Putting Hot Tub in basement garage, suggestions?

[robmorin]

Hello all , my first post here, so please be gentle... lol

My wife and I want to buy this hot tub that is on sale at Costco, it's a 5 person hot tub, looks nice comes with nice options and its $3k off regular price. I have till Oct 18th to buy it before deal goes away.

So I want to place it in my indoor garage(in the basement), which is heated with forced air, like the rest of the house. This would be a temp measure until we get my wife's mom's house in about 5 years.

The hot tub is 7'x7'x36" my garage, which fits a standard size car is about 10 feet wide and about 22 feet long. The floor is concrete, with a drain in the middle and water supply very close by.

I wanted to remove current garage junk in there...lol and then paint all walls with bathroom paint(normally mildew and mold resistant) then for the floor i was going to put something like a floating deck so that its easier on the feet than just the current painted cement floor, plus i figure it might help keep the splashed water from stagnating and would dry easier than the cement floor would and might help with eliminating some extra moisture or humidity form the air, i would also line one of the walls with cedar as to help with humidity capturing and looks rather than cement wall...

Now to help with humidity can i place a de humidifier in the room and if i install an exhaust fan that would exhaust air into an upward vent out my roof help?

Any suggestions welcome..

Thanks and have a great day!

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

Sounds like a bad idea to me. If the garage  is heated with forced air, every time it turns on, forcing air into the garage, air from the garage is forced back into the house to the cold air return. This air will not only be very humid, but will also probably have off-gassing from any chemicals or ozone used in the spa.

" i would also line one of the walls with cedar as to help with humidity capturing". Oh, so you'd create a trap for producing mold and mildew!

[Tman122]

There is likely a cold return for your furnace/ac in your garage right? If so if you block it, it will throw off the balance of the entire HVAC system. So have that looked at by a pro. A dehumidifier built into your systems cold air return would be the best for ventilation. But you could still get a chlorine smell inside. Of course you need an exhaust fan for times when the tub cover is off. Maybe closing the return and using an exhaust fan during 1 hr. use will be fine? But if it's not, be prepared to change it. And possibly repair damage from moisture if you don't monitor it closely.

I wouldn't spend a lot of money setting up a bargain/clearance/warehouse store type hot tub. Specially if your moving in 5 years. There won't be much life left in that tub in 5 years and I hear they have very little hydrotherapy value, plus it will likely be tons nosier than a better quality tub. If you buy one of those first you will never buy a quiet/energy efficient/hydrotherapy machine that you would enjoy for 15-20 years. Because you'll think they all function and feel like your first.

Please do a small amount of research if you can.

Or maybe the Costco option is for you? Telling us it's 3K off of regular price really tells us nothing. Generally the offerings at Costco are value line and below, less durable than the top manufacturers middle of the road or high end offerings? Have you checked the local dealers? How much are you looking to spend? There are decent 10-15 year tubs out there that are very affordable and may not be much more money with a local dealer backing it and helping you. Yes you have us. But a guy down the road might be better?

Doc's mean but he tells the truth.