Rain Barrels Part 2

April 10, 2012 by George

Washed Out Lawn Area

Martha did a fantastic job prepping our rain barrels. Now it is time for me to install them! We decided that our first two rain barrels would reside in our back yard as we had a bit of trouble with water flowing from the existing down spouts from the roof into our lawn and washing away grass in a large section.

Installation turned out to be very easy for me. The only tools I used were a hack saw, power drill, and flat head screw driver. The only other equipment needed was four cement blocks that we had purchased earlier at the hardware store to use as a base for the rain barrels and some extra flexible tubing to guide the water from the downspout into the top of the rain barrels. Luckily we already had such tubing laying around and just cut a couple short pieces off as needed.

The first location that I installed a rain barrel in was the easiest as it was already over a patio that was pretty level. I simply unscrewed the wall mounts at the lowest portion of the downspout, placed the two cement blocks next to where the down spout was, and placed the barrel on top to get an idea of how high up I needed to cut off the down spout. Using the hack saw I cut through the down spout about 8-10 inches above the top of the rain barrel, enough so that the curved down spout end piece could be reattached and still be slightly above the rain barrel.

Down Spout Over Rain Barrel

To remove the curved down spout end piece I used the flat head screw driver to pry up the two connector pins, which once removed allowed the entire piece to easily slide right off the cut off down spout section. Reattaching that piece was a snap, just slide it back over the remaining down spout still on the house. I used the screw driver to help guide some of the tight edges up and around. Then I used one of the left-over screws from the wall attachment of the cut off down spout section to secure the two pieces together.

Tubing Closing The Gap

There was still a gap between the end of the down spout and the top of the barrel where water would fall due to the width of the barrel and an outlet cover against the wall preventing the barrel from being perfectly flush with the siding. Using some flexible drain pipe we had laying around I cut a section to close the gap and allow the water to flow right into the top center of the rain barrel. Using another one of the screws from the wall attachment of the cut off down spout section I secured the tubing to the down spout.

The second install location was went the same with the addition of having to rack away some rocks and lay down some sand to provide an even bedding for the cement blocks. In both locations I placed the overflow pipes in the direction of the previous water flow that went into cement rain gutter guides.