How to design for a Jacuzzi in your house.
The name Jacuzzi originates from a family of Italian brothers who originated from Italy and settled in California,U.S.A in the early 1900s.
The Jacuzzi brothers were aeronautical engineers who designed propeller engines for air-crafts. They left aviation engineering and concentrated on agricultural engineering in the design of agricultural water pumps.
The Jacuzzi whirlpool bath was invented in the early 1940s by Candidi Jacuzzi, a second generation Jacuzzi. His son suffered from Rheumatoid Arthritis and used to receive hydro-therapy from the hospital. He designed a portable pump that could be fitted inside a bathtub to give the hydro-therapy.
In the late 1960s, Roy Jacuzzi, a third-generation Jacuzzi toyed with the idea of marketing the pump-fitted bath tub dubbed the ‘Roman Bathtub’ to cater for the growing need for leisure .
Although the larger Jacuzzi family thought this idea was a little weird, the sales grew and soon the bathtub was designed to be a bit larger so as to fit in 2 people. The designed improved farther over several years and the Jacuzzi s became larger and larger.
The laid-back culture of California became a very good launching pad for the Jacuzzi more so as famous movie stars popularized it further in their quest for opulent and glamorous lives.
In 1979, the Jacuzzi s sold the company to Kidde Inc. which was later bought by Hanson PLC in 1987.In 1996, the company strengthened itself further by purchasing a leading Canadian swimming pool manufacturer, Haugh’s Products Limited and diversified and improved the designs further.
Currently, Jacuzzi is the world’s most recognized whirl pool brand name.
Space requirements.
A standard Jacuzzi comes in dimensions of 1.8m by 1.8m by 0.8m height.
The bathroom area should therefore be large enough to fit in this size and leave enough room for circulation and dressing inside the bathroom.
A bathroom size of 2.8 m by 2.8 m is sufficient enough to fit in a Jacuzzi and leave enough space around it.
Location.
The Jacuzzi can be located next to a large bay window in the bathroom.
For a room that has a lot of privacy such as an upstairs room, the window can be designed to be large to bring in a lot of light and give a panoramic view of the outside.
For privacy purposes, the window glass can be frosted or obscured or one-way. Since a Jacuzzi is a place where people spend a considerable amount of time inside, it should have good wide panoramic views so as to avoid monotony and boredom.
Jacuzzi s can also be placed on the out-doors.
Installation.
The floor area is screeded and raised 100mm form the floor level with a bed of cement-sand mortar.
The Jacuzzi is placed on top and screwed to the ground.
The connecting plumbing pipes are fixed to the house’s water pipes and the pump is connected to the electricity point.
Ceramic tiles are then fitted around the wall to a height of 2.1 meters above ground level so as to protect the wall from moisture .
The ceramic wall tiles can be designed to a pattern and colour of your choice.
Jacuzzis in Kenya cost around KES 60,000 and are available in hardware shops such as Doshi in Industrial area.The price depends on the size and shape. They come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes.
Frank Gichuhi.
Architect.
www.a4architect.com
+254 721 410684
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