Sharing all our tips & tricks for the best way to try moving a hot tub by yourself or with a friend either a short distance of a few feet or a long distance across your backyard without breaking your back or hurting yourself!
We moved our 700 lb hot tub away from the center of our patio! Our easy system for how to move a hot tub on PVC can be done on grass, brick, stone, dirt, gravel, & asphalt.
Believe it or not moving a hot tub with only two people is not as hard as you might think!
And… this system for moving a hot tub worked so well that we were able to move our large custom built chicken coop across our yard & cast iron bathtub the same way!
Table of Contents
Moving a Hot Tub with just 2 People
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How to Move a Hot Tub a Short or Long Distance
Although we love our hot tub, I have no idea why the previous owners decided to place it where they did.
With the deck down & the timber retaining wall built we knew it was finally time to start moving a hot tub to a new location.
We only had to move our hot tub a few feet (about 4 feet back & then about 10 feet & up 6 inches to it’s cutout on the side of our patio).
The approach & method we took for moving a hot tub is the same whether you are going a short distance of a few feet to a long distance of a hundred feet.
You just need to continue adding PVC pipes under your hot tub for as far a distance you want to go. (step by step instructions for how to move a hot tub below)
Cost of Moving a Hot Tub
I am not going to lie, the idea of moving our hot tub seemed overwhelming. After researching the cost of moving a hot tub I had been quoted everything from $500 plus!
Definitely not in our budget.
Moving a Hot Tub by Yourself
Jason started researching how to move a hot tub by yourself to see if we could do it with just 2 people…
Now, you have to understand, I just wanted to call everyone we knew and have them come help us move it.
Nope, my husband, the man who likes to do everything himself… started getting the idea that he could probably move it on his own with the help of his assistant (that would be me) & maybe a few kids.
He convinced me he needed to test his plan of moving a hot tub, even if he was going to have a bunch of guys over to make sure nobody would get hurt.
There are definitely some interesting moving a hot tub videos online 🙂 but common ideas we found are (that doesn’t require 10 guys picking it up) is to roll it on some sort of pipe (steel, PVC, etc).
And once the PVC is under the hot tub you can even try moving a hot tub by yourself!!!
Supplies & Tools Needed for Moving a Hot Tub
- A Hot Tub
- 2 People
- A Hand Cart or Furniture Dolly
- (5) 10 ft long 1.5″ PVC Pipe
- (3) 2 by 6 wood boards if moving a hot tub on an incline
*If you are only moving your hot tub on a flat surface for a short distance, you probably won’t need the power pull or straps & can move a hot tub by yourself. The PVC pipes & arm strength might be ALL you need. It really depends on your terrain.*
Step by Step Instructions for Moving a Hot Tub
Step ONE – Gather your Supplies for Moving a Hot Tub
Pick up Your Supplies. Jason went to Lowe’s and picked up 5 10′ sections of 1.5″ pvc pipe.
Step TWO – Moving a Spa Hot Tub with PVC Pipe & a Furniture Dolly
Make sure your hot tub is empty of water before trying to move it otherwise it would be REALLY HEAVY!
Using our hand cart or furniture dolly, Jason was able to pry one side of the hot tub off the ground enough for me to slide one of the pvc pipes through.
We did the same on the other side of the hot tub & then slid one PVC pipe through the middle of the hot tub.
The hot tub was now resting on 3 sections of PVC pipe & we were ready to try moving a hot tub to it’s designated spot off of our brick patio.
To aid us in pushing/pulling & moving a hot tub Jason broke out his trusty power pull (Maasdam Pow’R Pull 144S-6 1 Ton Capacity Pow’R Pull USA Made).
This is the same power pull that helped us get the 400lb cast iron tub up our stairs (read that here).
Anyway, back to moving a hot tub!
He tightened some straps around the hot tub (Cartman Ratchet Tie Down, 4Pk 15Ft, 500Lbs Load Cap/ 1500Lbs Break Strength, Cargo Straps for Moving Appliances, Lawn Equipment, Motorcycle in a Truck, With Carry Bag) to give us something to latch onto.
To go the first direction of 4 feet he ran some straps to and around a blue spruce that was behind our patio.
He hooked up the power pull in between and cranked it tight.
Step THREE – Moving a Hot Tub into it’s New Location
To my amazement (& I think his too) it was rather simple to pull/push& start moving a hot tub with it rolling on the pvc pipe.
When we pushed far enough that on pipe came off the back we would just move it back to the front using the hand cart again to get it under if needed.
When we finished moving a hot tub 4 feet in the one direction it was time to switch things up.
Jason thought it would have been difficult to roll the hot tub into it’s final place and to get the pvc out from under the hot tub.
So instead of rolling & moving a hot tub we decided to set the PVC parallel to the direction we were pushing it and just slide it on the PVC.
We kept 2 PVC pipes under the hot tub where it was resting.
Jason pulled out (3) 2X6 boards to create a ramp that would allow us to get up the 6″ inches that we needed to get up.
We place the other 3 PVC pipes under the edge of the hot tub so that the hot tub could slide on them.
We didn’t have a tree in the right place so Jason hooked the power pull up to a fence post that was cemented into the ground.
Again it was fairly easy to try moving a hot tub on the PVC and pull it up the slight incline with the power puller and me (trusty assistant) giving it a shove now and then.
Step FOUR – Take Out the PVC Pipes & Fill Your Hot Tub Back Up with Water
Once we got the hot tub in right location Jason used the hand cart to pry up the sides of the hot tub & I was able to pull the pvc out from under it.
Tada!!! Moving a hot tub was much easier than I ever imagined it would be.
As you can see our system for moving a hot tub works after moving it across our patio!
This system we used for moving a hot tub worked so well that we moved our very large chicken coop we built from our garage to it’s resting place halfway across our yard the same way!
Thanks for stopping by to see our moving a hot tub with just two people project!
I hope this answers any questions you had for how to move a hot tub & inspires you to try moving a hot tub by yourself.
Let us know if you decided to give it a try moving a hot tub at home or have any tips or tricks you learned!
by Tara Lehman
written with Jason’s help 🙂
Don’t Forget to Save & Pin Moving a Hot Tub with just 2 People or follow along on Pinterest!
Here are the diy projects we have done for our Backyard Patio Makeover….
- Demo Deck (read that HERE)
- Save Brick from Previous Patio
- Dig an 8 foot by 8 foot space for our Hot Tub
- Build a retaining wall around the sunken patio (read that HERE)
- Move the Hot Tub (you are HERE)
- Level the Ground inside the Patio
- Use Reclaimed Brick and Flagstone for the Patio Stone (HERE)
- Landscape around Sunken Patio (HERE)
- Bring the Outdoor Furniture Back and Decorate (HERE)
Our Backyard Patio is DONE, see the full Reveal, Backyard Patio Reveal
Some DIY Projects you might enjoy
You have a gift for “technical writing” – explaining the maneuvers so even I can understand what you did. Quite something.
We bought a used hot tub, and it took 10 strong young men to lift the 1250lb tub, and move it 75 ft to the trailer. When we got it home, we used two 30 ft tow straps and a front-end loader to lift and remove it from the trailer… but we used three pieces if cast iron pipe to roll it into final position (because the tractor couldn’t get it all the way to the concrete pad)… just me, my wife, and brother-in-law. It was so easy.
Great idea to use the cast iron pipe to move your hot tub William!
Nice job! Are you concerned that 9 panels are blocked for maintenance/repair and you would need to pull it out each time?
Thanks for stopping by to check how we moved our hot tub Adam! We kept the main access panel with the heater on the open side of the patio so we can get to any repairs that might be needed. Hopefully we won’t need to get to the other 3 sides for repairs in the future but if we do, we just will drain it & move it out again using the PVC pipes.
Hi! Would it be possible to use the pipe technique you described to rotate a hot tub? I had one placed that needs to be spun around for the wiring to be on the correct side. Any suggestions you have would be appreciated! The hot tub is already in the exact location it needs to be at.
Thanks!
Annette
Thanks for stopping by to check out my blog post on moving a hot tub Annette! Yes, I definitely think you could use the same technique to rotate your hot tub as we did the same thing when we originally moved ours into place from where the previous owner of our home had put it. I think the longer your PVC pipes the better…(longer than your hot tub dimension) that way you can roll the hot tub out of it’s current location & turn it around at the same time if you have enough clearance around your hot tub location. Hope my explanation makes sense 🙂 Good luck with moving your hot tub!!!