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Last wednesday, I took off work to work on my shed. I unstacked the firewood, because the stack was falling down, and so I could get to that end of the shed. I painted the shed. I removed and re-sank the fenceposts at the ends of the rows of wood. I restacked the firewood. This took pretty much all day. I had intended to paint only the lower part of the side of the shed that was behind the wood pile, but once I started, I decided I might as well do the whole thing. I was using the roller, so it went quickly.
That day, the landscapers showed up to rip out my hedge. The had a little backhoe and chains to tear them out. They had gotten out of hand, and I was sick of trying to trim them. In addition, they blocked my view of the shed and left it in view of the road, which is a security concern. After taking out the hedge, they put in a line of bushes. They hide the view of the shed from the road, and also hide most of the back yard. Or at least they will in a couple of years, once they've grown a bit. It took them a couple of days, and now I have to water the grass seed a couple of times a day or more.
Yesterday, I took off work again, to hang the gutters on the shed. I redid the roof last fall, and am only now getting to the gutters. At first, I thought it would be easy. After figuring out how it went together, I decided it would be easy. It turned out not to be exceedingly difficult, though there were a few snags, but it was time consuming. I had putzed away most of the day, so only spent an hour and a half. I spent most of today on it, and got it done. I put a rain barrel on one corner, next to the garden.
I was curious about where the downspouts went. On each side of the shed, there was a downspout that went straight into the ground. First, I assumed a pipe went towards the ditch, though I never say any water coming out there. Then I wondered if it went to the (sewage) holding tank. I tried digging to follow it once, but gave up. So now I took the pipes off, hoping to see from the inside, which direction they went. They were both covered over just below the surface of the ground. So when it rained, the water would fill up the downspouts, and slowly drain out. WTF? One of the problems with the shed is that it's in a low spot. Water runs in that direction, and sinks under the slab, and the slab is splitting. This didn't help. Now one side drains outward, and the other side into the rain barrel.
That day, the landscapers showed up to rip out my hedge. The had a little backhoe and chains to tear them out. They had gotten out of hand, and I was sick of trying to trim them. In addition, they blocked my view of the shed and left it in view of the road, which is a security concern. After taking out the hedge, they put in a line of bushes. They hide the view of the shed from the road, and also hide most of the back yard. Or at least they will in a couple of years, once they've grown a bit. It took them a couple of days, and now I have to water the grass seed a couple of times a day or more.
Yesterday, I took off work again, to hang the gutters on the shed. I redid the roof last fall, and am only now getting to the gutters. At first, I thought it would be easy. After figuring out how it went together, I decided it would be easy. It turned out not to be exceedingly difficult, though there were a few snags, but it was time consuming. I had putzed away most of the day, so only spent an hour and a half. I spent most of today on it, and got it done. I put a rain barrel on one corner, next to the garden.
I was curious about where the downspouts went. On each side of the shed, there was a downspout that went straight into the ground. First, I assumed a pipe went towards the ditch, though I never say any water coming out there. Then I wondered if it went to the (sewage) holding tank. I tried digging to follow it once, but gave up. So now I took the pipes off, hoping to see from the inside, which direction they went. They were both covered over just below the surface of the ground. So when it rained, the water would fill up the downspouts, and slowly drain out. WTF? One of the problems with the shed is that it's in a low spot. Water runs in that direction, and sinks under the slab, and the slab is splitting. This didn't help. Now one side drains outward, and the other side into the rain barrel.
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no subject
Date: 2010-06-27 03:48 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-06-27 03:51 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-06-27 04:03 am (UTC)From:I can't do that stuff without huge amounts of supervision, so I am always appreciative of anyone's work.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-27 04:11 am (UTC)From:And if I've never done a certain thing before, I take a lot of time to try and figure it out. Either that or take a lot of time being indecisive about it.
On this job, there were a couple of different things that I'd figured out, and then it turned out the two things were incompatible. With further experimentation, it turned out that they weren't incompatible, but I got hung up about it for a few minutes.
And as long as you don't examine my work too closely, it looks just fine.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-27 12:26 pm (UTC)From:"Y" at the top of the downspout to a collection tank, and when that downspout fills up and the ball floats to the top, it seals the downspout so the water now flows along the more resistant path, to the catchment area.
Most homemade roof washers are capped at the bottom end instead of going into the ground though, and have a spigot, or a slow leak to empty them out after they fill during a rain.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-27 03:33 pm (UTC)From:A float valve seems like a good idea. I could have a downspout on the other end of the shed, and it could divert there when full.
We just had a torrential storm. Water was pouring over the gutters on the house. After it let up, I went out to check the gutters on the shed, and the barrel. There were only 20 gallons in the barrel - because the spigot was open. D'oh!
no subject
Date: 2010-06-27 05:25 pm (UTC)From:http://www.saferain.com.au/harvesting.htm but the concept is fairly low tech.. which is why I can understand it!
on a normal gutter system, the water flows into a vertical downspout. Gravity driven. If you are using a downspout as a roof washer, you will have to put a "y" connection at that spot where the downspout normally connects, and the down portion is capped with a float inside. The other portion of the "y" connection leads to the water containment. The first rain that falls (that washes all the crap off the roof with it) fills the down spout until the ball float closes it off. Then the water flows to the other portion of the Y, and into the containment.
And yeah, the spigot being closed helps. *grin*
*still searching*
Look on page 7 of this one:
http://practicalaction.org/docs/technical_information_service/rainwater_harvesting.pdf
I can't remember where I got my information on roof washers and filtering systems etc but it was primarily from 3rd world countries that have to rely on rainwater to survive.
This is the site I found that PDF on just now:
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Water/Water.htm
no subject
Date: 2010-06-27 05:30 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-06-27 05:43 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-06-27 05:42 pm (UTC)From:Since my water is only going to be used for watering my garden, the only real reason for it would be to keep dirt out of the barrel.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-27 05:45 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-06-27 06:08 pm (UTC)From: