever sell the house, the tub is staying LOL....anyways, of course, there's a railing now)

It is right off our bedroom

Last yr come winter time, we ended up putting some plastic up.... which helped and got it so we could use the tub from time to time, but then we got some wind which stretched out the plastic and eventually ripped it.

So I can count on 2 hands how many times we used it last winter.

This yr it is either close it down for the winter OR build something along the 2 sides (the other two are against the house and we do have a roof over the tub).

Ideas we've toyed with:

louvers: Home Depot sells these, they use fenceboards and make "shutters". Looks nice, but it is expensive. Positives: can be used all yr round (open or close them as needed), look nice. Negatives: louvers are pricey, wood is pricey...

Plastic/Lexan: Make frames and have "portable" pieces that we screw up in the fall, and take down in the spring. Could possibly leave some of em up, but not all. The side on the left, we have no prob covering permanently....but the one facing out we like to leave open for a view. Again, price is an issue.

and other suggestions? Plastic is a no. I live in Canada, winters are NOT kind. The wind stretches the plastic (doesn't matter how thick it is, or how supported it is), the ice will rip the plastic, etc. We don't want it ugly, but it doesn't have to be beautiful either.

Thanks for any suggestions.

We have an outdoor hot tub (LOVE IT especially when it snows)...we leave it running year round. We built a patio right next to our porch and built a 6ft privacy fence around it. in the summer we keep it at 95, and in the winter i like it at 100-102...with the fencing around it we don't get much wind in the winter, and we use it almost everyday (I have very bad knees) ,, I see you have railings on one side could you possibly build the railings around the whole porch (since the hot tub is staying..LOL) and then get shorter "shutters" between the roof and the railing?

Originally Posted by gfygrl71

We have an outdoor hot tub (LOVE IT especially when it snows)...we leave it running year round. We built a patio right next to our porch and built a 6ft privacy fence around it. in the summer we keep it at 95, and in the winter i like it at 100-102...with the fencing around it we don't get much wind in the winter, and we use it almost everyday (I have very bad knees) ,, I see you have railings on one side could you possibly build the railings around the whole porch (since the hot tub is staying..LOL) and then get shorter "shutters" between the roof and the railing?

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Keep in mind, this is up high, so the wind is a little harsher up there. There's not a lot of natural windbreaks around due to our neighbourhood being new, and we are one of 3 2-storey houses on the street so we're higher than the majority of the houses. (the wind tends to swirl up there)

We do have railings on both sides, the pic was taken the day we lifted it up (had to remove railing to do so). Railings are ummmmm min. 36" tall, but if I recall correctly we put in 42" ones on the 2 sides.

I did mention louvers ( shutter type ) in my first post as an option, but am searching for a cheaper way.

I love my tub, but..... its not worth the hydro if we're only using it 1-2x mos during the winter. I physically cannot handle the cold wind even when the tub is only 3ft from my bedroom door Joys of chronic pain issues.

My handy man is sleeping currently but Ill be sure to ask him about what he would do and my opinion whether its smart or not I couldnt tell ya..LOL..BUT what I would do is if you already have the railing set up Id get wood or plastic paneling sheets *like the 70's type home decor lol* and put that up for it so its like a wall around the porch I know theres a way to do it where you could remove the walls for the winter but as I said handy man is sleeping and he knows something about everything lol..Ill have to get back to you later about that one but atleast you have my corny idea now! LOL

Originally Posted by 3CatsN1Dog

..... but as I said handy man is sleeping and he knows something about everything lol..Ill have to get back to you later about that one but atleast you have my corny idea now! LOL

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cool, thx. We're just checking to see if there's something cheaper that we haven't thought of yet.

so any ideas, even if corny, would be great

LOL Handyman woke up and I made him read this thread (even tho he thinks we are all crazy cat people) and I told him about my idea about the panel sheets and he said for cheap and something for a quick fix for winter its a good idea because if you just screw them in you can take them back down for the summer and the sheets are so big you probably need only three per side and can use them as wind blockers

I think shutters would add more value to your house long term

You could always try the Salvation Army Stores (Re-Stores) they sell used reno supplies, you can usually find some steals there as long as you don't mind doing a little extra work .

Your hot tub is no more exposed than any of them around here are, and Sask gets a LOT colder and is far windier than Ont. Cousin has some kind of insulation kit and top from the manufacturer, same applies to friends that have hot tubs, and they all use the tub in winter.......even in some fairly nasty storms. Now, all these hot tubs are on the east side of the houses because prevailing winds are westerly but there are enough NE winds that if anything was going to happen to the tubs, it would. The winter kits must be pretty effective

What you CAN do on your railing is add removable panels of something light weight - Lexan, those fibreglass panels for carportand deck roofs, garden lattice w/heavy plastic inside.......lots of options. I would go for lattice and then plastic in winter and remove the plastic in spring so you have privacy AND airflow.

Originally Posted by sk_pacer

Your hot tub is no more exposed than any of them around here are, and Sask gets a LOT colder and is far windier than Ont. Cousin has some kind of insulation kit and top from the manufacturer, same applies to friends that have hot tubs, and they all use the tub in winter.......even in some fairly nasty storms. Now, all these hot tubs are on the east side of the houses because prevailing winds are westerly but there are enough NE winds that if anything was going to happen to the tubs, it would. The winter kits must be pretty effective

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Thats great if you don't have debilitating chronic pain issues that make you sensitive to the cold.

We have no issues with keeping the tub temps up... The issue lays with us being able to use it thru the winter.

What you CAN do on your railing is add removable panels of something light weight - Lexan, those fibreglass panels for carportand deck roofs, garden lattice w/heavy plastic inside.......lots of options. I would go for lattice and then plastic in winter and remove the plastic in spring so you have privacy AND airflow.

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I am looking for suggestions for the open space, not the railing. I can easily insulate the railing.

As I've already posted, we've thought of Lexan/acrylic and louvers/shutters. Plastic is NOT an option, we tried it last yr.

We're not looking to spend a fortune, just a cheap fix for this yr. But not something ugly either We are not concerned re: privacy (added bonus of being higher up than most of the other houses, and the way we did our railing).

We'll have to check out and price the panel sheets 3Cats1Dog has suggested and go from there...... eventually we WILL be doing the louvered shutter type, but right now we are not able to spend that kind of money.



Thanks for the suggestions folks

I hope it all works out for you..Bf is amazing at those quick cheap fixes..If we were closer Id let you borrow him to help with the work!! The idiots who redid the wiring in our house before us put our dryer stove and living room all on one breaker and before we found this out we ended up blowin up our brand spanking new dryer..Thankfully BF figured out the problem before the new dryer came in and for about 60 bucks total completely rewired everything and got them all on seperate breakers! No more problems...He also basically insulated and redid his garage for working and fixed the oil heater (leaked oil all over the hallway carpet that nooone fixed) and the wood stove (chimney started coming unattached from the house) and since then the house has been amazing pretty good for a trailer from the 60s...Maybe Ill UPS him up to you LOL!

Originally Posted by 3CatsN1Dog

I hope it all works out for you..Bf is amazing at those quick cheap fixes..If we were closer Id let you borrow him to help with the work!! The idiots who redid the wiring in our house before us put our dryer stove and living room all on one breaker and before we found this out we ended up blowin up our brand spanking new dryer..Thankfully BF figured out the problem before the new dryer came in and for about 60 bucks total completely rewired everything and got them all on seperate breakers! No more problems...He also basically insulated and redid his garage for working and fixed the oil heater (leaked oil all over the hallway carpet that nooone fixed) and the wood stove (chimney started coming unattached from the house) and since then the house has been amazing pretty good for a trailer from the 60s...Maybe Ill UPS him up to you LOL!

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LOL, thx we're pretty good at doing it ourselves (we did the electrical, some plumbing, some gas work, built the deck, etc. when we built our house, and are qualified to do most trades aside from bricklaying, tho we're gonna try when we build our shed ).

We're just not good at CHEAP fixes LOL.....

In this case, our longterm plans are the louvered shutters.....but at present, its a $$$ and time issue with DH working out of town right now, cheap and easy OR we winterize the tub..... Last yr definately was NOT worth the amount we spent in hydro vs how much we used it....

really, I don't know. Saving some $$$ would be great right now, so we may just winterize it...... who knows.

But all the suggestions are great. Thx again.

The Restore here usually has thost things in some quantity, especially those fibreglass panels. they are light, and allow light through. I only suggested lattice because it is cheap, and would make a base to attach construction plastic to.

I do have chronic pain issues but it doesnt seem to matter what the weather is, pain is bad all the time. Worst time was when I spent a few weeks at Flamboro Downs...thought I was gonna rust up permanently from the humidity