Having a hot tub gazebo is a great way of moving your hot tub outdoors. Having a completely ‘open’ outdoor tub is great if you live somewhere that the weather is just about guaranteed to be sunny, warm, and perhaps more importantly dry.
So, if that’s not a fair description of the weather in the area you live in – putting your hot tub in a gazebo is an ideal way to get that real outdoor feeling whilst enjoying your hot tub.
Of course, sitting in your hot tub you’re immersed in soothing and warming hot water, so why might you want it covered over? The simple fact is that cold rain water, or worse snow, falling on you whilst in the hot tub will detract from your enjoyment of it.
Simply having a roof over it, as you would have with it situated in a gazebo, means that you will still enjoy not only the hot tub, but also the view from your garden and the fresh air.
Hot Tub Gazebo Designs
You can, of course, have a hot tub gazebo designed to any specification you want. However, whereas a classical gazebo will be octagonal, hot tub gazebos tend to be squarer in shape. The gazebo could literally just form a canopy over the hot tub or it can be made larger to incorporate a changing area, which leads to the issue of privacy in the hot tub gazebo.
With a changing area it may well be that the gazebo needs to incorporate at least some form of screening, rather than being totally open sided. How much privacy is required will to some extent depend on the proximity of any neighbors.
Screening can be added on a permanent basis simply by adding one or two higher walls to the gazebo, alternatively you could use removable panels that can be added or taken away as required.
Buy vs. Make
You can buy a hot tub gazebo kit that you can construct yourself from various hot tub suppliers and DIY merchants. Alternatively you could design and construct it yourself from material that you buy. Whilst the gazebo can be made with brick or stone uprights, using a timber is more conventional and using red cedar wood is always a great choice.
Not only can you make the frame and any panels from red cedar but you can also use red cedar shingles for the roof. As well as being a timber that won’t rot after a few years the scent given off when the steam from the hot tub mingles with the timbers will be truly heady.
Looking After a Gazebo
Normal use of your hot tub in a cedar wood gazebo will not present any problems to the gazebo structure. However, you should take care to not let any standing water collect around the bottom of the gazebo as this in time will lead to a buildup of mildew on the timber surface. To clean the gazebo, simply use a detergent in warm water, wiping it over with a soft cloth.
You shouldn’t use a pressure cleaner as this could at least exacerbate extractive bleeding. This is when the natural tannins in the cedar wood rise to the surface and can cause dark colored stains, which require an oxalic acid preparation to be removed.
Photos by Adam Jakubiak, Creative Commons Attribution License