The website below is the City of Austin's (TX) green building program rainwater collection information. Rainwater catchment systems are very popular in Austin and the surrounding areas and in some hill country locations rainwater is the ONLY source of house water. In our current house, we have a 1200 gallon tank that catches the rainwater off a modest 1100 sq. ft. roof and it easily fills up with a couple of inches of heavy rainfalls. My husband installed it himself with lots of buried underground PVC pipe, an old galvanized metal tank, and a Ditch Witch rental. With a small pump and solar panel trickle charging a 12V battery, it works great for irrigating the garden and fruit trees. Since that was successful, we decided to put in another catchment system in the house we are in the process of remodeling prior to moving in. At this house, however, we are using a catchment system for our house water and that added another layer of complexity for various reasons; size of house, number of downspouts, length of underground PVC, gutter and downspout screening, size of tanks (2 x 3000 gal.), multiple sediment filters plus a UV light for sterilization purposes, shed to house about equipment, etc. (You won't need a UV filter if the water isn't for potable uses.) Remember that for both these systems, you absolutely need a "first flush" mini-catchment system to divert the first water off your roof BEFORE it enters your main tank/cistern. The first rain will wash your roof of all the dust, bird droppings, leaves, and other detritus and you absolutely want to keep out of your main cistern because entering a cistern through a tiny manhole opening to clean out sediment is no fun. Therefore, you want to make sure to catch that first roof "flush" in a separate, smaller tank (that you empty or clean periodically) and not allow it to go into your cistern(s). There are various kits or plans for these types of "roof washers" or "first flush containment" systems available with different diverter options. Usually they use a ball valve that rises with the water in the smaller cleanout tank that will allow the subsequent rainwater to flow into your cistern. Some cleanout traps/tanks have a valve that slowly allow the first flush water to leak out in readiness for the next rainfall, but you still must plan on physically cleaning out the debris from the first flush tanks periodically. I can say that it is truly amazing the amount of rainwater one can gain from a catchment system. I believe it is possible, theoretically, to catch about 600 gallons per inch of rain for every 1000 s.f. of roof. I say theoretically because there will always be inefficiences in the system, still, it is quite amazing to go out during a rainstorm and watch the waterfall of rain flowing into your cistern (need a flashlight and a ladder, we have above-ground tanks). By the way, your cistern does not have to be immediately adjacent to your building. You can run pipe (above or below ground) to it from your downspout collection point(s) and as long as the opening into the cistern is LOWER than your gutters, it will fill up.

I have a comedy of errors on my hands and could use some immediate advice before my meeting with the carpet people management on Tues morning. I'd like to make this short, but there are so many screwups that it's hard to explain. If you can manage to read thru this and advise me, I would appreciate it immensely. Problem 1---I have an older home (1929) which has a later add-on master bedrooom. We have radiator heat, so in the master bdrm there is a long baseboard heater along the whole front wall, full width of bedroom, about 22 feet long. This is tied into the boiler/heating system. It sticks out 2 inches from the wall and is about 2.5"-3" off the floor. What the installer did is cut the pad short, so it ends about an inch before the beginning of the front of the radiator, then the carpet dips down because there is no pad there or continuing under the radiator to the wall. Even with the full pad and carpet, there would still have been a good inch from the top of the carpet to the underside of the radiator, so for convection purposes I can't see why the pad was cut short. The dip is very noticeable to me. Oh I should add that perhaps the installer just choose to use the 12 foot pad width which would come slightly short, and save some pad and maybe I wouldn't notice. That's my best guess at this point. To make matters worse, they did not use tack strip under the radiator so the carpet just lays there almost to the edge of the wall, maybe 1/2" short of the wall, loose under the radiator. Loose. No turn under or anything. No stretching. I see that it would be difficult to pound a tack strip down under the radiator, but I assume there is a tool for that. Worse again, they started to glue the raw edge down for about 6-8 feet along the 22 foot run of raw edge under the radiator but then for some reason stopped gluing. So now in some places the raw edge is starting to roll back on itself a little and the whole line under the radiator seems to wave a little and is not level, so to speak. Because you look directly at this as go down the stairs from the second floor where this bedroom is, when you get around eye level , it jumps right out. A great deal of the 22' of wiggly, dippy edge is right there visible at eye level and is also visible when in the bedroom altho the dips and wiggles are a bit less noticeable when in the room. Either way, you see it coming and going and it's just irritating and half-assed looking. Worse again, somehow a little slit got cut from the wall out about 3 inches----as if to accommodate the little radiator feet that are about 6 feet apart, only they did it where there is no foot and didn't even bother to glue or repair it however it should be done. It's just there...a little slit coming out at 90 degrees from the wall and radiator, in the nonglued area coming out from under the radiator. So my question is what is the standard installation technique for this kind of situation under a raised up baseboard radiator? And also what is the standard deal with the pad in this situation? What is the standard fix for the erroneous slit? Sheesh. If I compromise, is it reasonable to put a long skinny piece of pad in under the radiator and glue that and the carpet down or am I asking for trouble? 2. Ok Problem 2...pls stay with me. The room is 11'11" wide along the wall adjacent to the baseboard wall... with about 4 more inches at the doorway only. Because of the 12' carpet width, they calculated it to run the other direction so that they had the extra for the doorway. (I only know this now after spending hours with their teeny-print measuring plan they gave me.) I also contracted to have the adjoining hallway done in the same carpet. Because they ran it the "other way", now I've paid for a ton of waste. I see now that if they had recommended to put the seam at the doorway back into the bedroom by 4 inches or so, like flush where the baseboard trim is along the rest of that wall, and not at the standard place right at the door stop, I could have run the carpet the other direction and saved a boatload of money. It's the same carpet in the bedroom and hallway and either way there is going to be a seam in that neighborhood, so given that this would have saved me over a $grand and would have eliminated all the other seams in the bedroom (which is now in 5 pieces!) I can't imagine why they didn't put that out as an option. Nobody gave me this option. When I looked at the measurements they gave me, they included a couple extra inches presummably for installation ease, so it wasn't totally obvious to me until now that I've spent so much time agonizing over their teeny tiny measurements and measuring everything myself. So my question is, isn't there some obligation or standards whereby these guys are supposed to show you options that actually reduce seaming and reduce your cost? I'm dealing with a major retailer here, so it's either that they are looking to sock it to me or they genuinely made this mistake. They are totally screwed up and unorganized, so I could see this happening without bad intentions and just thru bad practice or something. But what's the industry standard, if there is one, on this kind of bad planning or not showing me the options? 3. Please stay with me, it gets worse. So when they came to install the other day, I started talking about how I wanted them to finish the hallway at the top step of the stairs where they were supposed to come the next day to install a very expensive wool oriental runner .... and the guy says oh no we can't do the hallway today, part of the carpet came in defective. I wasn't happy but ok, stuff happens and we moved on to the bedroom, As it turns out, now that I've looked thru all of my papers, I see that they mistakenly used a cutting plan that was for another option when I was considering using a different carpet in the hallway and steps. So by using the wrong bedroom cutting plan, they shorted themselves on the hallway. They had to cut into the hallway yardage in order to get enough carpet to do the bedroom. It's not defective at all....they just screwed up and aren't fessing up. Also now I have an extra seam in the bedroom that wasn't agreed on, no one told me...they just tried to sneak it by and hoped I wouldn't notice... and they'll have to reorder more hallway carpet and hope the dye lots match. They have not been honest with me about this. They actually said they would come out and look and "if they agreed, they would order more carpet." I'm like "hello...what do you mean "if".....are you not aware that the hallwall yardage was defective and you have to reorder that portion anyhow?". No, they were thinking I'm just unhappy with the installation. Wow....they really don't have their acts together. 4. It gets worse!!!!! The bedroom section that they had to steal from the hallway yardage is a smallish piece but they accidentally reversed it 180 degrees so it reads as a lighter color and less texture. In the heat of the screwup everyone must have been losing their minds. This is a cream colored carpet with a woven high low pattern. Karastan Oatlands. They can't just pull it up and turn it 180 because there is a small cutout for the endcap of the radiator at one end of the section which screws that idea up. 5. Please stay with me. Where the seam is where that little section which is accidentally reversed meets the bigger part of the carpet, there is what almost looks like a faint light brown burn, about 4" wide running the full length of the seam. To a certain extent, the color differences because of the 180 problem, maybe is making this more noticeable, but I could swear the guy burned the seam with the iron or maybe the glue is showing through? Any ideas on that? Everyone I ask to look at it sees it immediately although they can't say what it is they are seeing either. And I'm not even pointing the area out, just asking if they see anything odd. 6. So they are coming Tues to discuss. Anything you could advise is hugely appreciated. I was thinking maybe I would allow them to piece in some additional pad along the radiator and glue the whole business down. Any comments on that? Also to replace the small section that they turned 180 by mistake and perhaps moving the seam a little to correct the mysterious burn or whatever it is that everyone zeros in on. We know they have the rest of my hallway carpet at the shop. (They don't know I know. They're still pretending it's defective and that's why the hallway isn't done. Except for the management who think it's all done and I'm just griping about nits. Jeez.) Then I was thinking I might negotiate to only pay for the actual installed area of the carpet, not the yardage which included a ton of waste and maybe with the savings of about $1500 I could live with all this stupid stuff and someday will be able to look at it without my blood pressure going up. I might have to live with some additional seams in the hallway in order to reduce their need for full reorder of the total hallway yardage depending on where they cut out the "missing piece" for the bedroom. But I'm also happy to just say "take your carpet out and go away. I'm worn out and will find some real carpet professionals to work with." The whole world carries Karastan, so I could start over someplace else. 7. Oh I almost forgot. On the beautiful carpet runner on the stairs and lower landing which got installed the next day and which I totally love, they overestimated by 7 feet. At about $40/running foot for the 2.5' wide runner and installation, I'm really not amused. If the installer was telling me the truth, there is only one way to handle the miter and there is no pattern matching that can be done this way.....so why they included extra yardage for pattern matching etc is beyond me. If what the installer told me is true... it's straight arithmetic after that and no reason for me to eat 7 running feet. A happy note---the miter looks good and that part of the job is great. The poor guy was practically peeing his pants the whole time though. I guess they are trying to sell the idea that I'm unreasonable or something. What a joke. I haven't even raised my voice or gotten angry. I'm just saying that the job is unacceptable. I'm not the problem. What a comedy of errors. Any thoughts on any of this would be really really appreciated. Thanks.

Breezygirl thanks for sharing your plan and posting pics. I call the nine lights that are to either side of and those centered on the island "island lights" - so I got palimpsest's intent... I could have been clearer on that. I relate to the wait til we can afford it comment too! It's hard to draw the line on what should we do now and what can be left to later. I sometimes feel the pressure of "do it now" or it won't get done. calumin - oh my.. I read, reread, yellow highlighted and reread again multiple times those threads on the lighting forum for weeks.... it was an education process for sure! Like learning a foreign language. I also posted my original plan on the lighting and the kitchen forum and then incorporated those comments into a revised plan. And was most pleased that davidtay looked at it :). Now it seems i am undoing those comments and heading back to closer to where I started :). scrappy 25 - it IS a lot of cans, I agree. The lumen calculation was for twelve cans - and this plan has three more than that! The 4" cans seem to make a lot of difference in the number of cans needed per the lumen calculation. A little mind boggling to me but I tried to follow the expert's recommendations and guidelines on that. Oh I just wish I could KNOW what is best and how it will really look. lauraT88 - I really appreciate your advisement cautioning about eliminating too much. I feel caught between "Is it too much?" or "Will it be to little" if I eliminate some. I definitley do not want pendants or other semi or flush mounted fixtures - other than the dining area chandelier. there is a lot going on visually in the entire space and something else hanging down is distracting and clutter like. I REALLY appreciate the alternatives you suggested too. Dayton designer - thanks for confirmation on the cost - it's overwhelming how much some of these things are. I'm going to take everyone's comments, and any more that come, and see what I can do to regroup on this kitchen plan. I am living with the fear of what if I do and what if i don't - both are feeling a little uncomfortable right now.

Earlier I showed my wife this thread and she like to thank everyone for the help. She couldn't believe you folks actually spent the time perusing the floorplan and provided us with valuable feedback. Ok back to business.. So she ruled out moving the fridge beside the DW. In fact, she was very much against it. I do have to admit it will solve all our concerns. Also she wasn't keen on moving the pantry/laundry room wall, she like to keep her walk in pantry and not stack the washer/dryer. Thinking about it some more, we are leaning towards the idea idea of shrinking the patio door from 6' to 4' double French door(not sure if builder offers it). This will allow us to add an additional 24" cabinet and counter space beside the DW. Based on all your feedbacks, it appear fridge and island are the bigger concerns. FRIDGE: For easier fridge access, we are thinking of shrinking the space between stove and fridge. Currently that space is roughly 24". If we do decide to shorten it, what will be a small enough counter width to still be useful? I like to create enough space between fridge and wall to install a pull out pantry as some of you suggested. If it gets too tight, another option we considered is move the stove "up" by 12" towards the sink. However I am not sure whether it will be too close to the sink or not, thoughts? ISLAND: Wife wants an island, so it's here to stay. The good thing is it's floating and not fixed. I still don't have a good idea of what to do with it, might just push it further out for now so it won't impede traffic. At the same time I don't want to push it so far out that we can't fit a table in the breakfast area. Also I don't want to pay builder more to make it bigger. *sigh* so much options, so limited $.