Roofing and rain catchment

Big Dave · #21 01/07/09, 05:18 AM

Does not matter if your filtration system cleans your water. I am digging a pit and making a cement box. Filling this with limestone and the water runs thru it. Comes out clean. This is the process used in dyalisis also.

Kevingr · #22 01/07/09, 08:51 AM

Get the book "Rainwater collection for the Mechanically Challenged" by Suzy Banks and Richard Heinichen. For drinking water they use metal roofs but use carbon filters and ultra-violet light or reverse osmosis to clean it. They also go into great detail about calculating how much water you need, how much you can get off your roof and how much storage you need. It's a very comprehensive book presented in straight forward almost child like detail. Great book.

ArmyDoc · #23 01/07/09, 09:37 AM

Probably the safest roofing material, if you are worrying about chemicals etc, would be a steel roofing with baked enamel covering. A google search will find you several sites on this product. Here's one:

http://www.themetalinitiative.com/co...mCategor---=57

I wouldn't worry too much about a PVC collection system. Aren't houses being built with this insteaf of regular pipes now?

ben2go · #24 01/07/09, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Dave

Does not matter if your filtration system cleans your water. I am digging a pit and making a cement box. Filling this with limestone and the water runs thru it. Comes out clean. This is the process used in dyalisis also.

Yep.My father was on parentenel(spelling?) dyalisis at home before he passed away Febuary 15,1987.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevingr

Get the book "Rainwater collection for the Mechanically Challenged" by Suzy Banks and Richard Heinichen. For drinking water they use metal roofs but use carbon filters and ultra-violet light or reverse osmosis to clean it. They also go into great detail about calculating how much water you need, how much you can get off your roof and how much storage you need. It's a very comprehensive book presented in straight forward almost child like detail. Great book.

Thanks for the book recommendation.I have six people in my house hold including myself.Four kids and 2 adults.Well,I could be considered a kid.I wish I could do an in ground,poured in place,20,000 gallon concrete tank.We didn't get as much rain as expected but we did get 2.56 inches in 36 hours.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArmyDoc

Probably the safest roofing material, if you are worrying about chemicals etc, would be a steel roofing with baked enamel covering. A google search will find you several sites on this product. Here's one:

http://www.themetalinitiative.com/co...mCategor---=57

I wouldn't worry too much about a PVC collection system. Aren't houses being built with this insteaf of regular pipes now?

Thanks for the link.I tried to find that locally,but no one has it.It's an prepay to order item.PVC has had some controversy about water standing in it,like in house plumbing.It's been found that over time the cancer causing chemicals can leach out and cause cancer or other digestive upset.I'm not to sure about that, just some things I've read.I don't believe everything I read either.I do know that raw materials used to form/fabricate PVC does cause cancer.So it may be true in certain circumstances.Most houses in my area are copper run with those flexible hoses connecting everything to the shut off valves.

woodsman · #25 01/08/09, 12:22 AM

A friend build a humongous 750,000 gal cistern in order to provide himself with water for fire protection on his property out of cinderblocks.

Quote:

We went with block because of the sheer size of the cistern. The pressures on a wooden form with the amount of concrete poured would have been excessive. A steel form was out of the question for a 40x40x60 foot pour!
... we used #5 rebar in the floor with 12" spacing both ways, and 40x radius to tie onto the steel in the walls. For the walls we used #4 for the columns supporting the walls in an six inch square vertical with #3 horizontal ties every 18 inches. The blocks were laid four high and then had a length of #3 between blocks, and used #4 for the vertical block cavities. The roof was simple #3 in an eighteen inch square for a 4" slab.

ben2go · #26 01/11/09, 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by woodsman

A friend build a humongous 750,000 gal cistern in order to provide himself with water for fire protection on his property out of cinderblocks.

That's huge!I understand tho.My neighbor's house recently burnt down.When the front of the house exploded,it melted the vinyl windows and siding on my house.I'm 200 feet away.Her house was burnt down by another neighbor.She used gasoline.They are both prostitutes and were fighting over a trick.Can't wait till I can find some real acreage and move away from here.