jed turtle
a brother in the Lord
Just finished adding 1500 - 2000 gallons of fresh rainwater to my inventory of supplies.
Thought I would pass along my construction methods.
Had a neighbor bring his backhoe over for less than an hour and dig a trench with sloping sides (45̊ slopes, sides and ends) about 16' long, 4' deep, and roughly 8' wide. After raking the slopes with a rake and throwing out the collected loose stones with a shovel, I surfaced the bottom and sides with fine sawdust from a portable bandsaw sawmill. Then I covered all with a three large old tarps, and finished with a large new tarp, (20' by 40', cutting off the excess length and using that as a wood pile cover.)
Over this I built a lightweight framework of 1" by 3" strapping to support clear 6 mil poly stapled to a pressure-treated framework of 2" x 4"s framing the top of the sloped trench, to keep out critters and dust. On one end I connected the downspout from the house roof rainwater gutter system in through the top of the poly, and at the other end I made a place for the water to overflow and leave the impoundment through a break in the top edge of the trench. The way the poly overlaps the top tarp and curls under it and over the bottom old tarp at the outlet end, it suspect frogs and snakes will have trouble figuring out to get in.
Over all this I have built a 12' by 20' floor for a storage shed. I have poly covering the floor to keep rainwater from accumulating on the light-weight poly/frame over the pond underneath, so that rainwater won’t accumulate on top of the poly and threaten to collapse it into the pond.
Last steps will include insulating around the sides with 2" foam boards and connecting the pond by 12 volt pump to the house toilet, washing machine, and shower, to reduce the drain on my dug well during the dry summer months (of which we haven’t had any this particular year).
Also I plan to connect the pond to my root/ hurricane cellar with a hand pump.
Thought I would pass along my construction methods.
Had a neighbor bring his backhoe over for less than an hour and dig a trench with sloping sides (45̊ slopes, sides and ends) about 16' long, 4' deep, and roughly 8' wide. After raking the slopes with a rake and throwing out the collected loose stones with a shovel, I surfaced the bottom and sides with fine sawdust from a portable bandsaw sawmill. Then I covered all with a three large old tarps, and finished with a large new tarp, (20' by 40', cutting off the excess length and using that as a wood pile cover.)
Over this I built a lightweight framework of 1" by 3" strapping to support clear 6 mil poly stapled to a pressure-treated framework of 2" x 4"s framing the top of the sloped trench, to keep out critters and dust. On one end I connected the downspout from the house roof rainwater gutter system in through the top of the poly, and at the other end I made a place for the water to overflow and leave the impoundment through a break in the top edge of the trench. The way the poly overlaps the top tarp and curls under it and over the bottom old tarp at the outlet end, it suspect frogs and snakes will have trouble figuring out to get in.
Over all this I have built a 12' by 20' floor for a storage shed. I have poly covering the floor to keep rainwater from accumulating on the light-weight poly/frame over the pond underneath, so that rainwater won’t accumulate on top of the poly and threaten to collapse it into the pond.
Last steps will include insulating around the sides with 2" foam boards and connecting the pond by 12 volt pump to the house toilet, washing machine, and shower, to reduce the drain on my dug well during the dry summer months (of which we haven’t had any this particular year).
Also I plan to connect the pond to my root/ hurricane cellar with a hand pump.