Water – Will the existing deck support the weight of a new hot tub

hot-tubjoistssupportwater

I have a hot tub on my deck. I'm ready to fill it but now wondering about the weight on it. The deck is 10' wide with 2×8 joists on 16"centers. The tub is 7' x 7'. When filled with water and people it will weigh about 6000lbs.

I know it's not strong enough. I was thinking about sandwiching each joist with two 2x8s then installing a header under each end. I would like to keep it open underneath.

Best Answer

Double 2x8's spanning 10' @ 16" O.C. can barely support 160 PSF (safely) if they are douglas fir and the spa is centered on the joist. 150 PSF over ~50 Sq. Ft. would be about 7,500 lb.

As for your end beams, (3) 2x10's spanning 7' would support the weight of the joist ends with a 1.5 sq. ft. footing on each end of the beams; 4 total.

Just to stiffen things up, I would add (2) 2x8s between the existing joist evenly spaced ~5" O.C or so to help support the deck boards. With the beams and the footings, this would give plenty of support to the SPA.