Hot Tub Buying Guide

How to level a hot tub

You have recently purchased or ordered a hot tub and want to put it on an existing concrete patio. But you have found that the concrete patio slab is not level it is graded away from your house to allow rain water to run off. This makes sense, but may not be the best situation for your hot tub. Depending on the slope you may need to level out the patio. If it's not that steep a slope, you may be able to tolerate the slight angle. Say it's 8 feet wide and the grading is less than an inch or two, you should be okay. More than that and you will notice and it will likely affect your enjoyment of your tub. So, what are your options for leveling unlevel concrete.

You can, of course, tear out the whole patio slab and repour it making it truly level. This will take time and money how much will depend on if you do the job yourself as a weekend warrior or simply pick up the phone, hire someone and write the check. It is a doable job for a handy homeowner, but digging up concrete is no fun. You can also hire someone to slab jack or mud jack that section. A contractor will drill some holes in the slab, pump in a solution that will raise that section to level . This is cheaper than replacing the slab, but still recommended to hire out.

If the patio is much larger than the hot tub, you can fix that section the hot tub will use by measuring it out, creating a form that fits around the perimeter of the tub and pouring a new concrete slab over the existing one. You want to be sure the exisitng concrete is clean and dry and you will want to scrape it up some so the new concrete will adhere to it. This will create a new level foundation for your tub.

Using wood shims to level out the hot tub is not recommended. The base of the tub needs to be supported fully.

Of course, if you are starting fresh with a new deck, platform or concrete patio, be sure to make it level to start off. A firm, supportive, level base will provide the foundation that your hot tub needs. Then slip on in to that relaxing hot water and enjoy.