When it comes time to buy a hot tub, we often hear the question, “How much hot tub do I need?” It’s an absolutely legitimate question. You don’t want to end up with something that’s too small for you, your family and your friends, but you also don’t want to end up running a hot tub that’s not getting used to its full potential. Because hot tubs these days can range from two-seaters all the way up to twelve seaters and beyond there’s a lot of choices available on the market. To help narrow things down we’ve come up with a list of things you might want to keep in mind when deciding on an appropriate sized hot tub for you.
Who Will Be Using It?
The needs of a childless couple will be much different than a five-person family who have close relatives living on the same block. That said, you should also take into account how your family’s scheduling works, people’s personal preferences (i.e. those who don’t like hot weather will be unlikely to be using the hot tub over the summer) and wherein their life cycle each person resides. For example, if your kids are about to leave for university, you’ll have different needs than if your kids are just learning to swim.
How Often Do You Entertain?
We’ve found that people typically overestimate how often they actually have people over to use their hot tub. Everyone likes to think they have a lot of friends who will come over to use the hot tub, but the reality is that if you’re doing it more than a few times a year, you’re an exceptional case. Unless you’re absolutely sure you’ll have guests over all the time, you might easily be able to get away with having enough room to seat your own family. When guests do come over it’s easy enough to take shifts when it comes to soaking time.
Seating Versus People
Just because a hot tub says it seats six people doesn’t mean it will actually do so comfortably. This comes down more to the area of the footwell than it does the space for the seats. There will actually be six seats in a six-seater hot tub, but you may find that your feet and legs are all tangled up together. It may not be the most comfortable situation, especially if you don’t know each other very well. The way to make sure how many people the hot tub seats comfortably is to test it out in person. Pay particular attention to the footwell.
Loungers
Loungers allow you to lay down while completely immersed in the water and having your entire body massaged by the water jets. But although the lounger may be comfortable for one person it may come at the cost of the others using the tub at the same time. Loungers take up a lot of space, especially when it comes to the footwell. Once again, try out the potential hot tub before you buy it to make sure it will suit the needs of everyone involved.
Installation Space
Making sure you have enough room to install your new hot tub is just as, if not more, important than how well it seats your family. After all, it doesn’t matter how comfortable the seating is if you can’t actually fit it into the space you have allocated for it. It may sound funny, but there are more than a few horror stories of people who have had to store their hot tub on their driveway while they made emergency renovations to allow it to fit where they wanted it. Take heed and don’t be one of them! Measure and measure again to ensure you have enough room.
To find out more about different sizes and styles of hot tubs, download a hot tub buyer’s guide below here, or visit us at our London hot tub store.