My partner and I were looking to get an above ground hot tub, mainly because we are big on doing as much as we can ourselves (free labor). So today we needed to dig a foundation. We hit rubble, lots of rubble. We started pulling it out. We found the edge of a wall. So of course we just keep digging. (several cool old pots and weird statues were recovered).
Needless to say, right where we were going to put the foundation we found an approx. 12 foot diameter old hot tub, with an 8' diameter bench and bottom. It appears to be a concrete shell with a light blue plaster? lining. There were several copper pipes and what appears to be an intake/outflow. Our house was built in 1954, and there were no records of the hot tub from the previous owners who bought in the 80s so we are guessing it is original. We managed to take the fill out of the entire "hot tub", but our rubble pile ended up being where the outflow exited. Tomorrow we plan on moving that rubble and seeing what is there.
A little background, in college I worked installing large Koi ponds, so I am familiar with hooking up plumbing, pumps etc... just not for people. I did some preliminary research on re-plastering and epoxy coatings - I have also seen some info on fiberglass coating old cement pools. I have built fiberglass aquariums before, but this doesn't feel like the best option.
I have no idea yet if we should abandon the plan to dig it up, try and fix it, or make a pond, but it was a really fun find in our yard.
My two questions I guess are:
Has anyone ever gotten a buried pool/spa into working shape?
Is there anything further I should look for, or try not to break, or could use a clues to figure out the history of the hot tub?
Needless to say, right where we were going to put the foundation we found an approx. 12 foot diameter old hot tub, with an 8' diameter bench and bottom. It appears to be a concrete shell with a light blue plaster? lining. There were several copper pipes and what appears to be an intake/outflow. Our house was built in 1954, and there were no records of the hot tub from the previous owners who bought in the 80s so we are guessing it is original. We managed to take the fill out of the entire "hot tub", but our rubble pile ended up being where the outflow exited. Tomorrow we plan on moving that rubble and seeing what is there.
A little background, in college I worked installing large Koi ponds, so I am familiar with hooking up plumbing, pumps etc... just not for people. I did some preliminary research on re-plastering and epoxy coatings - I have also seen some info on fiberglass coating old cement pools. I have built fiberglass aquariums before, but this doesn't feel like the best option.
I have no idea yet if we should abandon the plan to dig it up, try and fix it, or make a pond, but it was a really fun find in our yard.
My two questions I guess are:
Has anyone ever gotten a buried pool/spa into working shape?
Is there anything further I should look for, or try not to break, or could use a clues to figure out the history of the hot tub?
Last edited: