I just got some old jacuzzi from craigslist and it has some issues but nothing major that I can tell, but I am not a spa expert. The shell looks good, no cracks, it has a small patch in the bottom but when I bought it I saw it running and it wasn't leaking. So now I am ready to install it.

First question is how do I remove the existing skirting and still move it around? The existing skirting is damaged and I want to build it into my deck. Can i just remove all the wood and let it set on the center? The skirt was damaged and needs to be rebuilt.

Second question, I live in Iowa and temps rise and fall, should I pour a slab or put in sona tubes and a ground level deck? I have a current deck that I will expand that is about 3ft off the ground and I want the hot tub top to be about a foot above the deck, not flush.

I just got thru replacing my tub skirting. Moving it aournd while it was withoit the cabinet was a little tricky. I picked up one side of mine and kicked a length of pvc pipe under it. i didn't need to move mine very far so I was able to keep it from rolling off yet still move it around with ease.

I set the base on mine flat on my deck then built walls to support the rim. You don't have to get too fancy. I've seen some tubs sitting on gravel beds. I would place a plywood under the footwell if I did this, then build the deck and short tub surround walls to fit. You can place your tub on pavers. The larger red ones work real good. Just level them with a good base under them.

My tub is about 500 gallons, so that'll be about 4000 pounds of water. My deck is just a few inches off the ground so my structure is sitting on 25 simple cement pads directly under the tub. (Someone gave me a large stack of them). If you do the math, it's only about 160 pounds per pad so mine is way overkill.

Once you have your new surround built, add a simple layer of the sheet styrofoam insulation tacked to the inside of the new cabinet walls. It'll add a little extra r value to cut down on the heating bill.

Don't worry yourself up about it too much. I rebuilt mine in two afternoons. It was easy and fun, and it looks how I want it to look now.