A Few Tips For Replacing A Recessed Spa

[colo_artist]

I don't replace spas every day, so when I replaced our old spa with a new one I learned a few things during the process.

When I was looking at replacing my old recessed spa with a new spa, one of my primary concerns was how well it was going to fit into my redwood deck without doing major rework on the deck. For fit I was focused on the dimensions for length and width. The height was on the radar, but only in that it be deep enough for a good soak. I hadn't really considered how high the spa should be in relation to the deck. Deck level on the old spa was about half way up the side, and that seemed fine.

We decided on a Marquis Wish. It has a couple of cool-down seats that were about half way down the height of the spa. I thought it would be good to make them even with the decking. It meant raising the base a bit, but that was okay. Turned out that was a lucky decision.

The old spa was there when we bought the house and I wasn't sure what kind trouble the previous owners had gone to for the base. If there was a concrete pad under there, I'd skip trying to raise the base. I was also trying to decide as to whether to use an EZ Pad with the new one or not. Since I wanted to raise the base a bit anyway, and it turned out there wasn't an existing concrete pad in place, I decided to go with the pad. That turned out to be another lucky decision for a couple of reasons.

On the big day I soon found out it was good I had done a bit of planning. Once the old spa was out there's a limited amount of time before the new one is ready to go in. Although the delivery guys weren't rushing me, and were very helpful, the clock was ticking for getting the base prepared.

With any spa you want to make sure it's going to be level, but with a recessed deck you really want to be sure it's going to be even with the deck. Once the spa is in it's going to be a pain to take it back out to readjust things.

While the crew was there I had them move the new spa so it was lined up where I thought was square with the house and lined up best for access. After the crew was gone and I had started working on fitting the boards to the larger spa I realized I needed to fine tune the spa's placement. With the EZ Pad under the spa I found it was simple for me to bump the spa to get it right where I wanted it to be.

I also soon discovered the EZ Pad made my life easier when it came to getting the new spa to fit well with the deck. The Wish has some covered screw heads about 1/2 way up the side. An 1" lower and the screws would have been at "board level" and I would have had to fiddled around to get them to recess into the deck. There are also a couple of vents in the front. An 1" lower they would have touched the deck and looked a bit odd.

Being recessed the spa doesn't need a step, but it was part of the deal so I figured I'd use it as a seat and convert it for storage. An 1" lower and the cover would have hit it.

Here are some pics. Higher would have been fine, but even 1/2" lower and things wouldn't have lined up nearly as nicely...

[laurahill]

I don't replace spas every day, so when I replaced our old spa with a new one I learned a few things during the process.

When I was looking at replacing my old recessed spa with a new spa, one of my primary concerns was how well it was going to fit into my redwood deck without doing major rework on the deck. For fit I was focused on the dimensions for length and width. The height was on the radar, but only in that it be deep enough for a good soak. I hadn't really considered how high the spa should be in relation to the deck. Deck level on the old spa was about half way up the side, and that seemed fine.

We decided on a Marquis Wish. It has a couple of cool-down seats that were about half way down the height of the spa. I thought it would be good to make them even with the decking. It meant raising the base a bit, but that was okay. Turned out that was a lucky decision.

The old spa was there when we bought the house and I wasn't sure what kind trouble the previous owners had gone to for the base. If there was a concrete pad under there, I'd skip trying to raise the base. I was also trying to decide as to whether to use an EZ Pad with the new one or not. Since I wanted to raise the base a bit anyway, and it turned out there wasn't an existing concrete pad in place, I decided to go with the pad. That turned out to be another lucky decision for a couple of reasons.

On the big day I soon found out it was good I had done a bit of planning. Once the old spa was out there's a limited amount of time before the new one is ready to go in. Although the delivery guys weren't rushing me, and were very helpful, the clock was ticking for getting the base prepared.

With any spa you want to make sure it's going to be level, but with a recessed deck you really want to be sure it's going to be even with the deck. Once the spa is in it's going to be a pain to take it back out to readjust things.

While the crew was there I had them move the new spa so it was lined up where I thought was square with the house and lined up best for access. After the crew was gone and I had started working on fitting the boards to the larger spa I realized I needed to fine tune the spa's placement. With the EZ Pad under the spa I found it was simple for me to bump the spa to get it right where I wanted it to be.

I also soon discovered the EZ Pad made my life easier when it came to getting the new spa to fit well with the deck. The Wish has some covered screw heads about 1/2 way up the side. An 1" lower and the screws would have been at "board level" and I would have had to fiddled around to get them to recess into the deck. There are also a couple of vents in the front. An 1" lower they would have touched the deck and looked a bit odd.

Being recessed the spa doesn't need a step, but it was part of the deal so I figured I'd use it as a seat and convert it for storage. An 1" lower and the cover would have hit it.

Here are some pics. Higher would have been fine, but even 1/2" lower and things wouldn't have lined up nearly as nicely...

Hi,

Nice tips..Thank you so much for posting this useful information.