Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Rains and tanks

Photos above by Marcelo
A fantastic storm last night started to fill the two 23,000L rainwater tanks beneath the front yard.. and the surrounding soil.

The builder's concern with the tanks is their risk of "floating" when surrounding soil gets water-logged and the tank water volume is insufficient to counteract the pressure, pushing the tanks upward. The ideal topping currently nominated is a recycled plastic grid holding finely crushed recycled brick and concrete gravel, allowing water to permeate the soil around the tanks and into the water table. The current recommendation from the builder and tank installer is to weigh the tanks down with a concrete driveway.

Limewash painting is almost complete and the VOC-free Queensland-made paint is brightening up the interior.
The timber screen to the courtyard, which will give privacy on both sides of the fence, will be constructed of timber from the original house. Recycled timber decking palings will be fixed to the hardwood rails, on the taper-chamfered posts. The recycled laminated beam supports to the River Terrace roof have been stained, oiled and meticulously flashed to protect them from the elements.

3 comments:

TB said...

Starting to look really beautiful. I so love the use of existing timbers in new construction - adds much character as well as being highly efficient.

Hope there'll be an open day once construction is complete so we can come and have a look.

Emma said...

Hi TB,

Thank you for your feedback.

The intention is to have the house open for a couple of weeks after completion (just before Christmas) and hopefully on Sustainable House Open Day, residents permitting.

budget timber decking said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.