Hot Tub Room Project
July 2006
Finally getting around to pulling out the cruddy old hot tub that was in our house when we moved in 6 years ago - it was just a horrible tub but it kept limping along so we couldn't justify replacing it. Every time we had to fill that thing with water and "bleed" the lines and fiddle with all the goofy T-Valves and coax the lame filtration system into action etc... to get it working again, it was an ordeal. Finally the heater flamed out on it and we sprung into action!
(Click on the thumbnails for full sized pictures)
| Step 1 - removing the beast. After disconnecting the power (always a good move) and taking the motor, heater and truly awful pump timer and control unit out, it was time to slice this bad boy up like a pie... |
 |
| Boo-yah! Power of the Super Saws All... |
 |
| First slice gone - 8 more to go. Notice the high quality insulation on there - maybe an inch thick tops. This was supposed to be an outdoor tub, too. |
 |
| Just about done... |
 |
| The refuse piling up on the deck - sign of a quality home improvement project. |
 |
| Heidi hauled the entire pile to the dump on her own while I was at work - here she goes... |
 |
| The resulting room all spic 'n span - ready for prep on the new tub. |
 |
| Step one was deciding on flooring - Heidi found the perfect vinyl floor cover but it was out of stock and discontinued so she had to truck it about an hour north to go get the last they had on hand - here she is with the roll and her faithful helper Sophie. |
 |
| Sweet action shot of me completely bungling some plumbing connections under the floor. I've sweat a bunch of joints before but the river of water coming out of multiple points when I turned the water on was a new low for me. I blame the cramped conditions under the house. Don't tell Pete, but I totally resorted to using some compression fitting joints instead of manning-up and sweating them properly like I should have... |
 |
| Meanwhile, Heidi's working on patching up the walls and the skylight wells. They needed some work and she spent more than a few hours with her head up there. |
 |
| Me stressing about the wiring - I haven't worked with 220 before and running 6 gauge wires under the house (after removing the 8 gauge wires that were under there already) and up to a new panel near the tub to be code was a little unnerving. But it all worked out ok in the end. For the record, a giant 6 gauge bundle comes up to this panel which breaks out a 20 amp (on a 12 gauge) and a 30 amp (on a 10 gauge) GFCI circuit that connects to the tub itself from underneath. |
 |
| Heidi got the floor all trimmed up nice with a new layer of plywood for the flooring to go on and worked out some precision measurements for where the new tub will go so we could pre drill for wires and drains. |
 |
| Next she stuck the flooring out on the deck in the sun to "relax" it so it'd go down even. |
 |
| And in it goes - Arts 'n Crafts Lady(tm) does a good job with these things... notice the fab trim going in at the back. |
 |
| Then we gotta remove the old outside door because 1. it's a really
crappy door and 2. it's not wide enough to accommodate the new tub.
More Sawz All work - my tool of choice for just about everything.
If the fine folks at Milwaukee are looking for a spokesperson - call me. Notice Mr. Safety there - glasses and gloves but bare feet. I figure I don't use my feet for work so it's ok... |
 |
| Making the opening wide enough for our new 36" door. |
 |
| Opening is all ready for the new door - but we'll leave it rough for now so it'll accommodate the new tub. Geospatial Girl(tm) assured me it would fit and, as usual, she was right. |
 |
| Custom cardboard ramp by Heidi so the tub could just slide over the jam on its side without a hitch. |
 |
| The tub guys are here! The tub guys are here! Finally... |
 |
| The entire sequence of events from the time they got it off the trailer to the time it was in the room and ready to wire up was about 15 minutes - these folks are professionals... don't try this at home. |
 |
| Around the back of the house... |
 |
| Ramping to get up over the rockery. |
 |
| Up and over... |
 |
| ...and on to the deck... |
 |
| ...and through the door. |
 |
| Pulling it into the room |
 |
| ...and it's in. |
 |
| Rotate it to get ready for the flip. Unfortunately Heidi's camera ran out of battery power right here so you don't get to see the crucial "tip and shift" step necessary to get that tub flat and centered. Trust us, it was cool. |
 |
| Tub in place - just gotta unwrap it. |
 |
| Ta Da! |
 |
| What turned out to be the hardest part of the project for me was pushing that 10 and 12 gauge wire through about 7 feet of flexible conduit to run it up through the floor and into the tub. You know those huge bottles of "wire lube" you've seen at Home Depot and giggled to yourself about? Yeah, I would have given a lot of money to have some of that stuff right about now. Just about resorted to a stick of butter after nearly blowing a gasket getting those things fed through there... |
 |
| Master electrician at work. I was a little nervous switching it on at the panel and for a heart stopping 5 or 6 seconds nothing happened - and then the little green "all is well" power light kicked on. Whew... |
 |
| Filling it up with water using the fab new faucet outlet I added under the house using those compression fittings we've all agreed not to tell Pete about... |
 |
| We also added new light fittings and installed a new quiet, high capacity fan while we had everything open. The speaker in the middle was installed shortly after we moved into the house so we could watch TV through the glass door from the tub. Very smooth... |
 |
| The tub with the jets working. It's really a nice tub, I must say. We've been in it just about every day since we got it. And Hot Springs is totally not paying us to say that. Although if they'd like to, go to the "contact me" link and make me an offer... |
 |
| And we fit the nifty new door Heidi picked out and the project is complete! Well, mostly anyway - just some trim stuff on the inside - nothing that can't wait. The new door with a window was a good choice - lots of morning light in there now - it's very cool. |
 |
| Stop asking for shots of us in the tub! You weirdos... no one wants to see that, trust us... Now go back to what you were doing before you decided to waste a bunch of time looking at our goofy pictures. |
Return to the About Me page