Basically, someone at some point got tired of rain pouring on their head when they opened the door. So they bought two 10 food sections and installed them over the doors. The one over the back door is 6 inches too long but they didn't trim it. The one over the door to the garage isn't anywhere near long enough, but that's all they did. I've got enough gutters, and needed accessories, to do either the house or the garage, but not both. The problem is that I only have two hands, one body. And getting help - well it hasn't happened.
Well, about two weeks ago my neighbors moved out. They had a barrel from a water softening system that they let me have. So I decided to get at least one rain barrel up and going.
Now the first part was to fill the barrel and see if there were any holes that I couldn't see. There weren't. Then I went down to Dad's with the barrel and we fit it with two spigots - one at the top and one at the bottom. The spigot at the top is for overflow.
Home again with the spigots on the barrel, I started work on it's placement. I went and got all the bricks, and pieces of brick, out of my rock pile. I leveled the spot near the house and built a "platform" 3 bricks high. It was interesting since the ground there is heavily loaded with rocks and the bricks were a whole variety of types, sizes, and pieces. Next I put the barrel up and filled it to make sure that the "platform" would hold. It did.
Next I patched two holes using my pool patch kit and some pieces of vinyl from a damaged pool. That was easy and quick - and it worked wonderfully.
Then I went digging in my garden shed. I was looking for any hoses that I didn't already have installed. This was for two reasons. First, I needed to replace the hose that came from the outside spigot, through the fence, into my backyard. The one that was on there was breaking and the repair connectors couldn't hold against the water pressure. Because of this, whenever I want the water on in the backyard I have to go out the front and around the side to turn it on, then back through to the backyard. It's a pain. Second, I was looking for a short hose to use on the overflow spigot. No point in having the overflow if I just let the water drain in the same spot I'm trying to not have it drain in. I found what I needed. Then I used the pliers to get the hoses switched out on the spigot. The damaged hose is now fastened to the rain barrel as it's hose. A 10 foot hose is attached to the upper spigot and directed into one of the garden beds further away from the house foundation. And I now have a good hose so water can be controlled at the hose outlet rather than the spigot.
Ok, you might think at this point I'd be done but nope sorry. There's a mosquito problem in my town. A lot of it is contributed to by drainage creeks that don't drain, and don't flow. So any standing water or extra moist ground area becomes another mosquito breeding ground. So my next step was to cut a piece of metal screening to cover the top of the rain barrel. There was no lip on this barrel, so I ended up using tin snips to cut the center of the lid out. The lid holds the screen in place. I'm also planning on a small piece of screen between the outlet spigot and hose, or at the end of that hose. Dad says it won't work and I'll be forced to use mosquito dunks. He might be right. But I have to try every option that doesn't create a repetitive expense first. Even if the expense is less than the comparable expense of paying for the water.
Now, the rain barrel is done and in place so I was set. Right? Nah, my life doesn't work that way. See I couldn't leave the gutter the way it was. As it was the water was just dumping off the end and soaking into the foundation at the corner of the house. That's another project I'm working on - the reason I have the gutters to put up, and why I dug a french drain at the back of the herb bed. There will eventually be another section of french drain running along this section of the house back and around the rain barrel. All to decrease the amount of rain running under my house which sits about 3" lower than the surrounding lot due to this issue for the past 50 years. So I had to fix this problem as well.
So another trip to Lowes to get an endcap for the gutter, silicone, and a downspout connector that I could drop into the existing gutter. Then home again. Note, I did not cut the extra 6" of gutter off. Due to the placement of the nails, to cut off the extra gutter would have required two more hands and another body which I didn't have. So I capped the end. That was easy but we'll see if it stays in place after the first rain storm. Then I marked the gutter so I could cut the opening for the downspout connector. Using my Dremel, I cut most of the opening. When I could bend it enough to get tin snips in I did so and finished cutting with the tin snips. As much as I like power tools, the tin snips were faster and more effective.
Using the drill I put two small holes in the drop down section of the downspout connector. Then I put it in place. Now comes the decorative part. I did not attach a downspout. I never intended to. I have had a beautiful copper bucket rain chain for a while now that I really wanted to use. So I made a connector that hung through the two holes I made in the downspout connector and hung it. I did have to shorten it by about six inches. But I really like it. There's no reason that practical and useful can't be beautiful at the same time. In fact I'll probably paint the rain barrel at some point as well. Maybe bronze or copper to match the chain. Maybe a wood tone. I really don't know yet.
Now the rain barrel is done. And I like it all. Now I wait until the next rain storm to see if all the work holds together the way it should. Fingers crossed for good luck.
And while taking this picture, I snagged a few blackberries from the canes near there. And my munchkin ate his first fresh blackberries. He liked them enough to eat a few more after the first. :-) He normally won't eat fresh fruit so I'm thrilled.
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