Pulp Deck

Pulp Deck

When it all starts coming together, it really comes together! This week brought one of those moments as work on the Pulp Deck continues. What happened you ask? Well, it just so happens that this week brought the relocation of the existing hot tub out to the recently complete Pulp Patio portion of the deck. Power run complete, jets and heaters up and running and chemicals added (much like a swimming pool). We should be back in the tub by later today!

Now, I should mention, we haven’t used the hot tub in about a year and a half. Simply put, it had sprung a leak and we were just too busy on other projects to give it the time to figure out why. Plus, we had always had it in mind to relocate it once the deck structure and new patio were complete, so……it took the back burner as they say. Drained it in place and pretty much just let it sit. Occasionally, I’d pop the cover open just to see if rain water was accumulating inside, as it was, and I’d take a little scupper to get out as much as I could. Then, one day, I bumped one of the light lenses on the inside wall and what do you know, a piece of the lens had cracked and completely fell out. This particular light was also, as I recalled, at the exact level where the water had drained down to when we first discovered the leak. Seemed I was on to something!

So I did a little research recently (knowing it was coming up on relocation time), and fairly easily found a replacement light fixture housing for it. I mentioned it to the spa relocation folks and it turns out they don’t do repairs, that’s a whole different team. I had also arranged for the electricians to be here the next day to connect the power, and for that to go well, we kind of needed the water to be up to expected levels so we could run the pumps and heater, so…..decided I’d do the repair myself (figured how hard could it be)? Here’s the lesson learned. Repair itself, aka, replacing the light fixture housing and seal gasket, not too hard, seeing how they construct hot tubs, very interesting!

To get to the fixture, you have to pull the side panels off (no brainer) and this being the side with the controls, motors, pumps, fairly educational. Then I found the wire to the light fixture. And then it disappeared into a wall of foam. Foam here, foam there, foam everywhere! Seems the way they construct hot tubs is to get everything in place (water jets, light fixtures, filter holders, etc.) and then they cover it all in spray foam, much like the kind you use to insulate your house! Which all made a ton of sense as you want to do everything you can to get that water heated up and then keep it there. What to do? Start digging, carefully, around the wire until you uncover the fixture itself. Give it enough room so you can get your hand around it (most important when putting the new one in so you can ensure it is nice and tight), install new fixture, push any loose insulation back up around the new fixture, seal the tin foil wrap (did I mention the foam was completed wrapped in tin foil?) with duct tape and then get the hose and fill the tub.

Next step? Wait overnight and cross fingers that it did the trick. Drum roll please…..it did the trick! We were back in business. It was a good week.

Some progress pics adjacent and below. See you next week!