Hot tub pad

[Hollywood]

Hello everyone,
  I am new here because I just had a friend give me a Jacuzzi from out of a house he was flipping.  (Seems it was too much work to move it from a courtyard area into the back yard like he originally planned)  Anyway, I am currently working on running the electric for my backyard and want to set the spa in its final resting place when I am done with that.

  I have a couple of questions.  The first is about cleaning it.  Yesterday we went to the pool supply store and the guy gave us some stuff to clean out the pipes and a cartridge cleaning solution but the shell of the spa is filthy.  Apparently it sat covered with dirty water in it and when the water evaporated it just left the dirt.  It is an acrylic spa and I don't want to do any damage to it.  What can we use to clean it out.  We already got the bulk of it out with water and a rag but there is still some dirt that needs some scrubbing.  Will a ScotchBrite pad work?
  Second is about the pad.  I am planning to build a deck around the spa and don't really want to go through the expense of concrete.  I have read that you can use crushed rock and the at house that we got the spa from it was sitting on round pavers (I think 12 of them) in sand.  I live in Arizona so the ground freezing isn't a problem.  Can I just do what was done before and use sand with some pavers?  If so, how deep do I need to make the sand?  If not what kind of crushed rock and how deep should that be?

  Sorry for all the questions but I like to get things right.  Thanks in advance.

[vangoghsear]

When I was looking into setting my hot tub, I read you need about 8" of sand and or gravel.  I ended up using 2" of sand and an EZ-Pad.  Cost wise I saved about $400 over concrete and I was able to do the work myself since I was only leveling the ground down about 3.5" for the sand and an 1.5" of the 2" EZ-Pad, leaving .5" above the ground.

[Sam]

The EZ pad is a good option, but will cost around $5-600.  You can make a square frame with 4" x 4"s and fill the inside with 3/4" crushed rock.  You can use pea gravel or sand or other sized rock, but 3/4" seems to work best.  The reason for the larger sized rock is that when you shift the spa laterally to get it in position, the leading edge will dig into the gravel when you use smaller sizes.  You can get a ton of rock for $40 or so.  This is the easiest and least expensive foundation that I have found.  It may not be the prettiest, but if you are building a deck around it, it won't matter.

I'm not sure if I articulated that well.  I'm going to try to post an image. (hopefully it works)

[vangoghsear]

Sam, I like that suggestion.  One thing though, with crushed stone he may need a bonding loop beneath the gravel.  I'm not sure, but I think I am right.  I did not need one under the EZ-Pad, but I did need one under the dirt surrounding the tub (no deck or pavers yet.).  He doesn't need one for the deck, but might for the gravel.  Again, not sure.

[Hollywood]

Thanks guys.  All very helpful, especially the picture.  Can't wait to get this thing running.