What the heck can a person do with an old use-less hot tub? Or for better words what can your dog use it for?

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A bath, a swim hole, or how about a dog house! Just turn the hot tub upside down and you would be amazed at how much space is in side. Plus there is a very nice section to visualize a waterfall. 

To start there are a few things you will need; lumber, screws (instead of nails), paint, small roller, paint pan, an old hot tub, hammer, staple gun, electric drill, roofing fascia, tin snips, circular saw with a masonry and wood blade, level, L shaped metal measuring square,  concrete sidewalk blocks, insulation, 2x6s, 2x4s, plastic, saw horses, and a helping hand.

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This was an old brown oxidized tub. We painted the inside white  to bring some light into it and to prevent mold build up. A perfect paint job is not required but feel free to paint as much as you like. An acrylic  paint primer is what we had left from another job so we used that up as well as for a  few other acrylic top coat paints. so far nothing has flaked off. There is also no pluming left on the tub.

Location is very important. If at all possible having a dry entrance to the dog house would be ideal.  

The foundation is made of concrete blocks,  strategically positioned by this well trimmed pine tree. Also take into account and allow for a bit of a slant on the house to allow for drainage.

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 Building the floor of the hot tub is what will take some planning. Try building a shape that is the same  shape as the hot tub. In this case a octagon (8 sides). Using 2x6s  measure, cut, the outside perimeter and screw the ends together. Lay some plastic of any kind on top of that, then some plywood of  what ever grade you like. We used 3/8ths D grade.

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This used 2 sheets of ply wood. The electric drill and saw horses sure came in handy. The floor is now ready for paint, this is also very important to prevent slivers. 

A dog with a sliver in its foot is no laughing mater, especially if it gets infected (more vet bills). We paid over $300.00 to get our dogs foot looked at and fixed up. Once the infection takes over they had to cut the bad part out. Its funny we never noticed the dog limping or nothing he just licked his foot allot. We got curious and took a good look threw those furry toes. We found some raw flesh and off to the Vet we went.  Not to worry Elmo got to keep all his toes.

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Try and get an extra hand because now you need to flip the floor over and put in the insulation and center supports 

Using 2x4s add in some center supports. This will make it easy for the insulation to stay in place as well as give the floor some strength. Hot Tubs are heavy and even more heavy once its decorated to look like a natural hill, or have a decretive concrete covering. We're still not exactly sure how the waterfall part will turn out?

 We will keep this page up dated for anyone how is curious. 

Cover the insulation with some more plastic, let the plastic hang off the edges. and don't staple the center area. We are almost done. 

Since this will also be a water fall at some point.   Keeping the floor of the dog house as dry as possible is the key.  So inside of the hot tub/dog house was fitted with a protected light bulb. The front of the dog house will have some plastic flaps on it for a more igloo effect. stay tuned for more photos. 

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For the winter we installed this light bulb with a protected cover. Elmo's back just touches the bottom piece of metal when he gets up. Pepsi the smaller dog loves the heat so her basket fits just right to give her some heat on a cold winters day.

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 There was left over fascia board left over from a roofing job so it fit perfect around the edge for a perfect seal. Some tin snips, a staple gun, and a hammer made the job easy. The insulated side will go closest to the ground. After looking around we found that the utility trailer was at the right height for the two of us to gently slide the floor onto. This worked great we easily rolled it by hand to its location.

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Once you are in the right spot try resting one side of the floor on the ground and gently tip it over  it into its spot, carefully trying not to rip the plastic.

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Once in place we trimmed off the plastic and took another good look at the location to make sure this was a good place not just for us but for Elmo too. The dogs Elmo and little Pepsi enjoy watching the front of the house and  us in the back. This location serves well for all purposes. 

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The inside of this structure is very large. To utilize the heat of the bulb we made this wooden entrance with plastic strips in the front. We would remove these in the summer. Keeping the inside from freezing will also help Elmo's water from freezing. The water is kept on the inside just to the right, its kept in a small coalmen cooler. 

This article was created by Wantin.com