(Aug 2) Cistern Set In Place

Felt like we accomplished something this weekend. We got our cistern set into place at the corner of the house. Yay!! We got to stay with the grandson on Friday night so we didn't make it out until late Saturday but I still felt we stayed busy on Sunday. It was a good day! 

We got the last of the timbers cut and into place. I shoveled a few cart loads of dirt to level the pad while Kim pounded on rebar. 

Kim, finishing off the last of the rebar supports for landscape timbers. 

After we got the frame finished and secured, I backed the truck through the woods and put down a layer of 3 to 4 inches of crushed limestone. It packed and leveled nicely. I'm sure glad we put the couple of loads of sand in first or we'd have to have brought out another load of limestone. We put down some 2x4s to set the cistern on so that we wouldn't disturb the limestone. We flipped the cistern over on it's side and rolled it down the road and through the underbrush to the pad site. We did lay some sheets of OSB down as we went through the woods to make sure that nothing punctured the sides. Once in place, we slid the 2x4 out and let it settle into position. 

Support rails on pad after we added sand and gravel support bed

We got SO lucky! Never really measured the pad site. Just assumed (yes, I hear you!) that a pad out of 8' timbers would be big enough for a 7' wide cistern. As we set it in place, we had less than an inch on any side to spare. I didn't account for the fact that we were building "inside" an 8' perimeter.  I can't tell you the fit I would have thrown if it had been too small. Just another example why you can't plan too much! I'm just thankful we didn't have to move the cistern, tear the pad apart, dig all of the sand and rock back and redo it all. :) We agreed that as much as we want water in this thing, we really need to wait until we have the roof/gutter portion completed and finish plumbing that to the cistern just in case we have to shift it around a bit to match up to the pipes. 

Cistern set in place. 

I've seen some nice examples of where people have used cedar fencing around their cisterns. We may play with something like that down the road. Still, it's actually covered by a lot of growth. As you approach the house, you only see it when you are looking straight down the side. From inside the house, you can't see it without looking for it from from either kitchen window. 

View from side of house

While Kim was sanding away on a support for the sofa, I made myself useful and straightened/cleaned the storage building. For right now, I'm really liking the fact that it's open on the south wall. Yes, the building's completely shaded but it was still reasonable cool to work in in the 100° temps this weekend. I would also like to get a window framed in and installed on the north wall to create a cross breeze and to allow me to cut extra long pieces of lumber without worrying about which end would hang out the open wall. 

Finally got the storage unit organized (mostly) :)