Rain Barrel Installation

Stormwater runoff is a major hot button issue these days.  Excess runoff can lead to pollution in the waterways, erosion, and a few other issues that we would rather not have to deal with.

Municipalities are beginning to charge a stormwater tax on homeowners.  Typically this tax can be reduced by installing features designed to capture and slow runoff.

Rain gardens are one method.  A rain garden is basically a depression in the ground that captures the water from downspouts or a swale.  The rain garden is planted with plants that can handle inundation followed by periods of dry.  We will cover the rain garden in a future post.

Rain barrels are probably the easiest method of dealing with excess runoff.  They also have the huge benefit of actually storing the water to be used during dry spells, further saving money and resources.

So, here is how to do it:

Step One:  Acquire a barrel.  There are many people selling barrels now.  They are fairly easy to find.  I am going to cover the installation of a pre-made rain barrel.  You may elect to make your own out of a pickle barrel or some other type, but for ease of operation I used a pre-made barrel that I purchased from h2oCollect.  The same barrel is also available at the shop at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.  If you are not in the Richmond area, you are on your own but I know you can do it!

Ivy barrel, pretty easy to come by 

These barrels cost $95 apiece.  Seems like a lot, but by the time you buy a barrel, buy all the parts you need, and actually assemble it, you may be thinking that the $95 wasn't so bad.  (I already know this. I have ran clinics on how to build your own.  Leaks and other faulty construction woes can easily happen.)  I don't want to talk you out of it, because I still do build my own sometimes, but this will certainly save you time, which is money after all as they say….

 make sure drainage is addressed first!

This particular site had a major drainage issue.  The water would come out of these downspouts and run back towards the house, causing a major puddle and would eventually leak into the basement.  While a barrel can certainly help with this, you really should fix the problem first.  Here I hooked up the downspouts to PVC pipe, and ran it away from the house.  PVC is a far better choice for downspouts than the black corrugated pipe you always see.  The water will move faster through this pipe, carrying any debris with it that could get stuck in the corrugations of the black pipe, leading to a clog.  Also, the small bit of water that remains in the corrugations is enough for tiger mosquitos to breed in.  

diverter

Unless your ground is drainage issue free, and slopes away from the house, and you have never had a moisture issue, I would recommend installing a diverter to get the water in the barrel. You can simply cut the downspout high, and install a flexible downspout that pours right into the top of the barrel, but I don't really like that, unless all the above statements are true.  Here is definitely needed a diverter.  The diverter will take some of the water that comes down the spout and put it through the tube on the right.  In the case of a deluge, a lot of water will still go continue past the diverter, which is why you need to address the drainage issues beforehand.  To install this type, simply cut out a 6" section of downspout.  The diverter needs to be at least 12" above the top of the barrel, so take into account the height of the barrel and the base.

you can barely see the diverter.  Unlike the finger in the picture….

Also, notice the incredible window box! hint hint…

Once the diverter is installed, you can barely see it.  Now is the time to mount the barrel.

thing of beauty

Here is the final product.  Notice how the barrel sits on a base.  This is to make it easier to access the water, and be able to drain all of it out.  The base is also there to provide a rock steady area for the barrel to sit on.  Never forget that this thing will weight about 400 pounds when full.  This base I made is just four cinder blocks carefully leveled with a flagstone paver on top.  If you noticed that the diverter pipe looks too long it is because it is.  I was not sure that this would be the final placement for the barrel, so I did not want to alter the pipe in case this client wanted the barrel further back in the bushes.  I will cut the pipe so that it goes straight down soon.  Not pictured are the overflow pipes, which will carry any overflow away from the house.  Another benefit of getting the pre-made system.

I hope this was some sort of help to you, and please contact me with any questions you may have.

Jay

www.rvascapes.com

jay@get-rvascapes.com