Measly Shovel Meets the Impenetrable

After working all day yesterday putting the rest of the siding on the spa, except for the equipment side, today I installed the cover rollers to have a place to put the cover when the spa is open, and cleaned the inside of the spa.

Then I was able to start the electrical trench. Simple 18″ deep trench from the side of the house to the patio wall, right?

So here is what I found lurking just a few inches under the top of the dirt!

Concrete blocking trench

Concrete blocking trench

This is one big sucker of a piece of concrete, and is it covering something or just there as construction debris? Should I dig it out, try to break it, or try to dig under it? Maybe the trench will have to go around it. DARN.

Concrete piece at least 6" thick

Concrete piece at least 6″ thick

This discovery was at the end of a pretty productive day. Nice cool weather today, probably only in the high 60’s or low 70’s and just gorgeous. Who wouldn’t want to live and work here?
These rollers are installed with two of the long screws that came with them and four shorter screws for where they only went through the siding. I drilled extra holes to hit the  support for the longer screws but it is only a 1 x 4 and they recommend 2 x 4’s, but that is what we have. The weight of the cover did not seem to stress the plastic holders. They are made of that tough plastic that they make step stools out of. I actually was expecting it to be metal, because the kit of these two supports was rather expensive, about $87. I guess they won’t rust anyway. I like it that the supports easily fold down when not in use.

Rollers for spa cover

Roller supports for spa cover

I used the wet vac to vacuum the water that got into the bottom when the cover blew open during a rainstorm and spent a good amount of time cleaning out the spa with Clorox Clean Up in hot water. It worked great to remove the dirt and stains.

I discovered that the owners had installed a shelf over the filter strainer and then removed it and caulked the holes. There were lines of brown, showing they used screws that rusted. I got most of the rusty streaks out using a 3M pad. Actually a shelf in that corner is a good idea, to hold drinks or whatever, but I don’t know how we would get the right materials or get it to fit exactly in the corner. I think that type of fabrication is beyond my skills.

Sparkling clean spa

Sparkling clean spa

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