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Hot Tub Patio – Our 2019 Surprise Project

At the beginning of this year I wrote a post outlining our house goals for 2019. It had projects we for sure wanted to finish, along with projects we may or may not get to (you can read that list here). So as soon as Adam and I scratched the RV remodel off that list we started talking about what project we wanted to conquer next.

My suggestion was to finish the laundry room. We started it about a year and a half ago, and it is probably 70% finished. I would love to wrap that up, check another room off the list, and get a room reveal out on the blog. I told Adam my thoughts, and responded with “Nah, I don’t want to do that. That doesn’t excite me at all.” Honestly, thinking about working on the laundry room didn’t excite me either. I want to finish the room, but the idea of working on it doesn’t make me giddy or anything.

Then he said “Let’s get a hot tub.” Now that…that made me excited. We don’t have a tub in our bathroom, and I have been wanting to relax in a hot puddle of water for a few years now. However, we have much more pressing projects…the kitchen is missing cabinets doors and drawers, there are no cabinets or countertops in the bathrooms, and if we don’t get a ceiling fan in the living room before summer hits we are going to seriously regret it. I told Adam all of that, and then he followed up his argument with one of the most logical statements that has even come out of his mouth. He said “Baby, we work too damn hard to not sit in a hot tub and sip whiskey at the end of the day.”

He was right. So right. Forget kitchen cabinets and sinks in the bathroom…no one needs that noise. What we needed was a dang hot tub, like, yesterday.

And so, that it how project hot tub came to be.

So let’s dig into the details of the project. First we needed a place to put the hot tub. Here is what we are working with –

 

open concept farmhouse floorplan

Obviously, we have lots of porches….none of which were right for a hot tub. The back porch was the only logical place to put it, but since it is only eight feet deep a hot tub would take up the entire space and completely block the walkway. We also wanted it to be somewhere fairly private and accessible from the master bedroom. We decided that the best thing to do would be to pour a new porch behind the master bedroom, and connect the current porch to the new porch with a set of stairs, like this….

small hot tub patio plan

This is version number eight…it was originally much more complicated. Luckily we came to our senses and kept it simple.

You know what’s funny, is that when Adam and I were designing our house, I insisted on adding french doors to the bedroom. There really wasn’t a good reason for them and Adam wanted windows instead, which made perfect sense. I fought for them though, and now….well now they make perfect sense. Love it when that happens. Anyway, once we made a plan we immediately got to work. We quite literally have never moved this fast on a project…I guess that’s what happens when you are excited about something (finishing the laundry room would have NEVER moved this quickly).

We quickly decided not to DIY the slab. We’ve done it before and it’s not exactly a fun project, plus it would have taken forever. Time is our most scarce resource these days, so I started calling around for quotes. The first company I contacted gave me a quote of $4,800, and I about sit out my coffee when I saw that number. So I called the guy that sometimes does odd jobs for us….he’s not a concrete guy, but I asked him anyway. He came back with a price of $800, and I said “When can you start?”.

So here is what the area behind the master bedroom looked like before

hot tub porch - before

spa patio - beofre

private hot tub patio - before

Here are the forms going up –

adding a hot tub

hot tub slab

hot tub foundation

And here is what the finished slab looks like!

hot tub patio progress

adding a slab for a hot tub

hot tub patio slab

Anyway, that is where we are at right now. My dad and husband just finished wiring up all the electrical this weekend, and the hot tub should be here on Friday!

 

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14 Comments

  1. Man I am jealous of the hot tub, and the $800 quoted price for a concrete slab! We’ve been waiting years to even get estimates on a concrete slab in our back yard due to the price. I can’t wait to see the finished area!

    1. You should get quotes, you might be surprised! Although (I should have clarified this in the post), the $800 quote was just for labor. We bought the materials which were another $540, so the total slab cost was $1340.

  2. $800? Cement must be cheaper where you are…lol. I just ran across the cement receipt for the patio we poured. We used five yards and it was $650 for just the cement and that was 5-6 years ago. But, I’m in California….land of overpriced everything.

    I’m surprised you didn’t take out that tree at the bottom of the step. Aren’t you afraid of the roots messing up your steps? (A root it what caused my patio project.)

    1. The $800 quote was just for labor…I should have clarified that in the past. The cement was $440 more and gravel and rebar were another $100. So the slab was actually $1340. Still a good deal, but more realistic.

      As for the tree, I did everything I could to avoid taking it out. It perfectly shades the entire seating area on the patio, so I’m willing to make weird steps and risk roots. Fingers crossed it was the right decision!

  3. So excited for you! Well not on the whiskey part – not my bag, baby! But the rest…..

    Stay hydrated- hot tubs can wring you out :)

  4. As a fellow Texan (Houston area), even in the summer, a hot tub sounds good! How awesome that your bedroom doors and plan fit together so well! Work hard, relax hard! Enjoy!

  5. Hilarious and awesome! Yeah, when we get excited about a project we move fast on it too… even if it means we’re not really shark biting some of the partly completed things around here. I guess a mix of grinding along and sprinting toward rewards is good :)

    Totally a fan of egress from the master – you have French doors, we have a bizarre though thankfully secluded exterior door in the master ensuite bathroom. which I thought was SO weird at first but now I love being able to silently escape out the far end of the house/not have to walk through the whole floor plan to get outside.

  6. So exciting! Can’t wait to see it all come together! You and Adam will love it, and my guess is your boys will, too!

  7. *Looking at that blank space behind your bedroom and nodding, thinking “it just makes so much sense.”*

  8. Oh wow, that’s perfect! I was looking at the floor plan and thought that space off the master was the most logical place, but I was worried about the view out the windows. But since it’s down a few steps, I bet the view straight out is unimpeded. Neat how that worked out.

  9. Very very nice I think. I’m using WoodPrix’s plans plans to stuffs like that. All the best to you friend!

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