Our Current Project

Late last week, on Saturday, Grig and I were outside working on the yard.

We began to plan the layout we wanted, and in the process started talking about the hot tub.

See, here's the deal. Technically we weren't supposed to have the hot tub. It wasn't in the contract when we bought the house, and we kept expecting the old owners to remove it before we bought it. However, every time we asked, they never said anything and (since they live in Texas) it may have been too much of a hassle to come and haul it away.

So, we ended up with a hot tub.

We had toyed with the idea of cleaning it out and using it as a swimming pool. We couldn't afford actual hot tub maintenance, and we didn't even know where to begin. However, after talking about it, we decided to get rid of it. We decided it would just look tacky as a swimming pool, and it would also be a potential place of drowning. We didn't really want any money for it, we just wanted it gone.

So, following this conversation, I put an ad up on KSL, Craigslist, and some facebook classified pages, offering a free hot tub. We tried to be very honest about the shape it was in. Here is the picture we used:

It obviously needs to be cleaned out, but we don't have any clue when it last was used. The tub itself is in good shape, and with a little love, it could be a great hot tub.

It didn't even take and hour before we started getting texts and facebook comments. A couple of people lost interest after they saw the picture (I forgot to upload it to KSL the first time) and one young man came by that we never heard from again.

Sunday night (when I don't deal in business transactions), I had two people on facebook fighting to come and take it away. I waited to respond until Monday, when I gave them my cell phone and told them to text me.

I didn't hear from anyone for a while, but I started feeling like maybe I should get it ready to go, just in case. This is what it looked like before:

The wood around it doesn't look too bad in this picture, but it was really dangerous inside. It was pretty soggy and rotten and I feared for my life every time I entered.

Thinking that Grig wasn't going to be home for a while (he was supposed to go apply to some jobs after work), Kevin and I began to dismantle it.

I would steady his aim, and he would push the button on the drill. He did pretty great, and we were having a good time, when Grig suddenly appeared. I asked him why he was home so early, and he looked confused. Then, when I mentioned the job application, he went, "Oh, no! I completely forgot."

He was going to go shower quick and then we were all going to go with him so we could spend more time as a family. However, instead we ended up dismantling the wood the rest of the way. It went a lot faster with his help.

Once we'd removed all the wood, we found that there was a ton of insulation under the hot tub. We were going to leave it, but then we remembered that we have a one-year-old dog. If we had left it, he would have had it all over the yard before we could say "lickety-split." I don't know why we'd say that though.

Anyway, so then we raked up all the insulation and filled three black garbage bags full.

Grig was kind and let me shower first, since I was now covered in insulation dust. Then, he showered. By this time, it was too late to apply for the jobs, and I suddenly got a text on my phone.

It was the woman from facebook. She was asking if they could come and see the hot tub right then. We told her, "Sure."

She, her husband, and two adorable kids came to look at it. This is what it looked like when they got here:

They agreed that they wanted it, and were pleased to find out that they weren't going to have to dismantle the wood. I had been praying that whoever came would know how to remove the hot tub itself (it had pipes through the walls into the garage), and the husband told us that his brother would come to help who had experience removing hot tubs.

I felt like things worked out just the way they were supposed to. If Grig hadn't come home early, we wouldn't have finished clearing away the wood in time.

It already looks a lot better, and I can't wait to see what it looks like when the hot tub is completely gone. We're planning on putting a dog kennel where it is sitting right now. We'll see how that goes.

Projects are fun!