Hot tubs are very essential for both warmth, comfort, and healthiness. If you own a spa, you might be wondering whether you need a fence around a hot tub.

Yes, you need a fence around your hot tub. Getting your hot tub fenced is done for several reasons including safety measures and maintenance. Deciding on getting a fence or not depends on the regulations in your local municipality but all the same, you can easily adopt the rules and build up your fence. Fencing your spa makes it safer for use irrespective of time.

There are also some states and municipalities where the rules strictly say you should either cover up or fence up your hot tub, but we’ll be analyzing some points to decide if you need one or not. In a more general notion, it’s advisable to cover up or fence your hot tub up. Either way, let’s proceed.

A hot tub is designed not just for comfort and relaxation but for health as it comes with a spa and this goes a long way to relax the body after a hard day job. Again, with its combination of hydrotherapy jets and heats, hot tubs increase blood flow, reduces inflammation, and enhances relaxation thus making it a must-have in homes that can afford one.

Again, when using a hot tub, safety is of utmost importance and this is one of the few reasons that most state laws ensure that they are either covered or fenced.

In some cases, local codes or laws allow or prefer hot tub covers to fences. In other to reach the requirements, always do well to check out your local building planning office to know what’s what and which is which. Again while building it up, ensure you get the necessary permit to go on with your project. Also make sure you legally cross your ‘T’s and dot your ‘I’s so that when an accident happens, your liability wouldn’t be limited.

Fencing your hot tub

There are several reasons for fencing or trying to fence up your hot tub; it could be to scare away intruders or to keep your children away from it. It could also be to keep your pets away. The thing is, hot tubs are very good for the health and therefore require special care and attention. We analyzed how to care for your hot tub in the article linked here, but for now, let’s focus on getting you familiarized with the fencing of your hot tub.

Children are quite curious enough to crawl into the spa. Cats and dogs might decide to carry out their dog chase and also, some intruders or strangers might decide to intrude to get some rest. Hot tubs are quite expensive to run and maintain. Nevertheless, there are things to consider when setting up a fence for your hot tub.

The following are some considerations to come to mind before building up your fence.

Set up a fence for protection

There is something invisible or rather unexplained that triggers or arouses the interests of children. They tend to be more curious than the old folks out there. So, they are majorly the victims of spa drowning. The kids aged from 1-3 suffers either injury or death as a result of carelessness and open hot tubs. Since you have both kids and a pool or hot tub in your home, the best prevention is to either cover it up or fence it.

Also, while planning to fence your hot tub, you should find a good and experienced electrician to do all the wiring in your hot tub. This is to avoid wrong connections and possible accidents in the future. Another aspect is to exercise good hygiene, this can make your spa a beautiful and comfortable one and help to get rid of germs and litters in the environment.

State or Location

Like I stated earlier, many states and municipalities have laws on hot tubs and pools to prevent many things like injury and death. This is to say that you need to know the state codes and laws in other not to provoke it. There is a specific height of fences in some States. When considering a wall, it should be over 4ft tall so it would not be easily scaled through by your kids or having your pets jump over.

Choice

Actually, you are the one to do the decision as to either build up a fence around your built-in hot tub or on-ground tub. You decide because you know what’s good for you and you also need to know the cost of maintenance, the chemicals, and tools, when to change the water, and the soluble applications accompanying it. Maybe your children are all grown up and can swim or maybe you simply don’t want to. So it all resides in your own decision.

Safety Measures

Since you want to enjoy yourself while relaxing, you also need to consider the measures of keeping your comforter comfortable also. Because you don’t want accidents in your home which happens to children oftentimes, you may also want to keep unwanted bathers out. This is because you don’t need to let just everyone into your tub for a bath. There are some safety measures you may like to choose, they might be any of these:

Wall – Building a wall around your hot tub will state the message clear to the others that you don’t want trespassers.
Gate – You probably need some barricades for your tub. The key would be locked and you’re the one to give out your key to trusted persons.
Fence – This is the best of all three, it creates a good message and also prevents more injuries and or more serious dangers.
Hot tub Covers – While considering building your hot tub, the safety measure should also be applied. Either of these measures should be applied. While opting for the hot tub cover, you need to get one with a strap to lock it up against unwanted people. Also, the hot tub cover requires special attention when it comes to washing and maintaining it. We discussed that in this article about the hot tub cover getting waterlogged.

Securing your hot tub

Many states have different rules or codes for the installation of pools or hot tubs. These rules are for safety measures and comfortability. For you to install a hot tub, you need to follow the guidelines. Some of these guidelines are:

Building or zoning permit – This allows you to do the installation of your hot tub which could be over 24″ deep. This is the permit that allows for the proper enclosure and the best location for your hot tub. You do not want to build your hot tub carelessly. You need first of all to check the location so it doesn’t reach the buried electrical wires or close to the septic tank.
Self-barrier spa – Some directions state that you can use your spa of 48″ as its barrier. You can either use a ladder or steps for this type of hot tub. Using the ladder means that you have to secure it away permanently, maybe by keeping it at a safe distance or a locker room as long as it is not in use. You can also chain it up and use a padlock for it.
Tall fencing – You can build up your fence or barriers with the speculation of the law. Some laws require that your fence must be up to 48 inches tall before you can build it up. This is because you don’t want unnecessary accidents occurring in your home and sometimes death. Laws concerning hot tubs came as a result of the deaths of infants by drowning in these tubs. So this is for your benefit as the occupant of your home.

Why you need a fence around a hot tub

Setting up a safety barrier for your hot tub might be stressful and time-consuming but the warmth and comfort are worth it. Therefore, some benefits come with all the stress that you got yourself into, some of which are:

Warmth and comfort – Before thinking of building a hot tub and probably fencing it, comfort is always in the mind. And after the stress, there is one thing you’ve been craving for which you’d get inevitably, that is your warmth and relaxation. This is the relaxation of your muscles and bones after a long day at work and probably a stressful day.
Privacy – This is another important aspect of building a fence around your hot tub. You don’t want prying eyes around your spa for any reason. You need to enjoy your privacy and curtail the eyes of nosy neighbors. You also don’t want them to tell the color of your underwear.
Safety – Fence construction around your hot tub is also a barricade to the younger ones who are like curious cats. You probably don’t want to hear them let out a shrieking scream from the kitchen. Neither do you want them stuck in the spa or find them injured or worse, drowned. Therefore, you need a safety barrier to pass a message across to these curious beings.
Unwanted bathers – Again, you set up your fence around your spa because you don’t want an outsider or even an insider to intrude. Some maintenance issues occur as a result of poor care and management of the hot tub. So the fence or cover is set up to prevent this.
Health – People have varying reasons they set up their safety barriers for. As people want to prevent their children and pets from getting close to it, others set it up because of hygiene and water management. It helps to maintain the water and also keep it clean from litter and other things.

Some important hot tub fencing facts you should know

There are some considerable facts to put in place when thinking about whether to put up a fence in your hot tub.

Are Hot tub fence laws the same for in-ground vs above-ground hot tubs In all the states?

Like I said that laws are guiding the pools and hot tubs. These laws may vary for in-ground and above-ground hot tubs. In-ground spas are usually connected beside an in-ground pool and it can also be called a spool. The fence laws governing built-in or in-ground spas and above-ground hot tubs are pretty much the same. They are only different from one state or municipality to another.

Do spa pools have to be fenced?

This is a question people tend to ask many times because pools that have spas beside them are different from built-in spas. To clear the air, spa pools that are up to 760mm need no fence, also you can desire to install a barrier if the code in your municipality says you should go ahead.

Do hot tub fence laws vary between states in the same country?

Hot tub laws can vary from state to state, this equally covers the fencing and location of these tubs or spas. So in tandem with the above question, it does vary from state to state and from local municipality to another.

Why do you need a fence?

The reason behind fencing is very clear. It is to restrict access to people and children. It’s mainly built to reduce the activities of the children around it and also to have a very healthy bath when you return from work and is craving relaxation and comfort. Children (very inquisitive beings) tend to get injured or worse; drowned when they get to an open spa. This also has contributed immensely to the many laws in different states stating the same thing.

Conclusion

It is not just enough to have a hot tub what is equally important is privacy and safety. Hence, it becomes important that you fence or cover your hot tub once you have one.

This ensures that your inquisitive kids don’t get to play in the hot tub without your supervision. Again, there are several reasons for fencing or trying to fence up your hot tub, it could be to scare away intruders or to keep your children away from it. It can also be to keep your pets away.

Do You Need A Fence Around A Hot Tub?