The cistern - insulation and top access.

Since I still haven't had a chance to draw up the details I promised in "Framing the sunroom - part 1", I thought I'd take a little detour with this post and take another look at the cistern. Since I buried the tank last summer, I haven't thought about it much - briefly during the coldest part of last winter ("I wonder if the water has frozen?" - it never did) and then again this spring when I noticed that during an unusual spell of heavy rain, ground water backed up against the access lids and leaked into the tank. Ground water leakage counts as contamination so I thought I had better do something about it.

Here is what the cistern looked like last August after its burial. After some rough grading work, the tank was insulated near the surface and equipped with some basic treated wood retaining boxes.

The cistern.

Interestingly, one of the features of our house that many people find most puzzling is the cistern. Most people who either saw it sitting on my gravel pad or in a photo would say something along the lines of "Is that your... septic tank?"
"No, that's our cistern." I would respond.
"Cis...stern?"