I know you've all been on buns and noodles, waiting for pictures of the new hot tub. Alright, let's have dessert first. Here it is!
Shiny new tub.
Smell that? That's new tub smell.
Super shoulder seat. 6 adjustable jets just for your shoulders, 6 spinner jets for your back, 2 adjustable jets for your hips and two ankle jets.
And in this corner, four jets, plenty of power. To the right may look like just one jet, but it's called a Gatling gun for a reason. Say it with me now: aawwww yeah. To the left of the corner is one giant "diverter" jet, which you can aim to create a whirlpool effect.
The lounge seat. That funny looking thing up top? That's a water-powered Shiatsu massager for your neck. Believe it. Three jets for your back, a pair for your quads, and a pair for your calves. To the right is another Gatling gun - you can duke it out face to face with the other gun.
In the second and third photos you can also see the foot jets down in the foot well. Every jet in the tub can be turned on and off, and assorted valves control power to the different seats. With two pumps and 2.5" pipes, we're talking some serious therapy power. The lights are LED, which means the water can glow in different colors, or even cycle through them. Mood tubbing anyone? We're also using a natural enzyme formula to sanitize the water. It includes "medical grade lanolin," so you leave the tub with soft skin in addition to your relaxed muscles.
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And now for the rest of the story:
The old hot tub was placed before we had the fence on that side of the house, so we had to carefully measure and plan for delivery this time around. On initial inspection, we thought it could just squeeze through, according to the numbers they provided. As we got closer to delivery date, and after talking to the scheduler/rep on the phone, I decided I'd rather be safe than sorry. Because of the way the concrete driveway and gate opening line up, we would need to build a ramp to go up and over the plumbing/irrigation stuff just inside the gate.
This realization really sank in just a few days before delivery, mind you, hence the stress mentioned in the previous post. I'd be damned if we waited this long for the tub, only to have it not fit. Charles is a busy man, but I let him know I was pretty much panicking, so he canceled his plans for the evening and came home to help build. It's a good thing C4 is also in town, since it took the three of us about 3 hours to put this beast together on Thursday night.
Up one side, small platform over the plumbing, and down the other side. All sturdy enough for a seven foot, super duper fiberglass hot tub.
With the ramp done and the old tub unwired ready to go, I could sleep. Delivery was scheduled for the 9-11 window Friday morning. They arrived around 9:30, only to find out no one told them they were to remove our old tub. They were pretty stunned, but agreed to come back later. They dropped our tub off in the driveway, and went to deliver two more tubs (thereby creating room on the flat for the old tub). They made it back around 5:30 and proceeded with removal. (This was after I had taken Tiger in to the vet and received the grim prognosis. I don't think I was able to screw my head back on until last night).
The old tub had been leaking for some time, so the foam that fills the cabinet (that makes it nearly impossible to repair) was water logged, making it too heavy just to move. In came the reciprocating saw to cut the tub in half.
Then it took some work to pry the two halves apart.
You can see by the light they worked well into the evening. Here's what half a tub looks like:
And I couldn't resist this "lunar landscape" shot of foam and pipe ends:
These guys put in a super long day. They are based in Petaluma, delivered to our place, and had one delivery down to Monterey, then back to our place for three hours of destruction and installation. I don't know where the third tub went. After the removal process they installed the new tub and the cover lifter and called it a night around 8:30. I think he said they started at 5:30 in the morning. Yikes!
On Saturday, Charles hooked up the wires while I read instruction manuals. We filled 'er up, using a prefilter on the hose, and cranked the heat up. On Sunday I played with chemistry and programming, and C4 helped me tidy up the path.
It was almost challenging to relax in our inaugural soak last night. I wanted to learn how everything worked and which controlled what. We figured a few things out and tried out all the seats.
We love it.
You can love it too.
Shepberg Therapy Haus is now accepting reservations.
My goodness...jet overload! You'll have to have help in figuring everything out (hint hint?)... haha...Glad it finally is all settled and done, so now you can relax after your weekend! For securing reservations, do you accept homebrew cider, cheese, wine, port, any or all of the above?
Posted by: Britta | March 03, 2008 at 12:46 PM
Oh, and reciprocating saws do rule. My dad still drools over mine each time he's at my house...gotta put that on his list for next Christmas! He got the same laser-guided jigsaw last year after drooling over mine... ;)
Posted by: Britta | March 03, 2008 at 12:57 PM
Wow that look monster big. Some techie questions - is running on 220 or 110?
Is it resting directly on the ground or a concrete pad of some sort? It looks like aggregate concrete but I can't tell for sure.
I assume they move it on it's side - width space did it take?
A hot tub is one of the reasons I want to upgrade my electrical panel - with my central air, my current panel is pretty much maxed out.
Oh yeah, I agree with Britta, power tools rock.
Posted by: Kevin Chung | March 03, 2008 at 09:44 PM
Yes, we do need help figuring out jets and dials and whatnot!
It runs on 220 and sits on a level gravel pad. The bottom of the tub is plastic.
It was moved on its side and needed clearance of about 40" wide by 9' high.
Kevin, if you upgraded your electrical and decided to go with California Custom Spas, we'd get a referral bonus ;-)
We have a small circular, a compound miter, and a table saw, but sadly no reciprocating saw! Usually just borrow Pop's...
Posted by: Robin Dahlberg | March 04, 2008 at 01:58 PM
How'd I miss this post? Oh well.. What a wonderful story. It was pretty amazing seeing the old tub in pieces on the truck. Dude. I already wrote you an email, but I don't feel right if I don't leave a comment. I'll have to make reservations at a later date. I need to do some serious work this weekend. Dammit...
Posted by: Nita | March 06, 2008 at 08:43 AM