As if one major project is not enough, the imminent approach of winter and the current bad weather has prioritised some house projects. The biggest one being in the garden.
As those of you who followed my YouTube channel last year will remember there was always drama with the hot tub. Mainly because when the river (and my entire garden) flooded it damaged the hot tub control unit. Somehow, with some help, I managed to take it apart and get it running again. Impressively it lasted well into the summer, being quite heavily used. Sadly in July it died, and I decide to replace it with another of the same model. BUT with the idea that before winter set in I would build a deck so that both the tub and the control unit would be raised up high enough to give me time to move them if we were flash flooded again.
In keeping with my previous projects I wanted to see if I could do it for as cheap as possible, and as eco friendly as possible so I sourced 4 wooden pallets for free off Facebook marketplace as well as a load of deck boards (also free!). It is brilliant having Betty bus as it makes collecting materials so much easier!
After getting all the materials back to the island the first step was to cut the pallets to size and level them all out. I used the smaller pieces of deck board and off cuts of the pallets to shim each pallet to the right height and ensure they were all level.
The next day I start cladding the top of the pallets with the deck board. It takes some time as I need to remove a lot of old screws and I choose the pieces that are in the best condition.
Finally all that’s left is to clad the sides. By this point I’ve run out of long pieces in decent condition so I have to use the off cuts that I have leftover. As I’m losing the light this will have to be finished another day.
After a total of about 4 hours the deck is mostly built and all that is left is to finish the sides and order the foam mats that sit between the deck and hot tub. This provides insulation and protection from any errant screws or nails I may have missed removing from the deck boards. It looks amazing and I’m really happy with my completely FREE deck.
So happy in fact I’m thinking of ordering some round solar lights to inset around the hot tub for that added ambiance…but maybe that’s a job for the spring.
Live Wild and Free 