Thanks to everyone who tuned into our LIVE workshop today at 3pm MDT! For those of you who were unable to join us, click on the player below to watch the entire broadcast.
Today’s “Ask An Architect” question comes from Dixon in Lexington, Kentucky. He asks “Hi John and Matthew, I’ve heard about rain water collection systems for your house but I’m not sure what they really are or how much they cost. Can you give me some advice?”
Basically, a residential rainwater collection system is a simple concept where rainfall from your roof is captured and stored for later use. The tried and true system is to have your downspouts tied into a rain barrel that collects and stores rainwater that can be later used to water the garden.
From a Slow Home point of view, this makes a lot of sense as it lightens the impact your house has on the environment by re-using rainwater for irrigation purposes and also by not draining your runoff onto other properties and minimizing your impact on the City storm water systems.
There are a lot of more sophisticated rain barrel products on the market, but these are often very large in size, have to be buried below grade or need to be hard plumbed – all of which is expensive and does not seem to represent the Slow Home ideas of simplicity and lightness.
In our quest to find a simple and light residential rain water collection system for the house that we currently have under construction that is a LEED candidate home, we came across the “Rainwater HOG“. Designed by Sally Dominguez, an architectural practitioner from Australia, this modular system of rain water collectors have a flat profile and are about the scale of a surfboard. Because of their shape, they can be installed under a deck, between the joists, along a side yard or along a fence. They have a capacity of 51 gallons and are 20″ X 9.5″ X 71″. Each HOG weighs 40 lbs empty and 440 lbs when full.
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Make sure to join us tomorrow at 8am Pacific/ 9am Mountain/ 11am Eastern for our next LIVE “Ask an Architect” workshop where we will be answering a question sent to us from Anne in San Diego who wants needs our suggestions about which of two rental units she is considering is the “Slower Home”.
