Okay, okay! I’ve been slack updating my blog, so I should give an update of all the different tasks I’m doing and where I’m up to with them.

Tea Hedge

• After planting the tea hedge it was realised that the area gets too wet and the plants would drown.
• I’ve started building a small retaining wall around the hedge location so I can fill it with dirt and raise the tea plants above the pools of water that form.
• I have installed 3 of the 3m sections and 1 of the 1 metre sections of the retaining wall.  I still have to install 2 more 3 metre sections and a 1 metre section.
• After completing the retaining wall I will need to dig up all the tea plants and add approximately 4 or 5 cubic metres of soil.
• To complete the retaining wall I had to purchase 22 x 3 metres sleepers, 52 x 150mm screws, 60 x 75mm screws, a chainsaw (to cut the sleepers) and a post-hole digger (’m not going to manually dig 600mm into pug soil).
• I still need to adjust the over-flow pipe on my tank so It does not fill the tea hedge area.
• The wall should be completed this Saturday (although I will not have the dirt by then).

Concrete Removal

• The concrete removal hasn’t progressed much lately.
• About 1/3rd of the concrete has been removed.
• A further 1/3rd has been broken, ready to be removed.
• I hope to have this done either Sunday this week or Saturday next week.

Ensuite

• The ensuite is slowly progressing.
• The electrician, unfortunately, found full-time work in the area and has not been able to do the wiring as yet.
• After the electrician has done the wiring I will install the other half of the roof and the cement sheet walls.
• I currently have the majority of parts to do the plumbing in the ensuite, this will be started as soon as possible.
• I will begin with the waste-water pipes, then proceed to the cold water pipes.
• Hot water installation will be combined with solar hot water installation.
• Window frosting will be installed after I have painted the ensuite, which will happen after the cement sheet is installed.
• Floor tiling will happen after the painting, and then I will just have to put everything in place.

Robe

• I’ve worked out what color to do the robe.
• I need to buy the wood to build the robe next.
• I will do this after I have completed the ensuite.

Waste-water System

• The waste-water system plans are currently with the council and should be approved this week.
• The waste-water system will be installed once I have completed the backyard and ensuite.

Well after a heap of research and quotes and all the other fun stuff I have finally got the on-site waste-water management system happening.

I’ve decided to go with the Biolytix system which will fit in around the same sized hole as my current septic tank is in.

To get the system installed I have a fair bit of preparation work to do.  The system will need approximately 80 square metres of trenching (not sure on the actual depth of the trench, so i can’t quote cubic metres).  After measuring up the backyard and discussing options with one of the installers we determined that it would not fit in the space I currently have available.

The problem is caused by me wanting an area set aside to add new water tanks at a later date.  These new tanks will ultimately replace the existing tanks and will provide me with more useable space in the yard.  To allow enough space for these new tanks I have to remove some of my existing tanks for the trench to run through the area they currently occupy.

To get the system installed I now need to do the following (some bits are being done by Nathan and I, others by the installation company):

• remove all concrete/cement from the backyard;
  • Thanks to a “demolition breaker” or small jackhammer from Bunnings this is a work in progress and is a relatively easy job; the flat tyre on the wheelbarrow is making the job a bit harder though.
• cut a trench from the existing septic area to the backyard;
  • This is required to allow the new waste-water system to pump the water out to the trench.  Thankfully it doesn’t seem like it will be too hard to do this with the demolition breaker.
• install a new tank next to the existing poly tank;
  • This will be done by the installation company.
• pump the water from the existing poly tank to the new one;
  • As I already have a pump on the existing tank this is an easy process that will take a bit of time but will not be hard to do.
• raise the existing poly tank to ground level;
  • This will be done by the installation company and is required so the over-flow heights on the two tanks are level.
• pump the water from the existing metal tanks to the existing poly tank;
  • This has to be done so we can remove the metal tanks.  One tank will remain full of water to prime the waste-water system.
• remove the metal tanks;
  • A friend is wanting to steal these tanks, so that should make removal easier.
• level the backyard;
  • The entire backyard needs to be levelled so the trenches will work effectively.
• install the trenches and waste-water system.

To cope with the removal of the existing tanks and because of my future plans for the property I am currently looking to purchase 8 x 500 litre tanks.  These will be placed near each down-pipe on the house to capture the rain water.  Each small tank will then have a float pump installed and will pump the water to the tanks near the garage.  The down-pipes from the garage will be linked directly to the main tanks.

Initially I will need to install 4 tanks with pumps as some of the down-pipes will have to be removed during the installation process.  The remaining 4 tanks and pumps will be instaleld after I add the third and final tank near the garage.  This tank will be much larger than the existing one and the new one and will increase my total water-holding abilities.

My current poly tank (tank 1) is approximately 9,000 litres, the new poly tank (tank 2) will also be approximately 9,000 litres, the final tank (tank 3) will be approximately 23,000 litres, giving me a total storage capacity of 41,000 litres (10,000 gallons).

The tanks will be set-up as follows:

• Once installed the base of tank 1 and 2 will be at ground level and tank three will be installed at a lower level.
• The water-transfer pumps and the garage down-pipes will all direct water into tank 1.
• Tank 1 and tank 2 will be interconnected at the base so they keep a consistant level.
• Tank 2 will be connected to tank 3 with a one-way/non-return valve to allow water to flow from tank 2 to tank 3, but not back.
• Tank 1 will have an outlet connected to a pressure pump to supply water for gardening purposes.
• Tank 2 will have an outlet facing the road for fire-fighting purposes.
• Tank 3 will be connected to a pressure pump to supply the house with water.
• The overflow on tank 3 will connect to tank 2, the over flow on tank 2 will connect to tank 1, the overflow on tank 1 will be connected to AG-pipe and will be used to direct water to the root system of the tea hedge that we have recently planted.

This set-up has the following benefits:

• Household water is effectively drawn from all three tanks.
• Garden water and fire-fighting water is drawn from the two smaller tanks.
• Collected rain-water is used to fill tanks 1 and 2 until they are at the same level as tank 3, the rain water then fills all tanks.