[Don_S]

Thanks. The double hung windows block some of the view, but are nice to control the breezes. When it is too cold and windy or rainy, we will open the top halves, nicer weather, the bottom halves.

Don, when you pick out your favorite two or three tubs, see if the dealer will let you try them out, in the store, after hours. Most of the dealers around here did this for us.

jk, I have only been to one dealer and he did let me get into any tub I wanted.  But none of them had water.   

One thing I like about the model I picked so far is the one piece design.  No cavities (except the pump/filter area) to fill up with itsy, bitsy, spiders which thrive in Sacramento. I just returned from 2.5 weeks in OH and spiders had taken over many outside areas of my home.  Bad weather had kept them in check and then they exploded. I also find several black widows every year.  It would be nice to have my hot tub be a relatively spider-free zone.

[mcgsxr]

When we bought this house 12 years ago it came with a Beachcomber 6 person tub.  My wife did not want it, so we later sold it off.  I left all the wiring in place, just tucked under the deck (breaker removed from the panel at the time).

~3 years ago we did a backyard reno and my wife decided she did want a tub now.  We bought a 6 person Jacuzzi locally.

I had a pad poured for the tub, but it is tilted more than I would have preferred.  No real issue, other than the water level in the tub is around 1-1.5 inches "tilted".

I have seen tubs installed on gravel or even patio stones, so I know you don't NEED to do a pad specifically for your tub.  I was having other concrete work done anyway, so added that pad to the project at the time.  Our deck butts up against one side, so people can either use the steps that came with the tub on 1 side, or just go in off the deck on an adjacent side.

Been happy with it.  I even use it more than I thought I would.  Typically have to add chemicals 2x a week.  Drain and refill 4 times a year.  I run it all winter up here in Canada.

Here is a summer pic after the project completed.

[Don_S]

Here is one option suggested by the hot tub seller.  I think the price is ridiculous.  $450 for an 8' x8' pad and $250 for a smaller pad for the small tub I like.  Probably 4' x 6'.

https://leisureconcepts.com/products/spa-accessories/smartdeck/

I am probably going to be pouring concrete anyway so adding a pad will be much less expensive. There is no landscaping provided on either side of the house or the back yard. There is a very long stretch from my garage grade door to my back yard.  I need some kind of walkway.  Poured concrete might be too expensive.  I need to look at other options.

[Phil A]

I need some kind of walkway.  Poured concrete might be too expensive.  I need to look at other options.

Below is a pic of the side of my old house.  Leading up to each side of the low deck were 4x4s with weed block fabric in between, pea pebbles (and I did it by the bag) and 16x16 inch concrete walking stones (can use other sizes).  On the one side, I did about a 10x16 foot area of them with walkways going to my small vegetable garden (and where you can't see as it is not in the pic a walkway going to the side of the lower deck).

[Don_S]

Phil,

How did you keep the area clean?  I have a large area around my pool and in front of my house filled with 1.5" salt & pepper rocks over weed mat.  Weeds don't care and grow anyway.  I have to vacuum both areas at least 2X/yr to get out debris otherwise the rocks would eventually disappear, especially around my pool.  I use an electric blower/vac attached by a 4" diameter hose to a trash can with a net cover. I am on my 4th blower/vac.  They keep eating things that don't agree with them.   

It is a lot of work lugging around an increasingly heavy trash can plus the blower/vac.  I thought I could vacuum some of the areas adjacent to concrete using a shop vac so I purchased a powerful Rigid vac that is cart mounted.  I did not use any attachments on the large diameter hose so leaves land pine needles would not get stuck.  Did NOT work big time.  Clunk, thunk, bang, clunk.  The vac sucked up full size rocks like I scarf M&Ms. 

My new home will not have any rear or side landscaping included and I am looking for easy maintenance operations.  The areas will not be large but I am hoping to put in 2-3 small fruit trees. There will be leaves and fruit to pick up.  I realize that but with lawns it is not so hard. Mowers are great for picking up leaves left after raking.  1.5" rocks and pea gravel, not so much.

[Phil A]

Don - I took the weed block fabric and used roofing nails (so they won't rust) to attach the fabric to the inside sides of the 4x4s.  Kept most of the weeds out (sometimes I'd get a couple near the 4x4s).

[Phil A]

I also used a blower to get the leaves.  The back of my property was a hill after the deck and I had them leave the little trees which grew up as mowing would be tough. The side in my previous pic had grass but after the dog died in the latter part of 2004, I didn't need it any more.  Below is a pic of the upper deck so that you can see the trees and know I had lots of leaves (which I blew down the hill and bagged some too.