# Gazebo / decking / railway sleepers / hot tub / landscaping



## beavere38 (8 Jul 2008)

I recently made the mistake of taking a good look at our bland back garden and suggesting to the wife we should do something about it and that we should maybe get a hot tub in one corner.

This is a project in progress and although it involves just the hot tub and design of the gazebo / decking so far I thought I would post pics and make it a running diary. I hope this is ok.

We have a Hot Spring Spa dealer near us and we found a hot tub we liked which was over £11k called the Envoy and we then found one 18 months old on Fleabay with loads of extras and bought it saving a fortune on the new price.

Here are some pics of the tub at the old location:

















So I set about taking down our old shed and ripping up the old slab base. You can see how our garden has an awkward slope and a funny triangular corner behind the spot chosen for the tub. I'll be putting a triangular railway sleeper planter in there later.











A new reinforced concrete slab installed ready.






The level of earth in the garden is too high around the conservatory - in fact it is six inches above the damp course in places. That's going to be resolved very soon (not a very clear picture) Those slabs are level with the damp course and should be two courses lower than that.






The only way to get the tub into the back garden was to use a crane to lift it over the house. I asked the wife to make sure she got some good pics but this is the best she managed! I was instructed not to turn up at 3pm when the local school round the corner kicks out but it took us almost 4 hours to remove it from the old location and I got home at 2:59 exactly. It caused a lot of interest and a bus got stuck while the crane was lifting and caused a traffic jam as well. The neighbours love me!






Someone on here mentioned Sketchup so I downloaded it a couple of days ago and was able to use it to create a plan of how I will be sorting everything out. Here is a screenshot. The Gazebo roof will not be pointed though, it will have a flat window on top so you can see the stars but I couldn't work out how to draw that at the time (my first attempt with the software)






I am lowering the ground outside the conservatory, having slab and railway sleeper steps in two directions which will also form flower beds. Around the tub will be Greene Deck which is a sort of astro-turf decking so it won't be slippy when wet like regular decking and won't be red hot on the feet in the sun like slabs. I am using vertically mounted sleepers as a sort of "retaining wall" infront of the tub as there is a lot of weight there - 2.5 tonnes for the tub + water + 5 people and I don't know how heavy the concrete base would be.

Here is the tub installed on the slab:











You can't use sun tan lotion etc in the tub as it ruins the water quality. First time we went in with the kids in the sun we started to burn so I bought a temporary gazebo for £10 on fleabay (don't laugh!) I had to wedge it against the fence with the old shed base bits to stop it blowing away but it will keep the sun off for now.






This constant rain has made progress impossible but here you can see where the vertical sleeper wall will soon be (photo taken today).






That's it for now - I hope this is of interest even though it is only in part to do with wood working and there hasn't been much of that so far!


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## Digit (8 Jul 2008)

You're a sucker for punishment, or a lot younger than me, but good luck with it. Looking good!

Roy


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## mailee (8 Jul 2008)

Nice looking tub there. My last hot tub gazebo housed one just like it. Looks like you have go tthe hang of Sketchup without any problems too. Just a small comment, you mention you will have a top window to look at the stars placed in the top of the roof. I would advise against this as you will get a build up of mould, detritus which will be hard to keep clean. One of my customers originally wanted this but after mentioning the fact of keeping it clean he diceided to go for two windows one each side. Last one I made the customer wanted three windows on each of the sides facing away from the house. This is much easier to clean from a ladder and doesn't get the build up a flat top window would. Just a suggestion but one worth mentioning I think. I have built a few of these as you know so if you have any questions please ask we are here to help. :wink:


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## beavere38 (9 Jul 2008)

Thanks for the moral support guys!

I did think about the problem of cleaning the roof window but then I wanted to keep the roof as low as possible as it will be towering over the fence at the side of the garden.

What pitch roof could I get away with and do you know how high the horizontal crossmembers are usually from the ground?

I'm doing the slabs/sleepers first, then I will build the gazebo without roof - that will enable me to fit the greene decking and then I will add the roof to the gazebo so plenty of time to think about the roof design yet.

I'll keep posting pictures as I progress.

Cheers!

Justyn.


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## shayne (6 Apr 2011)

It looks great. Much better if you install a Gazebo with a clear roof so the sky will be see through. It was like there was none. The basic advantage of a gazebo is that it provides a roofed area for protection against the sun, heat of the sun and rain. Having a gazebo in your garden allows you to stay outdoors and relax even under the hot sun or during a rainy day which makes swimming in the hot tub more enjoyable and fun.


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## adidat (6 Apr 2011)

looking good, im packing my trunks as i type

adidat


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