mscdman

I’m thinking that may be the best long term option. Less rot from the wood. But also not as pretty. I should mention that the stringers sit about 3/4 inch lower than the outer frame. I did that so I could cover them with gravel and not be seen. Is that an issue?

On an earlier post I discussed building a wood frame from PT 2x8 build as the base to hold gravel and to be built over existing flagstone pavers that are NOT flat NOR level. The pavers are designed to slope and drain away from the house and I don’t want to change that. Someone suggested I add stringers to by frame. I did that. But it got me thinking...Now I have what appears to be the basics of a wood deck. Rather than put gravel in this new frame with stringers would it work if I just made more stringers 12inches off center and topped off with decking? It’s only $50 bucks more than the gravel plus delivery will cost. my only concern is that due to the Base pavers the whole setup is on, there are places where the frame/joists are in contact with the pavers and some places it is not due t settling. Will this be okay for my frame? I know usually for a platform/deck you have to put a concrete hole with a 4x4 post as support. I won’t have that. Just the frame sitting “mostly” on the pavers. Bad idea? Should I stick with filling with gravel?

The hot tub will be entirely sitting inside the frame and not touching the frame at all - only sitting on gravel...

(Edited)

Still want to know if 3/4 gravel is okay to the top or if I must top with pea gravel. can I do it without stringers? If I must add stringers (4 to 6) as the last person said how do you do that so the top stringers (ie the grid) doesn’t show over the gravel???

Yes pressure treated lumber. The pavers would need to be jack hameredy out or chiseled out as there is some kind of grout between them. Very labor intensive. Also I need to maintain the slope of the pavers away from the house for proper grading so water doesnt slope towards the house or stay level can it be done without the stringers? I was hoping to add gravel 1 inch or so LOWER than the frame so it wouldn’t wash over and stringers would also complicate the leveling in my opinion....

I’m attempting to install a hot tub. The area I was going to place it has what looks to be flagstone pavers over dirt that have settled. And are no longer flat. Some areas of the pavers stick up higher than others due to minor settling. Also in the photo below the pavers were sloping away from the house for drainage. No ideal for a hot tub. So what I’m attempting to do is build a wooden frame on top of the existing pavers and fill that now level frame with 3/4 crushed granite. Will this work putting this gravel over the existing pavers? They would be hard to remove as they are almost grouted in or something. Also do you need to top with the pea gravel or can I just use the 3/4 gravel up to right below the top? Is it hard to level 3/4 crushed granite?

Also why do you have to add calcium booster only right at start up and not a fews after?

Thanks Hillbilly - actually, I misstated my hardness - it was at 100 ppm not 1000 ppm. I have added calcium to the reccomended range according to the booklet of 250 ppm now. I have now also used spa down to bring down PH to 7.2. We will see if this makes a difference.. I am using the "Spa Choice" bromulating tablets....when I called the spa dealership they said that was a poor tablet and reccomended theirs. I am sure they wanted to get my business...but I wonder if there is validity to the Spa Choice tabs being of poor quality and potentially causing this issue...

I was previously using a spa frog system in my spa (Br) maintaining a 5 ppm Br level with Ozonee. I recently drained, cleaned and refilled the spa water over a week ago and switched to the normal floater Br system thinkign it would be cheaper than the Spa Frog System. So I added my metal gone and added 1.5 oz of Brom Start upon start up and put in the tablets (5 or so) into this locking feeder with a SETTING OF 9! (Meaning a lot of the feeder Br is exposed) http://www.hottubworks.com/cgi-bin/commerc...amp;key=MP1973E It has now been 10 days, not even half of the Br tablets have disssolved if that and the Br level will not go above 1ppm. Any thoughts on why the tabs wont dissolve and I can't get my Br levels up? Note - I was previsouly using test strips with the spa frog and now I am using the walmart HTH drop tester. Current readings PH 8.0 Hardness 1000 ppm Br 1.0 Alkalnity 100ppm

I have been reading this forum and see that the best kits for testing the water are not the test strips themselves and people seem to be reccomeding the Taylor kit FYI - Not sure how this is different than the test kit that Walmart sells which uses reagets, but whatever. Anyway, that isn't my question. My question is: Approximately how many tests can I perform using the taylor kit before I have to buy more test chemicals?

So I have the spa frog system - I left if at 5 for 4 days (which is too long) and the bromine levels via the test strips read 10ppm which is way too high. I have since lowered the amount of bromine that is being dispensed, however my question is: Should I still shock the tub today since the bromine levels are already as high as they are? Today is the day I am scheduled to shock - so I am curious.

How long does a typical Taylor K-2106 kit last? Assuming you check for Ph/bromine levels 3 times a week?

Thanks waterbeast. I didn't flush the system....but.....once drained I lysoled the whole tub, bought a new filter, spa glossed it and then followed normal start up procedures..I havnet been in the tub yet, but the bromine levels look good and I shocked it. I will look into that test kit. I bought the aqua check test strips, but I could see how that would get expensive. I should have checked the forumn first, but thanks

Thanks so much guys! Question though: how do you do a decontamintion flush?

When my hot tun was delivered today, they told me they reccomended not using the ozonator, but I can't remember why...perhaps it damages the top of the lid? Are there any cons to running an ozonator?

Hello - I bought a used hot tub that has an ozonator...but the ozonator was never used. My question is, what are the electrical costs of running an ozonator vs. not running one? Has anyone seen a difference?

I just purchased a used marquis mirage spa. I have been doing my homework, and chose the spa frog floating feeder system. Here is my question: The spa frog system says when you use the frog spa system that you can maintain bromine levels of 1-2ppm, but what about the levels of bromine when using the spa frog WITH the ozonator? Are the levels even less that 1-2ppm? What levels would you keep in this situation?