Secret of the House
Buying a house is exciting enough as it is. Discovering that it holds a secret is even more exciting. We all dream of discovering something valuable or unusual but few of us ever do. One young couple did just that during the coronavirus lockdown.
But what exactly could they have found while cooped up in the house?
The Ronsmans
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39-year-old Mark and Jenny Ronsman from Wisconsin bought a home just over three years ago. When they were buying the house, it was mentioned that there was a hot tub under the home office’s floor.
Having never been able to look for it, the lockdown gave them the perfect opportunity.
History
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The elderly lady who had owned the house before had mentioned the hidden tub and admitted that it had seldom been used which is why it was covered over. The woman told them that it had been turned into a home office instead.
She showed them photos of the tub in use but it was hard to see what the tub actually looked like.
Discovering
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When Mark and Jenny finally moved in, they decided to tear away the carpet above the hidden hot tub. Once they pried open the cover, Mark was surprised to see that the tile in the hot tub still seemed to be beautifully preserved.
The find just got even more exciting.
Recounting
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“I was truly shocked and overjoyed that something so beautiful was IN our house! I was also truly grateful to discover the previous owners took such great care that what they did could be reversed!” Mark recalled.
However, that didn’t mean that they didn’t need to do some work.
Minor Fixes
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“Thankfully, the tub was in really great shape. The tile is absolutely beautiful. After tearing off the cover, I then had to chip away all of the leveling material they used around the edges of the tub. Next, I put a new coat of sealant on the stone floors,” Mark stated.
Hard Work
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“After that, we spent hours upon hours getting all of the grout whitened and the tub sanitized. We also had to put weather stripping on all the doorways to better seal in the air. Finally, we added a security system so that an alarm will go off if someone enters the room without deactivating it.”
“We have a small child and never wanted to have to worry about her falling in unsupervised,” Mark explains.
Time To Spare
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The couple finally got the time to finish fixing it and get it running. “While it was always our intention to fix up the hot tub, it really didn’t reach the top of our ‘need’ list until the lockdown, so that’s when we kicked it up a gear in terms of restoration efforts,” Mark said.
Second Opinion
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“We got a second opinion from a hot tub professional, and now we do plan to replace at least one of the water pumps for energy efficiency reasons. Due to the power consumption differences between the old and new pump, the new pump will actually pay for itself in less than a year. So hopefully we can get that work done as soon as possible!”
Close-Knit
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“I’m an IT systems engineer and my wife Jenny is a college professor. We have an amazing 5-year-old daughter. The dear old woman who sold this house sold it to us because she said it was important for her that the house goes to a nice family. Our in-laws live across our backyard, the street over, and the former owner just loved that, and how close it would make our family.”