An Outdoor Tub Is Exactly What Your Backyard Needs (2024)

FAQs

Are outdoor baths a good idea? ›

Freestanding baths are a great alternative to a swimming pool if your backyard has limited space. With many Australians having to bare blistering hot days, an outdoor bathtub offers some cooling relief without leaving your home. “Outdoor baths are a fantastic option if you don't have space for a pool,” says Jonathan.

The words “hot tub”, “spa”, and “jetted bathtub” are often used interchangeably to describe three very different products - in-ground spas, above-ground portable spas also known as hot tubs, and jetted bathtubs.

What Is a Garden Tub? A garden tub is a freestanding bathtub, soaking tub, or whirlpool bathtub. However, garden bathtubs are wider and deeper than a standard bathtub.

An outdoor bath, featuring an open-air tub and shower, is simultaneously one of life's simple pleasures and the ultimate luxury.

However, it's important to maintain proper hygiene and keep the water in your tub clean and fresh. To ensure this, you should drain and refill the tub every few months. This will help remove dirt, bacteria, body oils and other microscopic particles that linger inside your tub between uses.

Of course! Bathtubs make a beautiful addition to your luxury garden, patio, or other outdoor space. But before you go and put your bathtub outside, it's important to know a few specifications about your tub, and the location you plan to place it.

Other soaking tubs may feature more vertical sides or shapes. The typical depth of a garden tub ranges from 24” to 30”, well above the average 14” to 20” depth of an alcove or drop-in bathtub. A soaking tub's depth, however, can extend to 36” or more.

Garden tubs used to be considered a luxury for their deep soaking space, hydrotherapy jets, and elaborate tile surrounds. Today, these features no longer fit with homeowners' needs or style preferences. And as it turns out, garden tubs are incredibly wasteful.

Garden tubs are an excellent way to relax and unwind, giving you the comfort of a hot tub in your very own home.

Creating an outdoor bath is as easy as looking for an old bath on Gumtree, propping it up on some bricks, surrounding it with pot plants and filling it from the hose. A full bath of water is pretty heavy so only try this if you have a courtyard or backyard, (not a balcony – in which case – inflatable kid's pool?).

How to fill an outdoor bathtub? ›

If you want to avoid plumbing all together, that's completely alright too—just know that you won't have hot water in your outdoor tub. You can simply fill the tub up with a hose when in use, or make your own ice baths.

Drainage

If your bath is close to the house, lay a drain to direct water away from it. It could run down driplines to nearby trees or shrubs, drain into a soak pit, or into a temporary storage barrel so you can re-use it.

In terms of which is best, an outdoor hot tub is easier and less expensive to install, fun to use year-round, while an indoor hot tub is easier to use year-round but more expensive to install. So in the end the choice is yours which is right for you.

Potential Cost Savings:

Although hot tubs require an initial investment, they can offer long-term cost savings in various ways. For instance, having a hot tub in your backyard reduces the need for expensive spa visits or memberships, as you can enjoy all the benefits of hydrotherapy whenever you want, right at home.

You can fill it using a bucket or run a garden hose to it if you want a cold soak on a mid-summer's day. If your bath is close to your home, you can fit a hosepipe to a laundry tap using an adapter (around $30 or so) and run hot water out to it. You'll pay more if you want hot water at the turn of a tap.

Easy Maintenance: Outdoor showers are slimline and hardy fixtures, which makes them easy to maintain. They are less prone to collecting leaves or dust like their bathtub counterpart and only requires a quick wipe-down from time to time.