Can You Cut Up A Hot Tub To Get Rid Of It?

The Short Answer Is Yes, But…

Yes, you can cut up a hot tub to get rid of it.  Here are recommended steps to follow:

1. Assess the situation
2. Ensure you have the right equipment
3. Have an electrician disconnect the electrical
4. Start cutting
5. Proper disposal

Assess the situation

Assessing the situation is always the first step when you’re looking to tackle a large project and you don’t want to find a company to remove your spa.  Planning properly will save you not only the most of time, but also the most amount of money.  Knowing what challenges may be ahead is half the battle, and where there are areas unclear to you, you know what to either ask a professional, friend, or Google.

Spa placement

The first question to ask is ‘how the heck am I going to get rid of this thing?’  The answer to that question begins with where it’s starting.  These are the following options we’ve seen when it comes to where spas are located:

• Concrete pad
• On top of a deck
• Built inside of a deck
• Inside of a gazebo
• Inside a home or sunroom
• Raised on wood 2x4s (yes, we’ve seen it)

Exit Strategy

Once you know where your spa is, you’ll have to determine the exit strategy.  This part is simple.  Is the spa small enough to fit through whatever door or gate you have?  Take out your tape measure and get to work notating the widths of doors, potential tight turns, and the width and length of your spa.

Ensure you have the right equipment

Once you know the plan of attack in terms of where you’re going to take the spa.  If you’ve decided that you need to cut it up because the dimensions are too large for your plan, you’re going to have to cut it up yourself or get it professionally cut up.  That being said, here’s the first question to ask yourself:

What kind of saw do you use to cut up a hot tub?

While there are always many ways to skin a cat, after years of experience learning that you can actually indeed cut up a hot tub to get rid of it in good time, here is the type of saws we recommend.

Heavy Duty Reciprocating Saw

When it comes to heavy duty reciprocating saws, make sure you purchase one that fulfills the following requirements:

• Heavy Duty
• Battery Powered

While we recommend you purchase either from the Big Yellow or Big Red brands, if you decide to purchase a lighter duty reciprocating saw, with lower voltages, you may not get enough power to make it through those pesky tubes and pipes that wrap the inside of the insulation.  Trust us, it takes a long time to work through some plastic tubes even with maximum power and a new blade sometimes!

We never recommend using a corded reciprocating saw, as it’s just more potential danger.  If you’re so focused on cutting up the spa that you somehow get caught or tangled in the cord, or you cut it on accident, then that’s bad news.  Just stay away from corded reciprocating saws, they’re a bit cheaper for good reason.

Can you cut up a hot tub with a chainsaw?

Yes you can cut up a hot tub with a chainsaw, but don’t.  Using a heavy duty, batter powered reciprocating saw will provide you with much more precision, control, and provide a higher level of safety.

The proper PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) to use

This includes but is not limited to the following:

• Safety glasses
• Respirator or proper fitting n95 mask

Have an electrician disconnect the electrical

We always recommend hiring a professional to disconnect your spas electrical components.  200v is nothing to mess around with, and can cause severe injury or death if properly done.

Start cutting

Once you have established a safe plan, you’ve acquired and donned all the safety equipment, bought or borrowed the proper tools, have had the spa professionally disconnected, you’re ready to start cutting!

There’s no real wrong way of cutting up a spa, but there definitely are faster methods out there if you’re with another individual who can help you lift the spa on its side.  Click here to see how long it takes to cut up a spa, as we have perfected this method!

Proper disposal

While nobody likes to cleanup, it’s incredibly important that you understand how to dispose of the pieces.  When you cut up a spa you’ll be left with many different types of materials that should be properly sorted and disposed / recycled.

• Metal
• Electronics
• Insulation
• Miscellaneous

Conclusion

In conclusion, yes you can cut up a spa to get rid of it.  We also recommend hiring a professional.