Couple Bought A New House And Discovered A Roman Bath Hidden Underneath The Floor Interview With Owner
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Mark and Jenny Ronsman, both 39, from Wisconsin, US, bought their house three and a half years ago. They were told that there was a hidden hot tub under the home office. However, they’d never had the time to set about getting it up and running until lockdown happened and they had more time on their hands. Scroll down for Bored Panda’s interview with the couple!
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Image credits: Mark Ronsman
Image credits: Mark Ronsman
The previous homeowner, an elderly lady, had spoken about the secret tub that was covered years ago due to lack of use. She said that as they got older, they stopped using it and decided to convert it into an office. She even showed an old photo of it filled with water and people, but it didn’t give a good view of how the hot tub itself looked. “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!” remembers Mark.
Image credits: Mark Ronsman
Image credits: Mark Ronsman
When Mark and Jenny moved into their new house, one of the first things that they did was to tear away the carpet above the hidden treasure. Mark was really surprised that the tile in the hot tub looked beautiful and was deep. “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. 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,” he explains.
Image credits: Mark Ronsman
Image credits: Mark Ronsman
Now they finally have the time to fix it up to run again. “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,” says Mark. “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!”
Image credits: Mark Ronsman
Image credits: Mark Ronsman
“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.”
Image credits: Mark Ronsman
Image credits: Mark Ronsman
Image credits: Mark Ronsman
Image credits: Mark Ronsman
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Why is the phrase "Roman bath" in the headline? I'm pretty sure Spartacus wasn't around in 1972.
Exactly. I thought they bought a house in Europe and found an ancient bath in their basement. I feel misled.
Picky picky. It's not just any old hot tub. I was pleasantly surprised.
In the style of a Roman Bath.
Is it? Complete with calidarium, tepidarium, frigidarium, hypocausts, etc?
A Roman bath is a dug out style of deeply inset soaking bath. So everyone who knew what it meant was expecting to see a tiled, in-ground hot tub.
Except me. I'm an Old European, and I've visited the remains of a Roman bath house, part of a wider villa complex. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chedworth_Roman_Villa
What was found under this floor will shock you! Covered floor leads to amazing discovery you have to see to believe! This is like a power washer for your arteries!
LOLLLL this is a swinger's tub hahaha
Well DUH! It's the type and style so therefore its a Roman bath. Now, 'scuse me while I take a bath and keep yer Hans away.
For Clickbait hahaha It's just a hot tub as per the article, they could have added roman bath inspired hot tub in the headline then.
My first thought seeing this was...when did the Romans conquer Wisconsin?
They’re still trying. Their ships march up and down the coast like a tiger in a cage.
I thought I missed that day in History.
They're called "Italians" now... and they pretty much only got as far a New York, and some more of the East coast. Faded out a bit beyond that. Took about 1700 years... but never big in Wisconsin. That pump filter cover is definitely a giveaway to this being a bit newer than Roman era. ;-)
Clickbait! I thought it was an actual ancient bath when I read the headline. Then I see it's in the US and just an old tub.
This comment has been deleted.
Martha Meyer If this blue jewel is an "old tub" then what does that make you?? An ol biddy is what. =D
Such a beautiful tub it is too.
Why is the phrase "Roman bath" in the headline? I'm pretty sure Spartacus wasn't around in 1972.
Exactly. I thought they bought a house in Europe and found an ancient bath in their basement. I feel misled.
Picky picky. It's not just any old hot tub. I was pleasantly surprised.
In the style of a Roman Bath.
Is it? Complete with calidarium, tepidarium, frigidarium, hypocausts, etc?
A Roman bath is a dug out style of deeply inset soaking bath. So everyone who knew what it meant was expecting to see a tiled, in-ground hot tub.
Except me. I'm an Old European, and I've visited the remains of a Roman bath house, part of a wider villa complex. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chedworth_Roman_Villa
What was found under this floor will shock you! Covered floor leads to amazing discovery you have to see to believe! This is like a power washer for your arteries!
LOLLLL this is a swinger's tub hahaha
Well DUH! It's the type and style so therefore its a Roman bath. Now, 'scuse me while I take a bath and keep yer Hans away.
For Clickbait hahaha It's just a hot tub as per the article, they could have added roman bath inspired hot tub in the headline then.
My first thought seeing this was...when did the Romans conquer Wisconsin?
They’re still trying. Their ships march up and down the coast like a tiger in a cage.
I thought I missed that day in History.
They're called "Italians" now... and they pretty much only got as far a New York, and some more of the East coast. Faded out a bit beyond that. Took about 1700 years... but never big in Wisconsin. That pump filter cover is definitely a giveaway to this being a bit newer than Roman era. ;-)
Clickbait! I thought it was an actual ancient bath when I read the headline. Then I see it's in the US and just an old tub.
This comment has been deleted.
Martha Meyer If this blue jewel is an "old tub" then what does that make you?? An ol biddy is what. =D
Such a beautiful tub it is too.