Update: Using cattle panels

I'm thinking up new ways to use cattle panels in construction. I have already tried using them for a Quonset structure. The latest ideas are to use them for making a thin, steel-reinforced concrete slab for a water tank and a possible floor for a new Quonset structure concept.

A slab for a floor

The slab is not intended to replace the concrete pods for the roof that will cover the trailer. It will be integrated into the structure instead. Since it will not be load bearing, it doesn't have to be very thick. This will simplify my task considerably.

The slab can be a floor for a Quonset, a sidewalk, or configured as a water tank for rainfall catchment. None of these are going to require a really thick layer of concrete.

I can enclose an area of the slab so that rainwater can roll off the roof into a tank that I make myself.

Currently, I am planning a sidewalk just outside the door to the trailer. It could actually go all the way around the trailer. With a sidewalk, I can avoid tracking in a lot of dirt. Part of the slab can be a sidewalk, with the other part as a floor to a water tank. The slab would be positioned so that the water will run down the roof and fall right into it.

I could extend the slab so that a Quonset structure could be built on top of it.

Cattle panels are a metal grid about 16'x4.33'

A 32'x2' water tank can hold hundreds of gallons of rainwater. Cinder blocks or a metal wall can be built on the slab and covered. There would have to be an opening for the water to fall into it from the roof.

Lots of ideas, lots of plans. But nothing out there yet. Someday...

Saturday, February 8, 2020

Maybe it is time to rethink this move

I moved the off-grid stuff to this blog. Also the energy and space stuff to this blog.

But this blog isn't getting much attention from me, and I'm spread out a bit thinly.

Perhaps I will make a move to put the space and energy stuff on the original blog, and this blog will have only my off-grid project.

I'll have an announcement soon if I decide to go that way.

If I do, this will be only a personal blog. I don't suppose people will be all that interested in my own little project.

It will be kept public though, in any case.