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Hot Springs Grandee - Am I Crazy For Trying This?


TWG1572

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Three years ago, I purchased a house with an older (2001 I believe) Hot Springs Grandee. We fired it up last fall, and about three weeks later started noticing piles of chewed insulation around the bottom skirt. This was in November - I pulled the sides off and discovered a rat condo, complete with the inhabitant. We were face to face when he came flying out, I'll just say I screamed like a school girl and ran. Thank god the neighbors were at work. Once I recovered, I assessed the issue. Lots of rot on the wood sill and the wood uprights. The spa definitly had a problem in the past with leaking, I'm not 100% sure if it still leaks or not. There was not an evident leak in the month we used it, but the water level did drop about an inch. Since it was mid-November, I decided to button everything up and work on it over the summer. Now the summer has come and gone, and I'm starting to figure out what to do....

I think I have a plan, but would appreciate input from people who know these better than I.

  1. Clean out all the nasty chewed / dirty foam. It's pretty disgusting in there. Definite gloves/face mask territory.
  2. The plywood sill that goes around the bottom is totally rotted out on that side - from one corner to the next. I'm contemplating either replacing it (which could be a project in itself) or getting a sheet of metal bent in a Z shape that would go up the base, across the sill, and then slip under the sides. I've got to get something fixed there since that's the entry point for all the critters.
  3. While I'm in there, the bottom of all the wood uprights are rotted too. They look easy enough to replace, if needed. If I don't put a new sill in there and just use metal, I don't see much benefit in replacing them though. There is nothing for them to sit on at the bottom.

Then I've got the do I still have a leak or not issue? I could probably fill the tub and let it percolate as I'm trying to fix the side.

How would you suggest approaching this issue? We like the tub but not enough to pay the big $$$ to have it removed/fixed/reinstalled, so either I make this work or we declare the tub DOA.

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Hey TWG1572,

Sounds like a fun project on your hands!

If the rats are completely gone/caught, you may consider tossing some dryer sheets in the equipment compartment. This is a low cost, reasonably effective way to keep mice and other small critters out of there but tends to be ineffective against larger ones looking for a warm place to nest. Regarding the metal, I'd probably advise against this considering we're talking about water and electricity. Go ahead and send me a private message with your email address and your spa's serial#. I'll put together a gameplan for you.

Thanks,

Steve

---Hot Spring Spas---

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PM sent. The rats are gone now, I've monitored the situation over summer and there aren't any active nests. I put quite a bit of rat poison in there as well to discourage any new inhabitants. We live in the middle of the country, so I'm hoping it was just a random field rat vs. an actual infestation...

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First things first, find the leak. sounds like it's very small since the water only went down 1" over a month. You could loose that from splash out if there were kids in there. if it doesn't leak then there is no reason to not then work on fixing it more. Since you used it for a month you know it works as far as heating, pumps and electronics.

To replace the ply just tip it up on it's side (you may have to un wire it do that) (motor and control side down since that is the heaviest) and go at it. You can buy replacement spray foam in a can for spas and re insulate (after you verify it's not leaking). Replace the wood supports, any minimal amount of carpentry skills can handle that.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Please take precautions when dealing with the remnants of the rat condo.

The feces, urine and other leavings can carry all kind of nasty deseases. A simple dust mask will not suffice to give adequate protection.

Get one of the rubber/silicone face respirators that seals to your skinand has the approriate cartidges. I would also suggest a pair of the disposable white coveralls. Gloves and goggles go without saying....

If you plan to use a shop vac, keep teh kids and others very far away from teh back yard and close the windows to the house. A shop vac will suck up the mess but it will also "aerosolize" it. Use the filter bags that go in the shop vacs.

It sounds like overkill, but if you or your kids get something like hantavirus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hantavirus) and it you wil wish you had gone through the trouble.....

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