I have this bright idea for collecting and storing rain water by building a large box 6' high x 4' long x 2' wide out of plywood reinforced by wooden bands.
My problem is I am not sure of the best way to water proof the inside. I have considered epoxy paint (like they use on garage floors) or other type of water proofing coating but am not sure if that would work. I have even considered using a large sheet of polyethylene or rubber pond liner. Anybody had any experience doing something like this or have any suggestions. Right now everything is on hold.
I don't have any waterproofing suggestions -- just a reminder that at ~63 pounds per cubic foot, your storage bin will weigh 3,000 pounds when full. Just be sure the sides and whats underneath can handle this load.
Why reinvent the wheel? Go to nearest agriculture equipment dealer or industrial supply, and look at their plastic tank catalog. All sorts of shapes and sizes, some potable-water rated, some not. It'll likely cost a little more than anything you can build at home (although epoxy ain't cheap), but it will definitely work better and last longer. A lot depends on what you will be doing with the collected water. Does it need to be human-safe, animal-safe, or just used for irrigation? If the latter, a plastic stock tank (think huge bathtub) with a home made waterproof plywood lid, would probably work. (And it would be easy to open up and clean the inside if it started getting green on you.) Put it up a few feet on piers, and you could even make the outflow gravity-feed.
If you really want to do it on the cheap, I'd buy some of those plastic barrels used in food industry (like the ones that get cut in half and used by beer resellers when they rent a keg of beer, to hold the ice), and chain them together with plastic plumbing, again using potable-water rated fittings and pipe. You'll have to call around, but most larger cities have somebody that deals in them.
Anything made of plastic, sunlight is the enemy- the UV breaks it down, and things grow in warm still water. So what you build will need to be under a roof. Note that some places have banned cisterns for bacteria and mosquito control reasons, so you may want to check local codes.
I would reduce the height, (6 foot would mean some very serious pressure at the bottom. That is going to be a very heavy box when filled, make sure it is heavy duty and consider what a leak might do. As for the waterproofing, I would suggest fiberglass. Remember you are making a inside out boat and one with a six foot draft.
Why not just buy some plastic drums. If you get "food safe" ones like they use to import juice you would have water that is safe for your plants (as opposed to oil drums)
Good idea, if real estate permits. A 4'x8'x3'-tall plywood tank with a 10'x14' folded EPDM rubber liner would hold 700 gallons of water.
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