Struggles of living OFF GRID 

my daughter 9 and i were watching your video and all the sudden she screamed thats my doll house. she was excited to find somebody with the same doll house

Youvè done so much and its great fun watching the progress. 2 years? Daaaaang you put the other youtubers to shame. ❤❤

Nick,Jennifer and kids, was so wonderful to meet you in person Friday. Even though from watching every single video I feel I have known you forever. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy life to pay tribute to my beloved sister. I love you all dearly. So glad you got your water tanks filled up. The reverse osmosis system seems perfect. ❤️💔😍

Glad you were able to get some water. Seeing you guys having fun with the family was really neat. Cool video. 👍❤️

So two things early in the video made me laugh, Nick riding the Wood Stick Pony, the children screaming in the water containers, just love how you both always make time for the children. Love to you all ❤️💙❤️💙xxxx

Love your vlogs and feel like we are part of your lives. While you were painting the kids room, you have the same music that the kids from Can't Contain Us use for their theme music. Seems like the off grid families are all one family too.

I'm Australian. When you guys were filling up the black tanks, I noticed the reddish brown dirt and the plants and trees. It reminded me of Australia (not city or surburbia). We have very red dirt (full of iron ore, which we mine) and the trees and scrub were similar.

Greetings from Ranch de Vegas. Here’s a tip to help neutralize your paint odor. Add vanilla, almond, peppermint, cherry extract to your paint (or any other you prefer). Just a few drops are all that are necessary to take away the unpleasant odor. Mix it in by stirring and apply.

I think that Water Drop System is such a great idea.

Good day, you 4. Good to see ya. 🍀

❤❤❤ THE KITTIES 😸 🤩GREETINGS FROM THE UK 🇬🇧 👍

Enjoyed the video. Thanks for sharing

Good morning happy Monday have a great day 👍😀👍✌️🙏🙏👌♥️

Stay between the lines Nick 😅😅😅. Thanks guys, have a great week

personally i would never recommend rainwater catchment. What you save on catching you reinvest on treatment (filter uv-light) etc.

Just a suggestion. I've done a lot of painting over the years. I am in my 60's now and I wish I had done the following way earlier. It started when I heard Australia was phasing out oil based paint, which I use on my doors and metal door trims and wooden base boards. Even though oil based enamel is hard wearing it turns yellow over time. I find aqua enamel really good. You don't have the fume or yellowing problem. It's hard wearing and the paint isn't as sticky, so you don't pick up bits, fluff, grit, as much on your paint brush or roller. Oh and you just clean your brushes and rollers with water.

Might have to get that RO system. Building a house currently so would be good addition

My now ex-wife was a terrible painter. She painted the walls in my home theater room and got so much on the ceiling that she decided to just go ahead and paint the ceiling too. Now this whole room is a medium to dark blue and I have to live with it because I am disabled and live alone on a small income. I have always been a firm believer in white ceilings. When she painted the dining room medium to dark red, she spilled the paint just before the job was done and ran out of paint, so now I have 3 walls red, and one of those have a spot approx. 1' x 5' that is beige.

You killing it, Nick!! Awesome job 👏

i have been a structural aluminum contractor in Florida for almost 40 years and i can say you will be better off building an A frame out of wood with 6x6 posts and lvl beams, that also can be pressure treated, to handle your snow loads. but you can use an extruded super gutter on both sides to catch the water because it will handle snow and ice and not rust.

Good morning, how are you guys doing today?Hope everybody's having a great Day Out there.I'll give up the good work and have a good day

Great video, When I was in the Army in Hong Kong we were given de salination tablets when we went out on exersice to clean stream water, maybe you can get some for youre water tanks as the water sitting in tanks may get bacterier. Love from UK @ 4.16 time in the UK. x x x

I catch rain on my far side roof to a 50gal barrel with a float activated pump -> 1" pex line to the tanks and at my workshop. It works easily... pumps are cheap... as the barrel fills up the pump activates and pumps the 40gal to the rain harvest tanks and auto-shuts off as the float goes near the bottom of the 50gal tank. Since the pump is at the 50gal barrel, it can push the water 100(s) of feet to the tanks - no problem. I say this to be encouraging - it's not as hard as it might sound. You could do one for you're shop roof and one for you're house roof. The nits are.... I have planned overflow at the 50gal barrels to avoid water damage (routed to where the downspouts would have gone) + power for the pump (avail at shop and house) + in our 4 month long stagnant (no rain) time once a year I put a little chlorine (teaspoon) in the 50gal barrel so it won't get funky (easy). The hardest part for you is running pex from the barrels to the tanks - but you know - it's doable and easy compared to some of things you do - you guys are amazing with you're skills :) I have 2000sq ft of roof and get 1000gal per 1" of rain.

Might be worth the try to dig a shallow well. Fellow RU-vidr Ambition Strikes is on a mountain as well and found water...just a thought. Once again great video. Oh, hack when painting put a bowl of vanilla extract in the room to absorb odors, not a lot just once or so.

You could do your roof and put ibc tanks at each down pipe, use that to top up your water tanks.

Have you thought about your channel's name (""Life Elevated"" Off Grid ) and how high up your Apartment is off the ground??? It just occurred to me. Coincidence or what?? And who says adults aren't supposed to ever have fun? How can you enjoy life without any fun? Even both out, fun and life, and you will live a very long time. I enjoy watching you and your kids at work and play and sometimes I laugh my behind right off so don't change a thing. You guys remind me of Trent and Allie!! I deeply care for each and every one of you (and your energetic black dog as well). Was that your first rodeo? Hahaha! Keep up the good vibes!!! Me southern AZ.

Hi my friends I love your videos

Might be worth getting another fourth IBC tote

Water drop looks like a nice system. Please give update after using it awhile. Thanks

What is Headquarters? You always say down at headquarters and it would be nice to see and understand what that means. 😊

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap!!!!!!😅😅😅😅 From Brisvegas Australia.

Dirty deeds done dirt cheep , its a Great ac/dc song

Just can’t believe y’all don’t worry about the siding on the building.

Have you guys got a greenhouse? Do you grow your own food? 🎉🎉🎉

Nice to see Charlie! Don’t think he made the last video!

Baby steps but big ones for liven life! ❤ can i pet the pony lol 😂

How do your neighbors get water? Truck, catchment vs well

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When you were discussing your water situation and solutions, you didn't mention buying a couple or so more black water tanks. I'm guessing that comes down to what you were saying about the metal roof. That is, cost and finding the time amongst your list of things to do?

Well, I suggest if you’re not gonna do the well you’re not gonna do the rain catchment system right now you need to fill those tanks up completely

8:50 At around $1 a water bottle, one person could in theory drink 2 of those bottles a day, for a yearly cost of: (1 year =) 365 days x 2 = $730 A family of Four, could spend just under $3000.00 a year.. Perhaps a little more.

OK, so, I'm old. I am forever finding issues with this or that, or, someone presents an issue, and I brainstorm to find solution or solutions, for the issue. So, it's your ffault for bringing it up, although, I have seen several off grid folks talk about the very same issue. Most in Canada or Alaska though, but have the very same issue as you do. Water catchment and gutters. Yes, you are correct, traditional gutters would not last when you start measuring your snow/ice accumulations in feet rather than inches. So, your cover over your tanks could be made to meet codes, or the materials could be salvaged. But, to catch enough water, it's really just not good enough to really cut down on the amount of water you'd have to go get. So, if you add onto, or totally rebuild it, and/or sure it up to do what you need it to do, here's how I would do it. 1. build more sq. footage you need it to slope just enough for the water to fall to the gutter(I'll get to the gutter part in a min.) So I would build it to not just slope to the gutter, but also slope the gutter so once in the gutter, it would fall at a faster rate. This would help with it being able to hold the water and it freeze during the colder months. Since you are gonna need more roof area, anything I'd build, I'd make it dual purpose. The roof to catch water, and underneath for, well, anything you need it to be. Since your existing garage is closer to your home(homes, since you have the foundation for the second home) make the new roof covering a new/bigger shop, since you like to work on your vehicles, and you like to do wood working, and seem to have talent for both. Now the gutters. They need to be tough, and, they need be able to carry a good amount of water. You really want to catch and recover every single drop that falls on the roof you build. So I have two suggestions for the gutter. 1. metal gutters made from pipe. Take a large piece of pipe and split it in half. Stainless would work best, but steel would work just as good, you'd just have to coat it with something to keep it from rusting. You'd need to make some brackets to mount it to your building. I'd say a bracket at least every 6 feet or so, but that's gonna be dependent on the size, weight of the pipe you use. I'd get some expanded metal to cover it so it wold keep leaves and such out of your tanks. I know you get a lot of snow, so, why not make it(and all of this doesn't have to be done all at one time) so you can melt the snow and catch that too. They make several things that could melt the snow, but not cost an arm and a leg. Simple heat mats as the bottom of the roof or even several rows to melt and allow the snow to be melted faster/more. Put the heat mats under the metal roof so it can radiate the heat up, but keep the roof "slick" so as not to impede the melting or, the sluff of the snow. Mats are just one way to melt the snow and catch the water during the winter. Another way would be to Not insulate the ceiling of the underneath, and when it snows, keep a woodstove or other type of heater going, to use the heat to melt the snow, or run you a series of pex underneath the roof, and build you a on demand water heater system that would circulate heated water through the pex, and the heat from that would a. melt the snow, and b.ran through the gutters, would keep it from freezing solid. Same concept of people doing the same thing with outside wood burners for radiant heat, and some, just use an on demand water heater to use as radiant heat. If you use electric, then your gen would run more to keep your batteries charged, but if you used propane, you could have the ability of dong it manual, only turning it on when you have snow and need water. Personally, I'd go with the mats, as no worries ever with them freezing. I'd also (when you build your bigger home, incorporate it's roof into a catchment also. cost would depend on which method you used. Wood, it would all be dependent on what it would cost you for the wood. pex the initial cost and the cost of the power to heat the water and be it propane or electric. If I did the pex, I'd either find out if you could make it a closed system and run antifreeze to keep it from freezing, or make it so you could drain the water so when you leave, it wouldn't freeze and bust. Mats, just the initial cost plus the extra drain on your power system. Many different thought processes, much to consider and much much research to refine the plans. And of course, the money. Nothing can be done without money! Anyway, thanks for all you share! Chip

You guys dont have to get rid of the tank cover just use the same metal roofing that you should have put on last year but decided not to (and I reminded you when you were building your garage/apartment but I guess you didnt see my comment). Its already got a good slope to it and its one way so you will only need to do 1 pipe instead of 2. Of course Utah state says you can only catch 2500 gallons of rainwater a year so keep that in mind. Not that anyone is going to come out there and check your system but if they see a video of you talking about it and your calculations of roof size to average rainfall you may be in trouble.

Utah has rules about collecting rain water. Illegal unless you jump through the hoops.

Wow hundred thousand dollars for a well.. It would be cheaper to buy a used Milk bulk tank truck or A used fire tanker truck to haul water to your tanks.

great work but whats that lovely song you played while you were painting

That roof you have over the tank right now you can set and catch ton of water off that small roof to fill your tank but remember you have a filter and I hope have a U.V filter on the system because you don't know what's in the water

You know if you paint your lumber FIRST then install it ..... painting would be much easier.

One thing I don't get is why you did not paint those shelves before putting them up! It would have been so much easier then painting the wall lol

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Why do you need reverse osmosis systems in the USA? In the UK water out of the tap is already safe to drink.

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6:35 You can Harvest Water from Rain of course, but also from Snow (since you have lots of snow) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Yc2_k2QE9nc.html You can also harvest Water from the Air. Use the same Water Filtering system you have now for human use, and more filtering for drinking. You have a lots of water above ground, but in the form of Snow (in the winter) and in the form of Rain (during warm climate) or in the form of Vapor especially during the Hot Summer. A Well simplifies things for you, but if the cost of digging a well is that high, you should see if you can be more creative on your own, such as what the gentleman talks about in the youtube video. You have a lots of water, it's just how do you harvest it and be safe about it all around.

Yo Nick whats that song or artist at 7 mins 5 secs of the video please ? Loving the channel . ❤

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Why aren’t y’all doing siding ?

Nick ur wife is so beautiful

Dudes y'all had all that water around your pad. Like two feet of it , put it to use. In the form of snow. Should figure out how to use it. Or could do like the Natives use to melt snow on top of your stove. To clean yourselves wash hair , fill your tub and take a bath , wash your clothes.

Colossians 2:13-15 King James Version 13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Gods blessings over you .

I can see why you guys struggled. This is because you trying to bring a modern lifestyle into the wood. This is far different from Off Grid Lifestyle and its setup. You rely too much on modern equipments and modern materials. This video is a content you bring to video, the struggle you facing is you yourself created, not the nature, not the wood.