Need ideas for disguising water softner

16 years ago

We completely forgot something when building the house and that is to even consider that the rural water would be hard. We are new to the area and never have had hard water where we've lived in other parts of TX.

Anyways, we now need a water softner and the water enters the house on the complete opposite side of our garage or any hidden areas. The side you see from the street driving up is where the water comes in and also closest to hook-up to waste lines.

We need to put the water softner on that side and need it to be covered on all sides, somewhat insulated (doesn't get too cold here in south central TX) and have space to access from the top as well as side. We need about 3ft of width.

So any ideas what to do so it actually looks good. Here is a pic of that side. The only space wider than 3 ft is on the left side of the house. We also need easy access so hiding behind bushes might not be the best idea either.

BTW the house is all open to the other side as we are under contract for that lot so we keep our view on that side.

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Comments (7)

skypathway
16 years ago
Oh darn, what a frustrating thing to have knowing that you could have planned for it in the house if you knew ahead of time. What do your neighbors do - you might find inspiration driving around the neighborhood?

Could you build a cute little shed that attaches to the house right just beyond the last window on the side and include something that mimics your dormers, including the paladium type window? Maybe if it's planned right, you can also store some gardening equipment or bicycles? Remember to include room for additional supplies. When we had a softener system years ago, we always had a large bag of salt ready to add when needed.

sky
mjjones453
16 years ago
Do you have a basement? We have ours in the basement! My mom and dad had their's in a little shed as sky had suggested. Maybe plant some bushes around it to hide it!
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You actually have to trace the softeners. Some do connect to the entire system. Some do not. Sometimes this seems random, so I'm guessing (I have no clue) that it depends on local codes and if and when such codes are updated, if ever. Sometimes they have to shut it off. Sometimes the installer bypassed the outside water system. As to how much sodium is in the water, only the amount of salt consumed by the system proportionate to the water would be able to tell us that, which would be calculable using your salt usage and your water bill, at least roughly. Amounts used aren't vast...but it can take thousands of gallons to water the lawn, for instance, and an inch of water per square foot is 0.7 gallons. It adds up. Many a time I've had to have a user look because the sodium levels in their soil were odd on their soil test. Sodium soil-binds, and how harmful it is depends on how easily it gets flushed out. In areas with heavy rains, it's not so much of an issue most of the time. Keywords "Most Of The Time." Droughty periods can override that if watering the lawn and gardens a lot, and of course, plants that receive nothing but tap water would have their own concerns. I certainly have seen it impact soil tests, particularly with very hard water (I have no idea as to how hard your individual water is, whether you're on well water or city water, and so on), in more arid regions (Cleveland not being one of those, fortunately, but more arid than most maritime areas), and in areas influenced by other sodium sources (sodium levels naturally being high in the soil from the get-go, being roadside and influenced by salting in the winter, salt in natural rainfall [planetary and not of general concern], or salt spray [not an issue in Cleveland]). If concerned, certainly get a reliable soil test that includes sodium levels. While sodium is toxic to plants at high levels, even lower levels of sodium are detrimental, and it's easy enough to flush out of the soil if it turns out to be a problem. Plus a good soil test (I use and recommend Logan Labs, personally), can tell you a vast amount about your soil and suggest many other corrections to help out your plants!
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susieq07
16 years ago
We have restrictions where we live, must conceal our ac's, garbage cans etc. this is what we have built on the side of our home...you can make whatever size you need and paint whatever colors of course.{{!gwi}}

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}
lyfia
Original Author
16 years ago
Skypathway - we are unfortunatley the first ones with a complete home so guess our neighbors will have to learn from us, unless they were better at planning.

A cute shed sounds like a possibility, any ideas ??

mjjones453 - wish we had a basement, but its not built around here. Too costly as we don't have to dig far on anything since the ground doesn't really freeze here.

susieq07 - thanks for showing yours. I guess a shed of some sort would be a possibility like skypathway suggested. We need it enclosed and insulated.

I posted on the plumbing forum to see if we could pull plumbing all the way from that end and back and put it on the garage side where it would be hidden more. Sounds like it might be a possibility. Just a PITA to do.
jade.d
16 years ago
rubbermaid makes all sorts of outdoor storage.

Here is a link that might be useful: outdoor storage
tishtoshnm Zone 6/NM
16 years ago
I think that in the long run, it would probably be worth the money and the hassle to put into the garage. Where is your water heater? Is there any space near it to put the softener? An attractive shed would be nice but the only thing that would scare me with one is snakes finding their way in during the summer.
lyfia
Original Author
16 years ago
thanks for the suggestions.

Putting it in the garage is not an option as there is no way to run the pipes in there. We have a post-tension slab. We need the supply and return as well as the drain to the sewer and overflow drain. No way to do in the garage. BTW we would get snakes in the garage just as in a shed. They don't seem too picky around here.

Need ideas for disguising water softner

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skypathway

mjjones453

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Need ideas for disguising water softner

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skypathway

mjjones453

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lyfiaOriginal Author

jade.d

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