DIY: restoring a hot tub!

This has been a project months in the works, but now I'm proud to say we're finally done!

It all started months ago when we first moved in this house. While hanging out in the backyard one day, we noticed there were some electric hookups for an outdoor hot tub. On closer inspection, we noticed the faint outline in the cement where the tub must have been. We thought it would be cool to have our own tub, but put that thought in the gigantic "someday" folder we have.

A few days later, we heard some friends had scored a free hot tub. Just for the fun of it, we decided to check out Craigslist. My goal was to stay under $500. Dangerous past time! There on the first page was one for $200. It was a little too good to be true, but we met the guy, and he was serious about the price. Which was cool, because brand new, it would have retailed for around $7,000. Kind of a shady deal since we're not entirely sure the tub was his to sell, but it made the long and heavy trip back to our house.

We soon realized we were basically sold the shell, since all the guts and machinery were gutted out or rotten. It needed a TON of work. We were looking at individual parts costing hundreds of dollars apiece. Lame! So we turned back to our trusty Craigslist.

Score two! A guy in Pahrump was gutting out a tub, and was willing to sell us everything we needed for $250. We made a nice little road trip out of it. With the new parts in place, we scrubbed the shell in vinegar (never bleach one of these!), and filled it up. Chemicals cost another $60 or so, and we found a cover for $20 on Craigslist. It's a little big, but it does the job.

I had a fear the tub wouldn't actually turn on or ever heat up, but I was wrong. Judd worked for several nights straight to get the wiring right, and it paid off! The tub works! He added an extra layer of insulation to keep it warm and was also able to stop most of the leaks.

So all we needed was to make it pretty. The wood panels were kind of gross, so we stained them with a pretty brown called Gunstock, then put a protective finish on it. We finished that part this weekend, so I think we can officially say it's done!

It's been a fun addition to have. I think we can appreciate it more since we brought it back from a near death state!




Photos:
1. The picture from the original Craigslist ad. It doesn't look that bad here, but as you can imagine, all those leaves and flowers weren't fun to clean out.
2. Judd working his magic. Looks kind of ugly on the inside!
3. Painting the wood panels. Bindi supervising, or just watching the paint dry.
4. Loki was no help at all. She lived up to her name and kept stealing parts. So Judd taught her a lesson and gave her a little shoe made out of tape!
5. Yay it's DONE!!