Stand

Rain Barrel – Simple, High Quality, Made with Easy to Find Parts

Uncharted Steve 07/15/2020 4 DIY Projects Cart, DIY, Garden, Nature, Outdoors, Plant, Rack, Seedlings, Shelves, Stand, Storage

Make a Rain Barrel Using Hardware Store Parts Catch some falling rain and put it in your barrel, save it for a rainless day

No need for an expensive prefab unit when the parts are easily available at the hardware store.

We had no idea how much water we were losing during just a short rainfall. Now, that rain fills both our barrels, allowing us to store 110 gallons for later use. It conserves water and saves on the water bill.

The problem:

We get rain showers almost every afternoon in the spring and summer. After one particularly intense storm, we noticed a huge amount of water in the street, and thought “Hmm, rain barrels might be more useful than we realized.”

After looking at commercial rain barrels, it appeared the only choice was to accept low quality, or spend a ton of money. What to do? DIY of course!

Spock raising eyebrows in "I can't believe it" look

Before you even ask; there is nothing wrong with my eyes.

I will be painting these barrels soon!

Before you even ask; there is nothing wrong with my eyes.

I will be painting these barrels soon!

The solution:

I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on brand new barrels from the hardware store, so I found used 55 gallon drums. It’s important to us to not harm our landscaping with chemicals, so I made sure to look for “food grade” or “food safe” 55 gallon barrels or drums.

You can do a web search, or check Craigslist, where I found a local company that deals in used containers. I specifically wanted removable lids to simplify building them and for easy cleaning.

The barrels we purchased had been used for shipping orange juice, thus the color! We got them for $15 each since the bright orange isn’t exactly in high demand! The juice had been contained in liners, so it never even made contact with the drum itself.

The video below shows the steps in detail and some modifications I made as I put them together.

55 gallon barrel compared to 11 five-gallon jugs

So just how much is 55 gallons?

Eleven 5 gallon jugs. That’s a lot of water!

So just how much is 55 gallons?

Eleven 5 gallon jugs. That’s a lot of water!

Summary of Steps:

Cut the overflow and hose bibb holes with a hole saw and drill
Assemble the overflow pieces with screened hose washers to keep bugs out
Install hose bibb using rubber and steel washers, sealing with silicone
Cut hole for lid using a drilled pilot hole and a jigsaw
Attach inlet, using 3″ PVC fittings with window screen sandwiched in between
Connect downspout extension and filter to gutter/downspout
Be amazed at how fast the water collects in your new rain barrel!

I would love to know see how your barrel works out for you. If you try my design, please make sure to leave comments and questions below.

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. At no extra cost to you, I may earn a small commission on items bought using them. These are the same recommendations I would make regardless of any compensation. For products that I have older versions of, I recommend the items that I would replace them with if I were buying them new.

Resources for Rain Barrel

These are the tools and supplies I used to build my rain barrels. You do not need all of them, so feel free to substitute with tools you have available.

Flex-A-Spout Downspout Extension

From Home Depot
Connect gutter to barrel

Flex Grate Downspout Filter

From Home Depot
Filter out debris

Kobalt 24-Volt Max 1/2-in Cordless Drill

From Amazon
Drill, battery and charger

Kobalt 24V MAX Brushless 2 Tool Combo Kit

From Amazon
Combo Kit with Drill and Impact Driver, battery, charger. Great value if you need both. See FREE Tips & Tricks PDF for Impact Drivers

Bosch 7.0 Amp 120V Variable Speed Jigsaw

From Amazon
Great corded Jigsaw. This is the one I used in the video. Expensive, but is powerful!

Black+Decker Jig Saw, 4.5 Amp

From Amazon
A less expensive jigsaw as an option

1/4 in. Aluminum Oxide Grinding Point Cylinder

From Home Depot
Smooth off the rough edges

1 in. Hole Dozer Bi-Metal Hole Saw w Pilot Bit

From Home Depot
Drilling holes in barrel

1/2″ x 100 ft. Poly Drip Irrigation Tubing

From Home Depot
Overflow hose

3 in. PVC DWV Male Adapter

From Home Depot
Adapts downspout filter to lid

3 in. PVC DWV Fitting Cleanout Adapter

From Home Depot
Adapts downspout filter to lid

Fiberglass Insect Screen

From Home Depot
Only about a square foot is needed, so screen remnants are fine

Foam Tape Weatherstripping

From Home Depot
Optional spacer for lid

Silicone All Purpose Sealant Caulk

From Home Depot
Used on openings for fittings

3/4″ Brass MIP x MHT Hose Bibb

From Home Depot

There are more DIY projects in the works, so stay tuned to Uncharted DIY. Feel free to comment, post photos of your Rain Barrel or ask questions about this project.

Uncharted DIY was created for people with the DIY spirit tackling uncommon projects, utilizing common tools and often on a limited budget

Plant rack with large wheels at Delicate Arch, Arches National Park

Easy Rolling Shelving Rack for Uneven Surfaces

Uncharted Steve 06/10/2020 3 DIY Projects Cart, DIY, Garden, Nature, Outdoors, Plant, Rack, Seedlings, Shelves, Stand, Storage

Easy Rolling Shelving Rack for Uneven Surfaces Boldly go where no plant rack has gone before!

Plants on mobile storage rack, cart, shelf outside

A go anywhere, do anything mobile storage solution. Racks, carts, shelves and stands all work with these large pneumatic casters on a pressure treated plywood base. Perfect for hardening off seedlings, bringing tools to where you are working, and more…a useful DIY project for any situation.

The problem:

We needed a way to bring our seedlings outside in the daytime to acclimate them to outdoor weather and natural sunlight. Nights were still too cold for tomatoes, peppers and other sensitive plants. Bringing dozens of plants and trays out in the morning and back into the garage at night was taking way too much time!

The solution was a shelving-based plant rack on wheels. The wire shelving unit we had inside the house as our grow station worked great on casters, so one should work for outside too, right? Good idea, but it didn’t exactly move easily or securely in the backyard, which is currently an obstacle course!

The optional 4″ casters for the shelf unit are heavy duty, but too small to handle the rigors of the wilderness of our backyard. It quickly became apparent these were not going to work out. In less than a week, I discovered the shafts of the casters were severely bent.

Miniature countertop and stools being placed by a comparatively large hand.

“One of these things is not like the others,

One of these things just doesn’t belong,

Can you tell which thing is not like the others

By the time I finish my song?”

The solution:

Caster size comparison

An 8 inch caster vs a 4 inch caster doesn’t sound that much bigger, but a picture speaks a thousand words!

Lowes, Home Depot and Ace Hardware don’t seem to carry large casters in stock locally. Fortunately, I found 8″ heavy duty pneumatic swivel casters at Harbor Freight that were perfect for the job. The 8″ casters come with a mounting plate, rather than the threaded shafts of the 4″ casters. So, I mounted them on a wider, 3/4″ pressure-treated 2′ x 4′ plywood base.

TIP: Make sure to round off the corners of the plywood before assembling the platform. It will save some irritation when trying to maneuver into doorways.

I demonstrate the easy process for building this super sturdy setup in the short video above. All the specifications for the hardware I used for my project are listed below in the “resources” section.

The whole project only took a couple of hours and now it is SO EASY to let all the plants enjoy play time out in the yard!

Summary of Steps:

Trace the legs of shelving and the hole pattern of the casters onto plywood
Drill holes for bolts
Round off or cut corners of plywood
Attach shelving rack and casters to plywood
Take your new heavy duty off-road rack for a spin!

I would love to know how your “Off-Road” storage solutions work for you. If you try my design, please make sure to leave a comment below.

There are more DIY projects in the works, so stay tuned to Uncharted DIY. Feel free to comment, post photos of your Easy Rolling Shelving Rack or ask questions about this project.

Stand

Make a Rain Barrel Using Hardware Store Parts Catch some falling rain and put it in your barrel, save it for a rainless day

No need for an expensive prefab unit when the parts are easily available at the hardware store.

We had no idea how much water we were losing during just a short rainfall. Now, that rain fills both our barrels, allowing us to store 110 gallons for later use. It conserves water and saves on the water bill.

The problem:

The solution:

Summary of Steps:

Resources for Rain Barrel

There are more DIY projects in the works, so stay tuned to Uncharted DIY. Feel free to comment, post photos of your Rain Barrel or ask questions about this project.

Uncharted DIY was created for people with the DIY spirit tackling uncommon projects, utilizing common tools and often on a limited budget

Easy Rolling Shelving Rack for Uneven Surfaces Boldly go where no plant rack has gone before!

A go anywhere, do anything mobile storage solution. Racks, carts, shelves and stands all work with these large pneumatic casters on a pressure treated plywood base. Perfect for hardening off seedlings, bringing tools to where you are working, and more…a useful DIY project for any situation.

The problem:

The solution:

An 8 inch caster vs a 4 inch caster doesn’t sound that much bigger, but a picture speaks a thousand words!

Summary of Steps:

Resources for Easy Rolling Shelving Rack Project

There are more DIY projects in the works, so stay tuned to Uncharted DIY. Feel free to comment, post photos of your Easy Rolling Shelving Rack or ask questions about this project.

Uncharted DIY was created for people with the DIY spirit tackling uncommon projects, utilizing common tools and often on a limited budget