How I made a rain barrel in Ottawa

I decided to make a rain barrel rather than buying one since the least expensive option for one that was in stock was 100$ at Canadian Tire. There were a few eco-friendly stores selling them in Ottawa, however stock is generally limited and I was up for the challenge of constructing my own.

Here's how things went:

Step #1 - Acquiring the know-how

I went with the instructions from the City of Ottawa and the parts list that they included. It was my hope that it would require limited shopping around as compared to a few US websites that had me visiting lots of stores to get a variety of parts.

Step #2 - Getting the parts

My mother-in-law was generous in going to Cohen and Cohen's in her SUV after I had tried to load a barrel into our little Jetta. She spoke with the yard manager who hooked her up with a 2-piece lid variety of the barrel. This made things WAY easier as it saved a step in drilling the top open for the inlet. The barrel was also one that previously contained sweet pearl onions, a much nicer smelling alternative to the olive barrels that I've heard so many woes about. Thanks so much to my mother-in-law! Total cost of the barrel - 17$ including taxes.

My next step was to Rona to get all of the necessary plumbing parts. Colin in the plumbing department was very helpful. I had to substitute the 1/2" overflow valve for a 3/4 " valve since they didn't carry the smaller variety. In the end I felt this was actually easier. Total cost of the plumbing parts - 25$ (grand total of 42$). I didn't end up needing any of the eavestroughing pieces as in the location I chose I was able to simply shorten the downspout and use the existing framework.

Step #3 : Construction

The building of the rain barrel was actually quite simple and faster than I anticipated (from start to finish 1 1/2 hours, though I was interrupted several times by my 2 sons). Rather than gluing the screen to the underside of the barrel lid, I was able to fold it over (the thin screening that is used for windows) and tighten the lid securely in place. I also didn't have a pipe wrench and vice to tighten the coupling to the faucet, so we'll see if that holds up. Hand tightening it seemed to make it water tight, though I wasn't about to waste many liters of water to find out. I'll re-evaulate after the first few rainfalls.

Fortunately I'm quite tall. Otherwise, I'm not sure how I'd install the bushing into the hole for the faucet. I was at an arm's length to hammer it into the hole, since I used a 1" drill bit and tried make it as narrow as possible in drilling.

Otherwise, I followed the instructions to a tee. I used a combination of bricks and cinder blocks to estimate the height, then lowered it just onto the bricks to accomodate proper water flow with the angle I was working with.

Step #4 : Inserting goldfish??

I read this on one of the websites. It not only cleans the water, but will prevent any mosquito larvae from forming. I must say that I'm a little concerned about the cleanliness. Considering that we have a 2-year old and a 4-year old here at home, I may forego the fish route for now.

Regardless, here are some photos of the final product. First, upon completion in the basement.
Next, here it is in its final resting place - the downspout at our back door.

If you follow any of this advice, have any ideas to add, or end up making your own rain barrel then please leave me a comment.