Bringing in snow is a lot of work, because a huge heap of snow doesn't amount to much water. But, it does give you water, so I suppose you could do it. As for the pH of stored water, it stays the same. The carbonic acid that acidifies the water is bonded with the water molecules, keeping the pH low. Apparently this is an issue for some areas that filter & store rainwater for human consumption, because the pH is too low for constant use, assuming storage in a plastic tank. Metals will bring the pH back up, be it a metal storage tank, or copper pipes, etc. When it comes to nitrogen, I believe it is negligable to begin with, so it's not really something to stress over, because either way, you can't rely on the minute amount in rain water to do much of anything. As for getting a rain barrel, you're better off to get a 55g plastic barrel then to buy a "rain barrel". Check out classifieds or craigslist, because people have them all the time, usually selling them for 5 or 10 bucks. It's funny though how the eco-nuts want everyone to be green and use things like rain barrels, but then they just completely rip you off with the prices for the "green" things. I was at the Milwaukee Zoo yesterday and they were selling "rain barrels", which were nothing more than 55g drums from chemicals of some sort, for $50. These drums were from MMSD, which is the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District. So they were basically selling used chemical barrels as rain barrels, and ripping people off with the price at the same time. So spends a little time looking around, because there are plastic 55g barrels available for cheap, or even free, all around. Joe

. what more do you need? Well, according to some members of the city council and some people who have complained in the press, we also need to prevent our "itinerant population" (students) from raising them and to address the supposed problem that they're going to be abandoned en masse without care, and that they're going to bug neighbors and lower property values. Just because their complaints are unrealistic doesn't mean we don't have to deal with them :( I'm just concerned about what we've seen from the council so far. Of the 7-member council: ------------- Correia I don't know. My sister lived in a small town in Illinois and her neighbors across the street had chickens and they were kind of friendly, but I don't really see it in Iowa City. I'm sorry O'Donnell No. Champion I don't know. (several talking) ... Lombardo Where do you stop? What regulations, I mean, in terms of just legislating how to keep them(several talking) Wright The fact that it's relatively common, I think there are plenty of models that could be used out there. Um ------------- Then, from one of our local papers... Iowa City Mayor Regenia Bailey who said her grandmother owned chickens said she was not interested in supporting such a move because supporting local business leads to a more dynamic economy, but she is interested in hearing what others have to say regarding the matter. We have a weak mayor system, so Mayor Bailey is basically just another vote on the city council. The other two members of the council haven't really said anything that we've been able to track down that indicates his views. We have Wright seeemingly in favor; Correia, Bailey, and O'Donnell seemingly opposed; and Wilburn, Champion, and Hayek unknown (Lombardo was the city manager). That's not a good starting point, and we don't get to "negotiate" with them (at best, we'll get to speak our peace in front of them the session before the vote). Then they'll either vote it up or down. So, in our position, what would you do? It might not hurt to have educational workshops at your County Ag Extension office Hey, that's a good idea. We should give the ag extension a call and see if they'd be interested in that. I think that'd go over better than just requiring that applicants read a pamphlet.

With a metal roof you are supposed to have strips that prevent sliding. We have them on the pool room part but not the garage. If you live in an area with heavy snow you should also be using a snow rake on the roof to prevent heavy accumulation if you have a lower pitch roof to prevent ice damming during freeze, thaw cycles. At my last house we had asphalt shingles on the roof and still would have snow that would slide from the roof because it was a really high pitch on the roof that we couldn't reach even with a snow rake. Luckily we didn't get as much snow there as we do here. As you can see in the attached photo. There is hardly any snow on the roof at the time of the picture and hardly any on the ground where it would slide off. The huge hill is due to drifting snow. Another pro to metal roofing for me is in the collection of rain water. With asphalt roofing you always get more debris, often times pieces of the asphalt. Just for fun, here's another shot of the kind of winter we had here in 2013/2014. That was the longest and worst winter ever. The snow blower wasn't working and thankfully our neighbor would plough our driveway every once in a while with his tractor. That huge pile was as tall as the roof. It was a combination of drifts and piled snow as we shoveled the walkway. That was also the year the water froze down at the barn and we had to carry buckets of water every day. Both hubby and I threw our backs out that year.

Ichabod, we're in the desert southwest, but I probably should have expanded on that comment! Our annual average rainfall here is under 10". Snow does happen but is not common. Ice dams are not a problem here, for example, so local code does not require ice and water shield at the eaves, either. We recently had a wet 6" snow but that is fairly remarkable for us, down here in the southern part of New Mexico. Also to you and tlbean2004, thanks for your thoughts on the metal flashing. We may request metal valley flashings, with ice and water underneath. Metal flashings got the roof through 17 years with no problems, so I'm not sure why to abandon them now...unless the technology of modern underlayments has rendered metal valley flashings obsolete. I thought that was what the roofer was implying, and we weren't sure if that was correct. I'll admit I am also a bit more worried about this roof than I would be if it was not such a low pitch. So you folks are a big help. klem1, thanks for your explanation. Nope, no interest here in removing the 2x2 trim to try to treat the rafter tail end grain (DH would leave me if I suggested that) so it looks like the consensus is to keep a very wide metal flashing. I guess it will be less distracting when painted to match the wood. Our house was built in 1965 and I sure don't want to make uninformed decisions that lead to damage...all for the sake of looks. (As much as I dislike the look of the big drip edge.) I guess a smaller drip edge and rotted wood would not be very pretty, either. I need to figure out which ice and water shield product will work in our hot temperatures, if we want it under the metal valley flashing. One bid specifies GAF Weatherwatch (but the contractor isn't local.) I don't know how heat resistant that product is. I know Grace Ice and Water has the best reputation, but I was surprised to see the Grace website says that only their most expensive product, Grace Ultra, should be used in the desert southwest: Grace IWS Contractor's Guide So if the esteemed Grace Ice & Water Shield (regular product) will not stand up to desert southwest heat, I wonder how any of the (much less expensive) GAF ice and shield products would work. There are a few scary stories in some roofing forums about "bitumen bleed" when ice and shield products are used in higher temps than recommended. (Roofing is not for sissies, have you noticed?)