I agree with all the previous posters that a jetted tub is more trouble than it's worth. Cleaning is tedious and time consuming. We just sold our house with one. The first thing the new owners did was replace it with a soaking tub. On the other hand, the house we've moved into while we rebuild, has only showers in both baths. Showers are okay, but I really miss having a tub! And I'm certain having no tub will hurt the resale of this house. When my parents built their retirement home, they shared your thoughts about the necessity of a tub in the master bath. And, like you, they were concerned about resale. They decided to put a nice tub in the guest bath that shared a wall with the master bath. In framing, they framed for a door between the 2 baths and covered the opening with sheetrock. The new owners will have the option of opening the master to include the tub area. With a short wall added, the former guest bath would become a powder room or a small shower could be added. If your plan allows, that might be an option.

I have a similar question to russiancup's. I need to know if my deck can support the weight of the the hot tub we just put up, but haven't filled it yet due to concern about the structure. We built our deck a year ago. It is a second story deck, 9 ft off the ground, and wraps around the house. The deck is essentially two decks attached at the corner of the house. This portion of the deck is 12' by 28'. The adjoining side is 10' x32'. We used 2"x10"x12' joisting, 16" O.C. and the joists are attached to the house using a 2x12" ledger. Then, remaining support comes from a beam which is constructed from 2-2x10's sandwiched around 4x6 posting. The posts have 8 ft spacings between them. The beam is 8 ft from the house leaving a cantilevered portion that is 42". The posts that are 8ft apart are shirred with a 3 ft wall underneath the deck to help support and minimize sway factors. In addition to this, we added 3 more 4x6 posts to the corners of the this 12' x 28' portion of the deck because we plan to build a lite weight roof over the deck. These 4x6 posts rise up 16 feet through the deck (are bolted to it) and will be tied together using 2x6 roofing joists that are A-framed for strength. In the area where we put the tub, there are the 2-4x6 corner posts, plus the beam support and posts, plus we installed an addition 4x4 post directly beneath the tub. Since a structural engineer said it would cost $500.00 to assess this (and this is out of my budget)I could really use some advice as to whether this structure is strong enough to hold a 500 gallon tub?

--- "Yeah I'm in PA, not to far from NJ and Philly. I'm looking for a used hot tub, I didnt want to outlay 8k in these uncertain times. So I thought I could find something that would last us a few years until we get out of this awful recession. I am holding out for the right deal and I dont want somebody else's junk. A moving sale would be ideal!" --- Why not place a few ads stating that you're looking for a used hot tub? There may be someone near you who doesn't use their tub and would welcome the opportunity to have it removed. I'm a home inspector. It's not unheard of to find a hot tub staying with the house and the buyer saying that they don't want it. Maybe you can contact some home inspectors in your area and offer them a finders fee if they would run into a similar situation and you work out a deal for a tub. --- "How on earth did you find the website design on a msg board? You are a true inpector indeed. I dont even think it's the 'real' Whirlpool name that we all know since they are using a hyphen in their spelling." --- I Googled the name. That message board was the first result - ahead of the website itself. Now THAT tells you something. I think it's safe to say that the appliance company is in no way related. --- "I read your post twice, I only see one contradiction where they say 'they work with whirl-spa manufacturers' but their biz name indicates THEY ARE the manufacturer. Plus on their 'About Us' page they indicate they are the 3rd largest spa manufacturer in the world. They certainly dont appear to live up to that, per their dinky site." --- Well, -I- went back and read it carefully, and it's only four. Oops. You picked up the most blatant one. Two of the others are similar: They claim to have been contracted to liquidate excess inventory, but yet they also claim to be the manufacturer, and they take pride instead of we take pride. Also, the claim of selling dirt cheap to avoid additional storage and transportation fees does not jibe with the reason they are being liquidated. There are also a few minor errors that a large, legit company simply wouldn't have on their website, such as capitalizing dealer and not capitalizing Home Depot. For having been in business 15 years, it's mighty strange that the domain name has only been registered since July 15, 2008. It was registered through GoDaddy, something that I doubt the third largest spa manufacturer in the world would do. A whois search revealed the registrant is Lianna Lawson. Ms. Lawson had a candle company called Winning Wicks that she apparently operated out of her home in Jonesborough, Tennessee. I say HAD, because there doesn't seem to be an active web site for the company. I'm guessing that the candle company folded and she's now selling hot tubs out of her house, over the internet. Joe Here is a link that might be useful: Winning Wicks

You should throw this in your landlord's lap to get fixed...it's not your property to repair. Otherwise, at the end of your lease, the landlord could easily seize your damage deposit on the pretext that your "repair" damaged his property.