Jason’s Bush Block and Self Sustainability Ramblings - Ready for Roofing

[j.e.d.]

This has been a long time coming for myself.. been through a few tough and challenging times in the last couple of years and I decided now is the time in my life to establish a foundation for me, and for my kids to come back to when they need to.

Soo.. this thread isn’t going to be full on (like with my cars), I’ll add to it when something interesting gets done, but I’ll be trying to set myself up to be as self sufficient as I can and simplify my life in the process if that’s at all possible.

Where do I start? The front gate of course!.. I picked up a whole lot of 2nd hand fence posts off the company that built my gate, bit of a waterblast and they came up pretty clean. Also got hold of a couple of wharf post offcuts, these are about half a metre in diameter and 4m long.. only cost me $20 each cos the guy thought they weren’t treated.. didn’t worry me either way, but shit they’re heavy. I got 3 on my trailer and that was it.

Drilled and hand rammed all the posts along the front boundary. Waiting for my fence rails to turn up hopefully in a week or so then I can finish it off.

Decided to get a guy in to dig the holes for the gate posts.. thank fuck I did cos these holes are 1.6m deep and about 600mm wide. Saved so much time as well.

Had dad with me helping with this as they’re up this way for a visit from down south. So grateful for his help/patience/advise.. he’s in his 70’s and still going strong.. got the gate hung and it all worked out rather well. Was thinking I’d need to cut the posts down, but when they dropped in the hole they looked great so will leave them and probably make some kind of metal/copper cap to protect the exposed end.

 

[Adoom]

BEST!

GATEPOSTS!

EVER!
I'd love to make giant gateposts like that on my residential section.

[yoeddynz]

1 hour ago, j.e.d. said:

make some kind of metal/copper cap to protect the exposed end.

Please make some big cone titties.. 

 

[j.e.d.]

Ideal!!

[j.e.d.]

45 minutes ago, Adoom said:

BEST!

GATEPOSTS!

EVER!
I'd love to make giant gateposts like that on my residential section.

Thanks man.. yea I had this idea a few years ago at my last place when we had a few sitting out the back of our yard at work, but they were only 1.5m out of the ground when I did those.

I'm always looking at random shit and trying to work out what I can use it for, so I'm happy I came across some more for sale so I could do it again only betterer..  they create a bit of a statement when you drive up to the gate that's for sure.

[j.e.d.]

Part of this journey is sourcing things as cost effectively as I can make it (read: tight arse), so I’m always on the look out for bargains. I managed to pick up a whole heap of 200x50 H4 retaining timber from a guy really cheap and he asked me if I was after a water tank as they had a new one written off by the insurance company after the Auckland floods.
This is a 31,000L Aqua Tank, new they go for $4,549 and I picked it up for $750. Bargain.

I tried being responsible and got quotes to move it to my place, but at $650 and $1200 for transport that was gonna blow the budget seriously.

The guy I bought it off had a little digger so armed with my trusty transport trailer, purpose built timber cradle and a “she’ll be right” attitude, we loaded it up last Sunday. I decided to wait a few days for the weather to settle, whacked on some wide load markers and headed off at 3:30am in the morning to avoid traffic and other things. In the end the trip was uneventful, the load was very secure and I got to drive down the road with a flashing orange light on my roof.

Hopefully the dent will pop out.. while the tank is on its side I’ll jump inside and try to jack it out as I don’t know if the water will force it out.. anyone have any better ideas?

[Nominal]

30 tonnes of water will pop that out no worries (I reckon)

[j.e.d.]

Would be great if it can.. 30 tonnes or pressure sounds decent enough

[mjrstar]

I'd be tempted to gently feed it a bit of compressed air on a warm day to pop it back to round. Might take a while but if you can seal it  it'd probably only need a couple of psi.

If the water doesn't want to pop it out it might fold the crease and make it worse.

[Nominal]

How about tensioning a strop around the middle on the outside?

 

I agree that it'd be easier on a warm day

[sheepers]

i make tanks like that for a living.

chuck some water in it and it'll probably pop back into shape, however that crease along the bottom edge where the base meats the side is probably structurally compromised so if i were you id point that side of the tank away from anything you dont want hit by an extremely angry wall of very heavy water. 

[j.e.d.]

4 hours ago, sheepers said:

i make tanks like that for a living.

chuck some water in it and it'll probably pop back into shape, however that crease along the bottom edge where the base meats the side is probably structurally compromised so if i were you id point that side of the tank away from anything you dont want hit by an extremely angry wall of very heavy water. 

Cheers man.. for sure, will make sure that side faces somewhere safe.. I guess there is no easy way to shore that lower edge up or prevent that from being a possibility? I'm thinking maybe digging the tank into the ground by a foot or so may help?

[sheepers]

yea that's a good idea, if you bury it about 500 deep and pack the soil tight around it you'll be golden. 

[j.e.d.]

4 hours ago, mjrstar said:

I'd be tempted to gently feed it a bit of compressed air on a warm day to pop it back to round. Might take a while but if you can seal it  it'd probably only need a couple of psi.

If the water doesn't want to pop it out it might fold the crease and make it worse.

Not going to be connected til later in the year, so a warm day is more likely to be on the cards then.. cheers

[sheepers]

Yea so two things you'll need to know if you're going to put air pressure into it. 

2 psi will be enough to turn that tank into a sphere.

regulators and pressure relief valves that are accurate at that low of a pressure will cost more than you payed for the tank. 

[thegreatestben]

Lighter fluid + match inflate tyre trick? maybe from a distance...

[thegreatestben]

Dry Ice + Water?

[Nominal]

If all else fails it will make a nice dog kennel

 

[j.e.d.]

3 hours ago, sheepers said:

Yea so two things you'll need to know if you're going to put air pressure into it. 

2 psi will be enough to turn that tank into a sphere.

regulators and pressure relief valves that are accurate at that low of a pressure will cost more than you payed for the tank. 

thanks again man.. yea I'm not that keen/confident to go blowing air into the tank.. I think I'll let water do the job

[HighLUX]

Or climb in there with a couple of wood props and a scissor jack like ghetto portapower. Get it to shape enough then let water do the rest