Parafly9 Posted May 31, 2007 Report Share Posted May 31, 2007 OK, ordered the Discovery aura spa today. From what I gather, I will probably see it in my driveway in about 3 - 4 weeks. Anything special i need to do to prepare as far as a gravel bed? Or can I just dig a 2 - 3" square hole that is nice and flat, and fill it with some peastone, and I'll be good to go? Thanks! Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trigger Posted May 31, 2007 Report Share Posted May 31, 2007 OK, ordered the Discovery aura spa today. From what I gather, I will probably see it in my driveway in about 3 - 4 weeks. Anything special i need to do to prepare as far as a gravel bed? Or can I just dig a 2 - 3" square hole that is nice and flat, and fill it with some peastone, and I'll be good to go? Thanks! Nick What does the dealer recomend? When they do the pre delivery check and site inspection I'm sure they will answer all your questions and spend a significant amount of time explaining it all. They may also be able to offer suggestions and recomend local companies to contract. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New NW tub owner Posted May 31, 2007 Report Share Posted May 31, 2007 OK, ordered the Discovery aura spa today. From what I gather, I will probably see it in my driveway in about 3 - 4 weeks. Anything special i need to do to prepare as far as a gravel bed? Or can I just dig a 2 - 3" square hole that is nice and flat, and fill it with some peastone, and I'll be good to go? Short answer...no. Long answer, the tub needs to sit on a solid base that will support it evenly and keep it level. If you do as you say, the gravel may settle unevenly depending on the type and condition of the soil beneath. Uneven settling could lead to part of the tub being unsupported or to tilting or something. If your soil is leveled and evenly compacted then maybe you will not have a problem but it is not a good idea to depend on that. Hot tubs weigh a lot after they are filled with water and their internal structure does not spread the weight evenly over their base but tends to concentrate it in a few locations beneath the base. The best support would be a concrete pad with steel reinforcement. That would spread the load evenly over the entire area covered by the tub and properly support the tub structure. Anything less than that would be a compromise solution that could potentially have problems later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spatech (the unreal one) Posted May 31, 2007 Report Share Posted May 31, 2007 I've seen it done MANY times and it can work well as long as the ground is prepared well and is compact. People will make a PT frame, fill it with gravel and set the spa on teh gravel. Of course there is no doubt that a concrete pad is the better way to go but the pea gravel method is used often enough. It'll also depend on what brand spa it is and how structurally sound it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flibotte Posted May 31, 2007 Report Share Posted May 31, 2007 I've had a Keys spa for almost 2 years and I did a PT frame with gravel and it's help up fine so far for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Posted May 31, 2007 Report Share Posted May 31, 2007 With any of the less expensive brands especialy and any brand for that matter I would follow the manufacturers reccomendation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aric Posted June 1, 2007 Report Share Posted June 1, 2007 Here's a pre delivery document from Costco. Not for your brand of spa specifically. http://www.costco.com/Images/Content/Misc/PDF/999704.pdf Other options are pavers or this: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5301138 I personally would recomend the concrete, however, reinfoced steel concrete?? Are you kidding? That's overkill. The concrete under your driveway isn't even steel reinforced and it has to take a lot more weight and worse, varying/moving loads. (a weight example, assume a spa produces 110lbs per sq ft of weight when filled with water... well a large SUV produces over 1,000 lbs of weight per tire and each tire takes up less than a sq ft.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parafly9 Posted June 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2007 I've had a Keys spa for almost 2 years and I did a PT frame with gravel and it's help up fine so far for me. How deep did you go? Just do a 2x4 braced PT flush with the ground and filled with gravel? I want to make sure I do this right. i'm not worried about aesthetics (which is why i am leaning away from using concrete) as I plan on building a deck around it and concealing the underside with some removeable lattice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parafly9 Posted June 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2007 Would I need a cement mixer truck to come deliver a yard of concrete or could I just bag and pour it myself? It is only what, a 6" slab with that's 7' by 7'? That's about a yard of concrete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New NW tub owner Posted June 1, 2007 Report Share Posted June 1, 2007 Would I need a cement mixer truck to come deliver a yard of concrete or could I just bag and pour it myself? It is only what, a 6" slab with that's 7' by 7'? That's about a yard of concrete. A 4 inch slab should be good enough, as long as you put reinforcing in it. A 7x7 by 4-inch slab would be 16 cubic feet or about 32 sacks of concrete premix if you get 60lb sacks. You can mix it up and pour it yourself as long as you are able to mix it all up expeditiously (say within 1 to 2 hours) and you can finish it. To finish it, you need a straight smooth board at least 8 feet long to run across the top of the form after you've added in all of the concrete mix to strike off the excess and get a rough finish on top. Also, an edger tool would be good to put a rounded edge on the sides. After you've done the striking, let it set for an hour or two and then use a smooth trowel to put a finish on it and edge it if you get an edger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New NW tub owner Posted June 1, 2007 Report Share Posted June 1, 2007 I personally would recomend the concrete, however, reinfoced steel concrete?? Are you kidding? That's overkill. The concrete under your driveway isn't even steel reinforced and it has to take a lot more weight and worse, varying/moving loads. (a weight example, assume a spa produces 110lbs per sq ft of weight when filled with water... well a large SUV produces over 1,000 lbs of weight per tire and each tire takes up less than a sq ft.) Concrete has a lot of compressive strength (compression is where something pushes on it) but has very little tensile strength (where something pulls on it). So...when something heavy sits on concrete, it exerts a compressive force and everything is fine. However, if the load is uneven, the ground beneath is not perfectly evenly compacted, or the load moves, then there is tensile force exerted as well. Not a lot, but over time, the concrete will crack to relieve the tensile stress and then the pieces of concrete on each side of the crack can shift independently which can be bad if you have one hot tub sitting on two pieces. This situation can be avoided by adding some thing with a high tensile strength to the concrete. Usually, this is steel reinforcing bar or steel mesh embedded in the concrete. The cost of the reinforcing is trivial in comparison to the cost of the concrete and the labor of placing it so there is no reason not to put in reinforcing if you are building some thing that will have significant weight on it....such as a hot tub. I've seen driveways with no reinforcing and after a few years, they develop big cracks. Since it's just a driveway, the cracks don't matter except they don't look very good and then you have to keep the weeds from growing out of the cracks. If it's a hot tub slab, though, the cracks could let the slab shift and place unnecessary stress on the shell leading to cracks, leaks, failure. Hot tubs cover a much bigger area than a car, as you point out, but they don't spread the weight evenly over the entire area. There will be a few hot spots under the tub which have most of the weight while the rest of the area has very little. Most hot tub warranty's specifically exclude any failure of the shell caused by a shifting foundation. Putting it on gravel might be okay in some cases, or on pavers (better), but if it is not okay, you will be all alone when it comes time to reckon up unless your hot tub company or dealer is feeling generous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parafly9 Posted June 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2007 I got the shipping confirmation already! How long does it take for them to actually get here once they ship? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flibotte Posted June 11, 2007 Report Share Posted June 11, 2007 it only took a few days for them to deliver to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All Wet Posted June 13, 2007 Report Share Posted June 13, 2007 I am ready to order the Discovery Aura, have dirt dug for a pad, have the cemet poured, electrical brought around the house to the spa, etc... Where is the electrical hook up for the discovery aura? For example, if the lounger is "south," then is the electrical hookup in the northwest corner? Need to know so I can place the electrical where it needs to be in the pad before I pour the pad. Don't have the spa here yet, and want the pad done by the time the spa gets here. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flibotte Posted June 13, 2007 Report Share Posted June 13, 2007 the electric is on the side that has the top side controls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parafly9 Posted June 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2007 They sent me a package. It looks like if you look at the "front" of the spa (I'm assuming w/ the controls?) its at the left hand corner closest to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huttopotamus Posted June 18, 2007 Report Share Posted June 18, 2007 When you say you got a "package" do you mean you have received your hot tub, or a pre hot tub delivery package? I ordered the same tub on 6/14 and hope to have it in 3-4 weeks. Does anybody know if this is the same tub that Keysbackyard has on their website? I am looking for more specs on this tub. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parafly9 Posted June 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2007 When you say you got a "package" do you mean you have received your hot tub, or a pre hot tub delivery package? I ordered the same tub on 6/14 and hope to have it in 3-4 weeks. Does anybody know if this is the same tub that Keysbackyard has on their website? I am looking for more specs on this tub. They sent me an email with an attachment with all the info about hookup / getting ready / etc. Anyways, this got a little more expensive than I was hoping for, but what are you going to do. I have a guy there today running electric and another guy pouring the concrete pad. Tommorrow the tub will go on the slab and the following day they are building a deck around the whole thing. Wednesday - Thursday evening hopefully I will be hot-tubbin! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Spa Posted June 18, 2007 Report Share Posted June 18, 2007 They sent me an email with an attachment with all the info about hookup / getting ready / etc. Any possibility of posting that info here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parafly9 Posted June 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2007 They sent me an email with an attachment with all the info about hookup / getting ready / etc. Any possibility of posting that info here? I have the information at home unfortunately, but I will def. try to get it. Stay tuned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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