The first person who thought of storing rain water for future emergency needs must be some sort of a genius. With little tweaks here and there, you can stop wasting rain water by letting them flow freely into storm drains and streams. Making your own diy rain barrel may seem like it requires extensive work, but as you will soon learn, most of the items you would need can be acquired easily at the general store.

Before you begin, first determine the source of rain water as it washes down on your roof. Most houses would already have a small drain that flows the water into a pipe downstream and into the storm drain. If it fits, and the condition of the house allows for it, you can use the same pipe line to channel your excess rain water instead. After you have procured the exact location, you can start building your own diy rain barrel with few simple steps.

The things you would need are a barrel in the size that you prefer, a vinyl hose to channel the water and PVC couplings to hold the barrel and hose together. You might also want to get a screen grate to filter out debris and insects from getting into your source of clean water. Your diy rain barrel should be placed on one side of the house with the lowest draining point. This is to ensure the water to flow indefinitely into the hose. You would want to make sure that the gutter of the roof is clean and would not contaminate the water as it passes through.