Operation securities (OPSEC) is a military term, and is a process that identifies useful information to opposing forces that should be hidden. One of the most rudimentary ideologies of OPSEC is to hide preparations so that others don’t have any clue what you are up to. While such is a remarkable notion, hiding important things isn’t always easily accomplished.
Enter in the humble yet large, hard to conceal, round water tank. If you are scratching your head on how to best hide or add a rainwater tank to your property in an aesthetically pleasing manner, then this article will provide you with some practical options.
Camouflage Your Rainwater Tank
Today, especially with poly tanks, there are a range of colours available that can be selected. Choosing a colour that complements the location of your rainwater tank will help camouflage its obtrusiveness on your property.
Green, creams, browns and other natural colours will obviously suit gardens and vegetation, or other colours can be chosen that better blend in with the colour of your house, fence or other surroundings. Choosing the right colour is one of the simplest and most important ways to tastefully fit in what is otherwise a large and unable to be hidden object.
Place Tank on ‘Blind Side’ of House
By ‘blind side’ of your house, we mean that part of your property that is hidden from the sight or rarely visited. Many local councils may require your tank to either not be visible, or minimally not be unsightly from the street. Main areas to place your tank are therefore at the side of your house or back of your property.
Unless more extensive pipework is installed, sides of houses are normally the perfect location. If you have pathways, or desire the space remain free along the outside walls of your house, then fence lines are great options. You don’t need to locate your tank immediately beside your house wall, but can easily run supported pipework from your gutter, overhead of any pathways, to the water tank located next to your fence. Just be sure you adhere to the minimum boundary distance that local councils often require.
In such situations like this, you can purchase multiple slimline tanks and join them together via couplings. Team Poly offer a range of slimline tank styles, ranging in sizes from 650 litres up to 5,000 litres.
If you don’t have a blind side at the side of your house, keep in mind that you can also partially bury poly water tanks. This will reduce their height above ground. Before doing this, first consult your tank installation instructions for the correct burying procedure.
Hide Your Tank Underground or Under a Deck
If you don’t have any “blind side” on your house, and not much above surface space, you can always install an underdeck tank or low excavation underground tank.
Opting for a poly underground tank is much cheaper and easier to install than concrete tanks. You can hide our underground poly tanks in your yard, under a pathway or driveway. Installation is so easy that two people with shovels can dig the hole necessary and place the tank in. For more information view information on our underground water tanks.
Screening Your Tank – Fencing, Lattices and Slats
Structures made of strips of wood or metal can be purchased. You can inexpensively purchase panels like bamboo fencing or similar, or create cover with horizontal slats or lattices for a nicer crisscross effect. These panels are placed in front of your tank, to help conceal from view.
If using lattices or slats, you can obviously paint the material to match your garden or house. Better yet, you can grow a vertical garden, some kind of vine—grapes, tomatoes or passionfruit will grow up and around lattices and slats.
Painting a Mural on Your Tank
Perhaps you consider yourself quite the artist, or you have several children who love painting. Schools will often paint what are otherwise bland brick walls, and councils too pay for murals to be painted throughout suburbs to stop graffiti. While there are many ways to hide your tank, you could turn the chore of hiding your tank, into a day of family fun and painting.
Obviously, there are many practical and even fun ways to hide a rainwater tank. Your task is made easier today with poly tanks which come in a wide range of colours, shapes and styles. From a traditional round water tank design to a variety of slimline tanks. You can even opt for an underground or underdeck tank. If unsure, don’t hesitate to talk us at Team Poly—we’d be happy to assist you with making the right decision.