ferrocement water tank
 

plenty of good water is about my biggest concern and im sorry but bottled water from costco just does not cut it for very long.
I have a small pond and swimming pool but realy needed something for storage of drinking water/rainwater.

this is a ferrocement tank not yet completed. Today I have to finish
plastering the inside and out.the roof ill get to next week if i can quit
watching the markets.

it is about 2500 gallons and looks to be costing out at about 400 dollars
but lots of work.

http://www.damoc.com/ferotank/fero1.JPG

framework was made from concrete matting and stucco net/chicken wire
roof section will be made from welded reo rod.concrete was used for base
with mortar type s being used for the sides and plastering.not sure yet what to use for sealant? any ideas
heard about silasec but could not find that at home depot.

http://www.damoc.com/ferotank/fero20.JPG

The reason I went with home built ferrocement tank was that I could not find
a local tank supplier of poly tanks or iron tanks and the cost.

plus repairs to this tank should be fairly simple and it should last many years.

Re: ferrocement water tank
 

that looks good.

these guys say to use Thoroseal for waterproofing

http://ferrocement.com/tankBook/indici.en.html

Re: ferrocement water tank
 

How thick is the footing?

Re: ferrocement water tank
 

UGL Drylok......available almost any home improvement store....better than Thoroseal, which I used to use, but changed to this.


http://www.ugl.com/images/drylokMaso...ofer/latex.jpg

From their website:

--Guaranteed to stop water even under pressure

-- Withstands 10 pounds of hydrostatic pressure, greater than a wall of water 22 feet high

http://www.ugl.com/drylokMasonry/mas...ofer/latex.php


Be SURE you get the latex version if you are working in a closed tank ( they make a solvent version too ) so you don't gas yourself out while working in there.....

Re: ferrocement water tank
 

the footing is about 4 inches and thicker at the outer edge

Re: ferrocement water tank
 

That's badass!! Great job. Got any more pics????

Re: ferrocement water tank
 

There are tons of ways of doing what you want you should research items for ...

Concrete pool coatings
Sewar treatment plant structures coatings

Etc.

there are waterproof cement products called hydralic cements

you can make a waterproof cement using silica sand lieu of regular sand..

spray and roll on fiberglass and epoxy coatings

plaster on coatings

Etc.

you do need to be careful to make sure what ever method or coating you choose is compatable with your final purpose (drinking water) and be careful before choosing a masonry style sealer due to the differences in the bonding characteristics of concrete vs masonry

and of course any coating you will want to apply to the inside of the tank

just a note...around here to purchase a steel tank the size your building would probably run .75-1.00$ a gallon

the DryLoc product Andy recommends is a good product (i have only used it on masonry) dont know about on concrete

Re: ferrocement water tank
 

I'm a little concerned about what I see there. I've seen this done before and they always piled the wire on until you couldn't push a pencil through the holes. Then they put the mud in with rubber gloves, not trowels. One guy inside and one guy outside pushing at the same time to be sure they got all bubbles squeezed out. What you have there are 1"chunks of cement held in place by wires, and not enough wires to maintain rigidity. Expect cracks.

Here is a google search that turns up a lot of DIY tanks. It looks like you might not need any sealant at all except more sand and cement. I noticed one warning to always keep the tank wet inside.

Google is your friend. You would now be a lot happier if you had done this search before you started.

Re: ferrocement water tank
 

The ones around here (poured cement) are never over 4 or 5 feet tall but very large diameter 15 to 20 feet ....less pressure at the base= less leaks

Re: ferrocement water tank
 

I have still work to do but currently it is functional and i believe very very solid with only 2 small cracks up high near the overflow i think the trick was to
work quick so that the mortar never dried out.

yes it leaks a little but that is my own fault by trying to skimp on the dry lock
and i have no doubt that when i finish the second coat this problem will be solved.

if i was going to do anything different/better i would have taken more
time to smooth out the inside when plastering as having a very rough
surface made coverage with the drylok difficult and expensive i believe
i could have saved 50 to 100 dollars in drylok with a little more time
on the inside.
http://www.damoc.com/ferotank/fero25.JPG

http://www.damoc.com/ferotank/fero30.JPG

looks like total cost will be 600 dollars because of the cost of the drylok

Re: ferrocement water tank
 

nice.
I fished on a boat made of ferrocement once. rusty chicken wire poking out of chipped concrete, looked like a collapsed hospital after a tragic earthquake in Turkmenistan
F/V Granite Sea, butt ass ugly 42 foot floating sidewalk with a shrieking 6-71 detroit diesel, and a deutz aircooled auxilliary that was EVEN LOUDER.
We fished halibut in the Gulf of Alaska for 96 hours one long day.
One paycheck, never went back.

Re: ferrocement water tank
 

I gota wonder about the water quality after long term storage in that...

No facts or real reason just curious....

Do you have a well, your pumping water into that from or what?

Re: ferrocement water tank
 

yes i have a well. very good water i realy just needed a big storage
of water so i dont need to have the generator running to pump
from a deep well 300 feet with a 240 volt pump.

so now i only need to pump once a week or less from the well the rest of the time the house is ran from the tank with a low power pump to the house lines.

the low power pump at the moment is a small 12v pump but i am changing it
to a low power 110 because i need a bit more volume than the little pump
can handle for extended periods.the low power 110 will be run
from an inverter

Re: ferrocement water tank
 

Ahh, also I forgot to ask... Not sure where you live, but will Sub zero temps be an issue???

We have a cabin and right now the cost of a Well is a bit out of my grasp...

I had thought about some type of storage but I had wondered about frezzing temps...

We don't go there much when its below 40, but we do sometimes...

Re: ferrocement water tank
 

im in california and dont often see snow on the ground for very long
so i dont see freezing temps as being a problem for such a large
body of water especially covered over the way it is any pumps and lines will need to be insulated however.