the rain barrel saga continues...

If you read my previous rain barrel post, you might not yet realize that this DIY now qualifies as a "saga." When we left off, I was touting the ease and affordability of this little weekend project. Well, 2 weeks and 3 rain storms later, things are now a bit more complicated.

Call me naive, but I never had a rain barrel before, so I thought I had time before I would need to add an overflow valve. Boy, was I wrong! I did not realize that a 50 gallon barrel would fill up and overflow in a 5 minute storm, but it certainly did. We cringed at all the wasted water that immediately flooded our basement.

Maybe a normal person would have just said, "Okay, well I'll add the overflow valve first thing tomorrow and be done with it." But not us...we decided we would go ahead and get 2 more rain barrels and THEN we could worry about the overflow valve.

I bumbled around the plumbing department until I came across this 1/2" thick flexible tubing. I've seen this work for other rain barrel links on the interwebs, so I figured it would be fine for me. I dug up the first rain barrel and added some concrete slabs underneath so that it could sit higher than the other 2. (I do NOT recommend this arduous task...even 1/4 barrel of water is much heavier than it looks) But, once that was done, I just added a few little 1/2" holes, some caulking and a metal dingus on the inside of each barrel, and I was good to go...or so I thought.

Mother Nature laughed at our efforts. Again, according to the weather forecast, we were fooled into thinking we had time to add the overflow valve another day. Lesson learned: you can't just keep indefinitely linking rain barrels to avoid making an overflow valve. :)


At 2:00am, I woke up to torrential downpour, 3 overflowing barrels and a freshly flooded basement. I clearly had no idea what I was doing, but I was not yet discouraged. I am working hard renovating our garden and I was determined to harness this over-abundant natural resource! So, back to the hardware store I went. After some more scratching my head and bumbling around, I ended up with this junk:

3" male and female seals, elbow pipe and long drain pipe named "Charlotte," apparently.

I was worried about making a hole that large in the barrel, but I needed the water to drain quickly from the 3rd barrel to allow the other 2 to drain and not overflow.

Traced outline with chalk, drilled hole in center and sawed out to the edges to make a 3" large hole

Hypothetically, it worked. This is how the drain looks on the third barrel, heading down into the original flexpipe, behind a bush and underground out to the road.

Round 3 of drainage adventures...

We've thoroughly enjoyed the free water we've been using for the past week. Temperatures have been over 95º, so we've been watering most of our new trees, shrubs and baby grass twice a day and we still have almost 2 full barrels!




UPDATE: I'd like to say we lived happily ever after, but not quite yet. (Don't be afraid of this project because I'm making all the mistakes for you.) The first barrel (the one receiving the brunt of the water flow from a huge roof) still overflowed in the last storm. I added a 3" connection (like the overflow pipes) between the 1st and 2nd barrels as well as the 2nd and 3rd to allow it to drain faster. It was not easy to do since the barrels could not be moved (note the impeccable caulk job) but it should do the trick. Fourth time's a charm, right? ;)

The mistake(s) I made were mainly in relation to water pressure. If/when the downspout is ever at full capacity in a storm, then the connection valves need to be at least as wide as the downspout, all the way through. The rain barrel ideas and designs I looked at must have had no trouble using small tubing; for a smaller home or roof, it would have been sufficient, but we have a very large roof, heavy storms rolling through and a basement that has a propensity for flooding. Although the process was stressful, I'm still definitely glad that we did it. We will have tons of free garden water for years to come!


FINAL UPDATE! Almost a year later now and we are SO thankful for our barrels! We've planted tons of things since then and have used them weekly. In the winter, we syphoned the water out and reconnected the downspout to the drain. Our basement has also since been waterproofed and the flooding had very little to do with my barrel adventures.

I'd say the only downfall is the actual lugging of water if you have a large or steep yard. We have about an acre incline with some new trees up the hill, so we are planning to add some gutters and a barrel or two behind the shed. We won't get as much water from such a small roof, but it would be nice to have some up there as well. Love them!

see progress - make progress

This was our overgrown garden jungle before I got my hands on it... August 2011

This is some progress, after pruning, digging and weeding... April 2012

Okay, so maybe the following photo doesn't look that different to you since April, but trust me, it is. I'm keeping up with "before" and "after" photos of this overwhelming area so that I don't quit. If I don't look back on how it really was originally, it will feel like I haven't got anywhere.

Here is what's been done since April:

- Area under Magnolia trees has been spruced up. Hostas planted and rock border added around the base.

- Gigantic stump up in front of the shed was annihilated by my Dad's chainsaw

- Planted Primrose, baby Liriopes and wildflower seeds.

- Existing Irises, Daylilies, Lambs Ear and a few other things I can't identify from other areas of the yard were separated and transplanted to fill in spaces. (Now you know why I made a rain barrel!)

- Removed random patch of rocks in the yard (front lower left), filled it and planted grass seed.

- Hedge border was pruned (hacked) by our well-intentioned neighbors, prompting our next big undertaking...a new land survey and a fence. :)

Current garden after much transplanting and weeding! June 2012

June 2012

It's slow-going, but I find that taking pictures along the way of any large project is a nice way to reminisce (about how miserably hard it was), stay motivated and see how far you've come. Give it a try next time you feel overwhelmed with a big job!

rain barrel DIY

With all the planting and gardening I am always working on, I've been going through a LOT of water lately. With 5 baby hemlocks, 2 baby blue spruce, transplanted hostas, daylillies and liriope, plus tons of growing bulbs and seeds, I was not amused with our water bill. I thought that now might be a good time to invest in a rain barrel!

The first place I looked was....a rain barrel store. Yes, they exist and there is randomly one within 2 miles of my house. Go figure! They had plenty of rain barrels to choose from, but even the typical  barrels (sans hose bibs or anything special) cost upwards of $45. Although I know a barrel isn't something you have to replace often, I knew I could do better than that.

I looked around and found used rain barrels of various size and color at a local fleatique. (L&L Fleatique in Adamsburg, if you're local!) $14 for a 55 gallon barrel? That's better. Now to make it into a functional rain barrel with a spout that won't serve as a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Hmmm....

It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be and it was certainly well worth my time and a few simple materials. Here's what I bought besides the rain barrel:

11/16 Drill Bit

- 1/2" hose bib

- Two 1/2" washers (one for the inside and one for the outside)

- One 1/2" lock nut (for the inside)

- One 11/16" hole cutting drill bit (be sure you get one that's just for wood since you only need to cut through plastic...otherwise, they're like $20)

- Screen for the top (this came in a large roll, but was only about $7)

- Adhesive caulking (I already had this)

Once you have all this stuff around, it's a quick project! Here's what to do:

 - Clean it: If you have a used barrel, I would definitely recommend cleaning it out. (Ours actually came with a few olives floating in their nasty olive juice from it's previous life. It was lovely.) I just used dish soap and a hose. Be sure to rinse it really well if you're planning to use the water for plants. Soapy water is harmful for plants.

- Mark a spot for the hose bib: Stand the barrel up and make a mark for how high you want the faucet to be. Keep in mind that you might want to be able to fit a large bucket or watering can underneath, but you'll want it as low as possible for optimal water pressure. Also, maybe estimate a few inches higher if you plan to dig out an area for the barrel to sit in.

- Drill hole for the hose bib: Lay the barrel on it's side. Using your new hole cutting bit, drill a hole.

- Establish threads in the barrel: Next, take your hose bib and thread it through the plastic. It will be a tight fit, but you don't want it to leak later. Be sure to keep it as straight as possible as you thread so that you don't make crooked threads. Once you get it in, go ahead and back it out.

- Add washer and attach hose bib: Now that you have the threads started, it will be easier to secure the bib. Apply caulking to one of the washers and place it over the hole, threading the bib back into place. You may want to add more caulk around the lip of the washer, just incase.

- The fun part: Crawl inside the barrel. :) Bring a flashlight, the other washer, caulk, a wrench and the nut. Apply caulk to the washer the same way, thread the nut on and secure it as tightly as you can. Add some extra caulk as needed, and then get the heck out of the barrel before your husband rolls you down the hill!

- Add screen to the top: Lay the screen over the lid and cut a square about 4" wider than the edge. Placing it over the top of the barrel, use the outer edge of the barrel lid to thread it in place. Then you can trim the excess screen.

- Put your barrel where you want it: You may need to dig a bit to level the ground, but just be sure that wherever you put it is stable. You're not going to want to try to move it when it's full and certainly don't want to worry about it tipping over.

- Cut your down spout: Cut your downspout so that it will end just above the screen of the barrel. This part can be challenging, if you don't have a good saw. I have a Sawsall that did the job, but I tried part of it with an Xacto knife, just out of curiosity. It was difficult, so if you need a saw, you can borrow mine. :)

For about $20 and 20 minutes, we're proud of this little DIY project...and you can guarantee our faces will be pressed up against that sunroom window watching the water pour in as soon as it rains.

UPDATE: We liked our first rain barrel so much that we decided to add 2 more! Getting 3 rain barrels to link and drain properly wasn't necessarily smooth-sailing since I had no idea what I was doing, but you can check out the process here and avoid making the same mistakes I did. :)