Rainwater Collection Shingle Roof

While metal roofing or plastic sheeting e g.

Rainwater collection shingle roof.

There s just a short list of rooftop surfaces that rainwater harvesters should avoid. Puget sound is the perfect test bed for rainwater collection bone dry in the summer and soaking wet in the winter. The biggest concerns seem to be copper zinc lead chromium arsenic and polyaromatic hydrocarbons leaching out of the shingles although the grit that comes off the shingles is also an annoyance in ran barrels. I was about to install a catchment garden watering system for some clients and then realized they had the wrong roof.

The good news is most roofing materials are suitable for rainwater harvesting. 2 1 roof and gutters. But hey that s still something. Rainwater can also react with uncoated metal roofs so any metal roof should be painted using a roof paint that is labelled suitable for potable water supply before rainwater is collected.

Roof types for rainwater harvesting. Here is a list of the most common roof types and if they can be used for rainwater harvesting. Selection and consequences of roofing and gutter materials for rainwater harvesting. If there s lead chromium or cadmium in the roof materials soldering flashings paint or any other part of the roof you shouldn t collect rainwater from the roof.

Included are some of the effects of using these types of roofing for rainwater harvesting according to arcsa. Rainwater harvesting or rainwater collection is the process of collecting the run off water from a structure in order to store it for later use. Tar asphalt shingles yup they make the water nasty. Rainwater is the cleanest source of water that is available in nature today.

Water is often in short supply in the heat of summer so it s tempting to use roof runoff. Water the garden flower and food beds flush one utility toilet and do all our laundry during the wet winter time. Greenhouse roof has the highest collection efficiency most surfaces are a ok. According to a local rainwater catchment group that water should be used only at base of trees shrubs and not in the veggie garden.

For the majority of rainwater collection a roof acts as the primary catchment area. As it falls from the sky it is safe to drink anywhere in the world. But when it came to responding to residents questions about which roof collection surfaces are best suited for rainwater harvesting twdb didn t have a good science based answer to give. I have been collecting rainwater off our roof here in seattle for 25 years and using it to.