Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Rainwater Collection

The Cape St. Claire Garden Club [Link] sponsored a Rainbarrel Drive, and I got a nice large collection tub for $95.00. 

This works out rather well since the downspout in the back spills out right onto the patio stones.

As you can see, not optimal.
So, I got two cinderblocks, one from the backyard I had found and one my neighbor gave me.  I measured the spout and marked where I wanted to cut and used my electric Dremel to slice right through the metal.

I also shifted the support brace up to stabilize the downspout.  Then I crimped the 4 corners of the spout (to mount the curved flow out.)

So, that with the cinderblocks completed my 'site prep' for the raincatcher, and then I mounted it and ran some water from the roof gutter down and verified it worked.  The finished product will now do a number of things:
  1. Prevent erosion at the base of my foundation/patio.
  2. Prevent icing during the winter as I go out to get wood.
  3. Give me a place to dump water from my dehumidifiers.
  4. Provide water when I want to water deck/patio plants. 
The final product:

Depending on how the water weight stabilizes the barrel, I may think about putting a band around it to bind it to the house structure somehow, but I think its going to be fine.

Plan on posting a few more of the projects I've been doing, just been busy DOING and not typing.

Of course, lesson learned.  The woman who sold me the barrel mentioned olives...so I did a search online for olive barrels and found: http://www.epcontainers.net/id1.html.  Now price is $29.50/ea, and $32.00 shipping, and to cut the top, put a screen in and a faucet.  Yes, cheaper..and I'm sure I could find a local supplier from Baltimore.