Rain barrell

[blue skys]

I'm soo excited, and just had to share that when I came home from work yesterday, hubby was on the roof fixing a section of gutter that he had just put a 55 gallon rain barrell under!!!

And the best part is it rained all night. When I woke up this morning, my brand new rain barrell is completly full!! :bun

Now I need one more for the other half of the front of the house and then we will put up gutters in the back and have one great big one back there, and then we can put gutters on the workshop and then the chicken coop... I'm so excited!!!

He's so great!!!

edited because I can't spell and there are probably still errors.

 

[lesa]

Oh, lucky you! I keep thinking we are going to get one hooked up- and another year goes by...You are smart to do it! Enjoy!

 

[TillinWithMyPeeps]

I have two off of one of my downspouts, they got rain in them for the first time yesterday.

 

[Greenthumb18]

A Rain barrell seems like a great idea, cut down on the water bill and plants seem to grow better with water from the sky with no chemicals added to it as you would get from a hose. You could even use the water from the barrel for your chickens or other animals, it doesnt have any wierd stuff in it, of course it would have to be clean water.
Good luck with your rain barrel blue skys!!

It will be very useful to have:

:watering :watering :watering :watering :watering

 

[blue skys]

I have two off of one of my downspouts, they got rain in them for the first time yesterday.

I could use two on this down spout, I can't help but think of how much more water I would have gotten, had there been an overflow barrell there...

Oh well, I'm just happy that we got this one up!

Thanks for sharing my joy everyone!!

 

[GrowinVeggiesInSC]

I just installed mine a few weeks ago. Made it all by myself without anyone's help. I'm so very proud. I bought all the parts myself, too. It took me forever to get everything together, but it was so worth it.
My next project is an overflow barrel. I think by now I could have filled at least another two barrels!

PS: You can check my blog it you want to see mine. I painted it. It's under "look what I did today!"

Hurray for rain barrels!

 

[bluebird]

How do you make a rain barrel? I hear its easy, but my DH is "workshop challenged". I'd love to have one.

 

[GrowinVeggiesInSC]

How do you make a rain barrel? I hear its easy, but my DH is "workshop challenged". I'd love to have one.

I did a search on Google and YouTube and looked at other people's designs, then I picked the one I like best and made my own plan.

Things you need are:

A food grade 55 gallon barrel - or a large trash can with lid.
A downspout diverter or flexible downspout that goes into your barrel.
A hole for the downspout covered with moquito netting to keep the debris and moquitoes out.
A spigot and parts to attach it.
An overflow pipe and parts to attach it.
Silicone sealant (I used a small tube meant for Aquariums).
Teflon tape

That's what I used. I ended up paying about $50 total for all materials, including the barrel which was $20. Sorry, no specifics in terms of sizes for the pipes, etc. I took 1 and 1/2 hours at Lowes to put parts together and figure out what I needed. Since I wasn't following an exact blueprint, I had to kind of figure it out for myself.

If you google rain barrels, you can come up with oodles of designs and pick the one that works for you.

 

[HiDelight]

your husband is great and I would be dancing too if I came home and my barrels were installed!!!

we have the barrels but have opted to wait for our new roof ..and because that is a HUGE undertaking money wise ...sigh ..I am not sure when this will happen

but good for you and congrats

I think living where I do that not collecting rainwater and paying to water plants in the summer is a huge waste!

we have so much free rain!!!!

sigh I want free water for my plants too

it is crazy you turn the heat off for the summer and the water bill goes up sky high ..there is no break!


please keep us posted as to how these work for you ..do you have pics??

 

[blue skys]

My camera stopped working, but I'm planning on getting a new one soon, once I do I will try to figure out how to post a picture.