nice house

just to remind you of rainwater piping for your enormous roof

pls share pics when it's completely done and call us for a housewarming party

yes. the roof is very large indeed. roof rafter length is longer than any roofing guide that i've read.

what do you mean with the rainwater piping? do you think a single drain pipe (per side) is not gonna be sufficient? i was opting to collect the rainwater, thus the single drain at the middle span.
the roof drain pipe area is marked with yellow in this figure:

You are collecting rain water for what?
No matter what it is, must consume it fast and cover it properly, aedes likes rain water very much.

rainwater harvesting. will be used for plant irrigation and toilet flushing. ground level collection from the drain pipe will be stored inside this:

or something like it. which will then be pumped into storage tanks inside the ceiling structure (marked blue in the previous figure).

there's enough space on the ceiling slab to store 12 tonne of water. no that's not a typo.

Good concept on conserving water, wish I have a bangalow or semi-d to do the same.
Still make sure the top tank is covered type.

unless you have a 12" diameter pipe or larger, i will see the downpipe get choked with water if it rains too heavily

you may have water spillover from the raingutter if that happens


imagine pouring a pail of water rapidly into this funnel:



just sharing info for you. maybe will neeed consideration and see your rainfall record in your area.

sure, call it a pipe dream if you like.
but the pipe is being built. the dream is taking shape.

well done mate, you're on your way now..keep at it and don't compromise for anything less

This is a very interesting way of reusing rain water. Is this thing available widely in Malaysia? What is it called?

pile boring is a verry elegant solution. there's very little damage to the soil.
good thing if you don't wanna disturb the soil structure.

no idea how much it costs.

You need to have 2 level switch to stop the pump, 1 from the collector tank and another at receiving tank.

this is the site after all 38 piles buried in them. as you can see, there's very little damage to the landfill. now i'm gonna let them rest, and set.

the proper way to confirm if the pile is already set is to do a pile test. let them rest for a while, then do a pile test. if it doesn't move then start construction. if it moves then let it rest some more. but this way you need to pay piling company to do the test. which i've been told will cost circa RM2k.

so a civil engineer friend suggests to let them set for at least a month if we're in a hurry. if we're not in a hurry, let them rest for 3 month. he said that he's never seen a pile move after being left to rest for 3 month.

some hip projects in the central region brag about the use of such rainwater harvesting system. i have no idea if they're called some other name other than rainwater harvesting.

anyway it's not a good thing to use the rainwater harvested for drinking purposes as they're not treated. so you either separate the rainwater from tap water system or you treat the rainwater before mixing them together. i'm planning to separate them.

most rainwater harvesting will cost you quite a hefty sum to implement. roughly RM3k-RM4k for the entire system together with the collection tank. mind boggling when the system is very simple and shouldn't cost more than RM1k.

simple rain water harvesting can do for a few hundred ringgit. but the quality of water not so great. just use for watering plants.

the issue is water is quite cheap in Malaysia.

if you are a true nature lover (irrespective of cost), consider filtering the rainwater (which adds up the cost; first flush, filter), storing in the tank, and use for TOILET FLUSHING (much like HK apartment use filtered seawater for toilet flushing).

Commercially, it does not make sense since treated water is cheap, so only if you are a true nature lover.

Off the top of my head, Monier and Aura Lite are two brands who have rainwater harvesting systems. Rainwater is relatively clean depending on how clean your roof and gutter is but it is definitely non-potable.

Considering how water insecure we are even with our tropical climate, harvesting rainwater on your own now and self treating/filtering in the future doesn't sound too bad an idea.

Here's a checklist for inspecting and managing rainwater safety and quality. Pretty useful.

This post has been edited by OneMoreDay: Nov 6 2014, 11:56 AM

true. to a certain degree.
filtering and processing the rainwater to potable water isn't cheap. kampung people used to add chlorine to stagnant water to make them safe for consumption. that is the simplest method if one is thinking to use them for everything.

the sole reason for adopting rainwater harvesting in my approach is not to save money, or to go green. but rather, to avoid the chlorine in the tap water entirely.

you see, the rainwater will be used for irrigation, and probably for aquaculture as well. there's gonna be fish somewhere in the system. and them fish don't like chlorine. so rather than filtering tap water to remove chlorine, it's easier to harvest rainwater and avoid them from the start.

rainwater in my approach won't be treated. they'll be used for toilet flushing, but that's about it. main application for the rainwater is plant irrigation and fish farming. well not fish farming per se. but i think it'd be nice to have a fish pond somewhere in the house, or next to the house. rainwater will be used for the pond.

Bravo. Chlorine is the easiest way of treating water but it's hardly the healthiest solution.

since we're already on the topic of water harvesting and storage. maybe someone will find this beneficial.

the house will have 3 ceiling slab for water storage. i've spec-ed these area for slabs since they can't be used for anything better.


the area is enough for 6 of the biggest tanks, 500 gallons each.
roof structure will be spec-ed not to intrude in this area. which i think is really possible since we're kindda decided for metal roofing, which doesn't require complicated support structure.

anyway the problem is, is to have that much water on top of your head. if should the tank burst it's gonna flood the house. it's a real problem and my cousin had gone through it before. it flooded her house, destroying nearly half of the house.
she had a single 300 gallon tank in the ceiling. we're gonna have 6x500 gallon tank. that's more than 12 tonne of water.

so we're designing the house to have brick wall closing the tank area. the tank is essentially outside of the house, covered by fascia board.

see the front portion? that will be fascia board.


the tank will be shielded by brick wall on all sides, except for the front. if for any reason the tank decides to burst, it'll at least be shielded from flooding into the house.


fascia board.



the toilet slab will have 3 sides covered by walls.

one of the side wall will have 2 feet of barrier. leakage pipe will be directed outside of the house and 2 more downward to the toilet beneath.
but if it's still not enough, at least only one room will be sacrificed.

i have more than 10 160l tanks which i use for my own rain water harvesting.

the easiest way to ensure no mosquito (think Aedes) is to keep it covered. everyday, when i open it there are loads of dead mosquitoes on top of the water. i think the mosq eggs are everywhere and when they hatch, and there is a cover on top, after some time they crash and drown in exhaustion.

consider putting a simple wire mesh (small enough so that the mosquitoes can't fly off) before the storage tanks. cheap and cheerful solution.

i have surveyed the 'proper' way but it cost several thousand ringgit.

your fish will love the rain water. its much more refreshing than tap water. in fact, your fish will also love all the dead mosquitoes on top !

We had loads of koi before in a rather deep pond. Hardly any mozzies. Then again we had fountains that kept the water from being stagnant the pond was filtered.

wow... are all 6 for rain water harvesting? Do you need so much rain water?

There will be drainage in the storage areas right?

Very good design...