Refurbishing An Old Spa - Is It Worth It?

[JulieMor]

That question is a moot point for us now.  We dove into this with high hopes.  An 18 year old Hot Springs Grandee Spa we couldn't afford to replace that had become a non-functioning eyesore.

Almost $3,000 later it's almost finished.  All pump seals have been replaced.  All leaks have been repaired.  New heater.  New ozonator.  New hoses and tubing where accessible.  New redwood siding.  New top.  And a new set of redwood steps, identical to the old ones.

We looked around and nowhere could we find anything close to what we could afford.  Even a 1997 Grandee was twice what we spent.

So here's the before and after pictures.  Sorry we didn't take a better before but we never expected to take this as far as we did. 

[d00nut]

That looks beautiful!  Great Job!   

[soak-king]

  Great work! Now you're all set for the next 20 yrs!  

[ejf The Spa Guy]

nice job on the refurb it looks good...

[JulieMor]

Thank you!  It's always nice to get a compliment.

Of all the things I did, the woodworking is my proudest accomplishment.  Starting with 2x6 redwood lumber, I resawed the 2" into three pieces, thickness planed it, ripped it, and routed in the overlap and trim.  And duplicating the old steps was pretty cool too.  It shows you what you can do when you try.  A little faith helped too.

Thanks again for the kind words!

Julie

[Spatech_tuo]

Thank you!  It's always nice to get a compliment.

In that case, you have a very lovely hand as well.

[Bonibelle]

Amazing... congratulations on a beautiful job!

[Chas]

I had a customer bring in a set of steps just like those - but they were curved to fit an old HotSpring "Classic" model. I can't get them any more, so I replaced two of the bottom pieces which had started to rot. Then I cleaned them with a "Deck Brightener" and they looked good! I tightened up all the fasteners, put in a couple of extra screws here and there, and then ran over the tread surfaces with a belt sander to make the parts their bare feet would touch all nice and smooth. Once over with an orbital sander removed any sanding marks from the belt machine and evened out some of the color variations, and then a thorough coat of stain. They were better than new - but I had to charge accordingly. If I recall, they gladly paid me around $350 for the refurbished steps - which was slightly more than they had paid for them new, ten years before.

[JulieMor]

The lumber alone for the steps cost me $200.  The old ones had too much rot to save anything.  I probably spent about 10 hours cutting, shaping and finishing the steps.  I think the old steps, when we bought them back in '93, ran about $250.  None of the stores around here carry redwood steps.  They are all plastic or some other manufactured material.

If I had to make another set of steps it would probably take me less than half the time.  Some of the time making the new steps was spent trying to take apart the old ones and use the parts as templates.  Then it turned out wood was too rotted to use for that so I just used the old steps for dimensions.

Unlike the siding, which was pretty time consuming getting to the final dimensions, the steps used stock 2x4 lumber.  All I had to do was cut the curves and round over the edges at the router table.

I finished everything with Penofin Oil in clear.

[Chas]

Well, it all looks great! Enjoy your 'new' hot tub.