Rain Barrels Part 1

Here in "Mayberry" the water is extremely expensive. You see "Mayberry" buys their water from the next town over and then sells it to us. Watering the garden has raised my water bill by about $30 a month in season.

The rain barrel was so easy to make. It took us all of about 20 minutes to clean it out and put it together.

Cast of Characters: 2 3/4" metal conduit adapters, 3/4" hose bib, 1" drill bit, mosquito netting, and rain barrel.

I found my barrels on Craig's List for about $15 each. The guy at the hardware store said he used a large outdoor trash can.

At the bottom of the barrel, we drilled a 1" hole and threaded the female half of the conduit from the inside (Leon had to crawl inside), then screwed the male piece over top on the outside. Then we attached the hose bib to the conduit.

We did the same for the top of the barrel for our overflow. You could stop here and just have one barrel. You would need to cut a small piece of mosquito netting and screw the male side of the conduit over top. I plan to use a second barrel for overflow, to collect as much water as I can.

The last step was to drill holes into the top of the lid and lay on some of the mosquito netting.

I still need to get some cinder blocks to prop my rain barrel up against the house, and I need a few other supplies to connect the two barrels.