Concrete pour for water tank.

A while back we got some cage tanks from our neighbor, for free. He kindly gifted them to us as he has no more use for them. The plan is to put them behind the chicken houses to collect water, and then to use that water to water the chickens during the summer months.

The first step was to dig out for the footer. Originally I planned on just digging down to the sandy subsoil that the previous owner put down for his horses, compacting that, and then setting a cinder-block footer on top of it. However, at over a foot deep the soil showed no signs of becoming sandy. Three years of worms and wood chips have done their work far too well for that. Also, since it has to be elevated at least high enough so that the outflow is at the second level of boards on the house wall, this would start using too many cinder blocks and we don’t have an unlimited supply.

So I decided the most economical solution was to pour a few bags of concrete. So I built the form and did the calculation.

Again, to cut back on the amount of concrete needed I threw in a bunch of old stones and chunks of concrete fill.

The existing downspouts needed to be held up out of the way, so I just propped them up with a board scrap, and made sure the edges of the form were level.

Washed the dirt and wood chips off the stones and cement chunks. This will help the fresh pour bind with them, and prevent cracks forming between the rocks and the new cement.

Mixed up the concrete in the wheelbarrow.

And poured it in. It was then I noticed the flaw in my setup with the board scrap holding up the down spouts. It is sitting where the new cement needs to go.

So I ran and grabbed a nail and stuck that in the wall, so I could rest the downspouts on that.

To level the concrete I cut a small notch in one end of the 2×4 and rested this on the frame at the left (west) end of the form.

This allows it to drop about 1/4 inch over the course of 4 feet, so all the water that collects on it will run off, and the outflow valve will be on the lowest side.

There’s a pad.

And cinder blocks set up, ready to go on the pad in a day or two.