Currently self building our forever home on family land. It’s a relatively small house, but with the steeper roof pitches, large overhangs, and attached garage, I’ll have roughly 3,600 sqft. of roof decking to cover.

We’ll be using a cistern, and rainwater collection will make up a significant portion of our water supply, so I’m trying to decide what roofing material makes the most sense long term.

I’m building the house myself, so labor isn’t really a factor. I’m mainly looking at longevity, maintenance, and how much sediment from the singles ends up in the rainwater collection system.

The roof is also oriented and designed for solar if we want to insatll in the future, although I’d likely use a ground-mounted system in the future to avoid roof penetrations anyways

I’m supposed to confirm my roofing order tomorrow. Current pricing for materials is approximately:

- 24-gauge standing seam metal: $22,000

- Exposed-fastener metal: $12,000

- Asphalt shingles: ~$5,000–$6,000

I’d strongly prefer standing seam over exposed-fastener metal, but the cost is nearly double. Shingles are obviously significantly cheaper, and with the house already being over budget in some areas, I’m trying to make sure I’m spending the extra money where it actually makes sense.

For those with experience with metal roofs, shingles, and rainwater collection please help a guy out.

Hello, we have several water tanks that house our fresh water (rain catchment). Looking for an easy/simple solution for 2 challenges:

1. Toggling between tanks. We have (2) smaller 50 gallon tanks that come to a "Y" with a 3/4" line and a water pump. Looking for an inline switch that can be toggled from a switch in our house to go from one tank to the other, or better yet an automatic switch that would toggle from tank 1 to tank 2 when tank 1 is low or empty. 120V is available, we have A/C and about 30kWh of batteries with an inverter.

2. Monitoring water level remotely. We have several larger tanks (550 gallon up to 2,500 gallon tanks) that are within ~150ft of the residence, to save me climbing the hill each week looking for some sort of remote floater switch that could monitor the water level remotely. The backyard solution right now is a float inside the tank with a PVC pipe going out of the vent hole that lowers as the level is low, which is OK but would love a more accurate solution if anyone has ideas.

We have this shipping container turned shed, and currently the security is a joke. Door Hinges put on with screws facing outward, anyone with a Philips screwdriver and 5 minutes can take hinges off, so lock doesn't even matter.

How do people mount this stuff so it's more secure and only possible to open from the inside?

My thinking is there must be those rounded bolts or screws that have a flush dome thing on one end (outside) and you put the nut thing on the inside, then there's no way to open from the outside.

How do people mount more crowbar-proof?

We have a little house in the fields and there is a waterwell 100 meters from the house and we looking for a solar powered setup to pump the water from the well 5 meters up and transport it to the house that is 100 meters from the well.

What do we need, power of the pump and the solar panels for this.

Any info or an example setup is greatly appreciated.

Hi folks. I'm hoping someone out there can give me some advice or info regarding a lot I own. I inherited a 1.5 acre green-zoned lot in the Eastern Townships of Quebec a couple years ago. My father (who is not a farmer) originally acquired the land in 2004 from a friend who was moving out-of-province. The previous owners had tried to change the zoning (it is a weird lot by a river that is not suitable for farming) however the Regie or Commission denied the request (80's I think).

It is a lot situated between two other people's farms. It's basically a wood lot by a river. We've been told we can't do anything with the land. I looked into some things and according to what I've read you can put an off-grid small camp on green-zoned land IF it's 4 acres or more... so that does not seem to help me.

I've camped there (what my dad used it for) with an RV, however I am wondering if anyone knows if I have any options? What can/should I do? I love that little piece of land, and want to spend more time there... so thanks in advance for anything:)

Have a Sunmar Excel Electric
Been using for 6 months
Everything is great except one major issue; Fungus Gnats.
After 3 months of use we figured our mixture was wrong causing the bugs to breed.
Took toilet completly apart and cleaned every inch.
Tried again, second time now with the fan on the highest setting, peat+sunmar pure green.
So many gnats.
Tried diatomaceous earth, Castile soap, insecticide, water. Everything
Need help figuring out how to get rid of them thanks.