Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Re: Hot tub ongoing costs?

[PattyMara Gourley (pattymara]

I agree with Liz about the novelty of having anything (hot tub,
trampoline, bounce house) new.  It will be a kid magnet at first.  Tierra
Nueva has both a hot tub and a trampoline.   Both were donations from
families at move-in.  

Costs for the hot tub:  we budget about $200 per year for maintenance
costs, and have a reserve fund for scheduled replacement of parts.  One
person is our hot tub guru, and he is basically on call to troubleshoot
and fix it.  It is an old redwood tub.  We use an ozone machine, which
works great,  instead of chemicals.    A very important issue with hot
tubs is safety.  Ours has a locking cover, and must be locked at all
times when not in use.  Kids cannot be in the tub without an adult
supervising.  Our tub seems to get used about 3 times a week, max, by 1 -
3 persons on average.  It is heated by natural gas, and it takes about
1-2 hours to heat up.  (It's not hot all the time.)  Difficult to assess
costs because it is on a shared meter with the common house.  Because it
is an old one, and awkward to get in and out of, it is not universally
used.  But those of us who do use it, love it.    And on occasion, maybe
once a month, I'll hear a passle of kids in the tub, having a great time
together.  It is a funny scene:  an adult, relatively serene, orbited by
4 - 6  swirling, splashy kids.

By the way, it is clothing optional, and most of the time people wear
swimsuits during the day.  But who knows what happens under the light of
a full moon or a sky full of stars?

Patty Mara Gourley, Tierra Nueva, central CA coast
where the monarch butterflies have returned for the winter from the
pacific northwest.

On Tue, 14 Oct 2003 14:15:54 -0700 Elizabeth Stevenson
<tamgoddess [at] comcast.net> writes:
> 
> That was *one* weekend. I also had a lot of screaming, bouncing kids 
> when I
> got a trampoline, but the furor died down after a few days. Nobody 
> asks to
> use it anymore.
> 
> I've never heard anyone with a permanent installation even mention 
> that kids
> were a problem, except for making sure that toddlers wouldn't fall 
> in.
> -- 
> Liz Stevenson
> Southside Park Cohousing
> Sacramento, California
> tamgoddess [at] comcast.net
> 
> > 
> > I'd recommend renting one for a weekend. I did that for a personal 
> party 5
> > months ago, invited the whole community and there hasn't been any
> > conversation about getting a hot tub since. There are a lot of 
> reasons for
> > this but screaming, bouncing, out-of-control kids were the main 
> problem. I
> > would guess you should plan on MANY conversations with parents 
> about their
> > responsibility and kids' use before hand. Just my observation 
> about my
> > situation.
> > Anne
> 
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> 


www.gourleydesign.com

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