Green Building Adventure | Phase I

The Green Building Adventure will
have a fairly elaborate rainwater
catchment system. But first,
we begin with the barrels. We
decided to use steel drums for
several reasons:
1) they're durable
2) they won't be affected by UV rays
3) the less plastic in our lives, the better

These steel drums are
food-grade; we got them from a
local animal feed store. We're painting
3 of our barrels black so
they'll be heated by the sun,
providing us with hot water.

Progress, progress!
The new paint will also help protect
the metal. Steel will rust
if it isn't painted.

They're almost done!
The fresh paint makes them look
so much better!

Don't our barrels look snazzy?!?
We added a second coat of paint, and they're
ready to go! Join us
tomorrow as we connect them to make
a fancy rainwater system.

Since this is a unique
rainbarrel design, the local
hardware stores didn't have the
exact materials we needed....so we
made them ourselves.
Here, Andrew is cutting rubber
washers to seal the drain spouts
to the metal drums.

Matthew also helps make
rubber washers that fit. Each barrel will
have a drain so we need 6 washers for the
3 hot water drums - one for the inside and
one for the outside of each spigot.

Andrew cuts the pieces that will connect
the drums together. This is old polybutylene
plumbing from my family's home. It is not good
to use for high-pressure lines, but it will
work fine for our gravity-fed system.

We need a metal washer on the outside
of each drain valeve on each barrel, but the
local hardware store didn't have the exact size.
We bought the size slightly smaller than what we
need and wallered out the hole
to make it fit.

It is tedious work
wallering out the washers.
Everyone takes a turn!

Matthew drills a hole
in the barrel for a drain valve.

Matthew holds the valve
on the outside of the barrel
while Andrew secures it on the inside,
making sure that it's tight and snug.
We don't want any leaks!

We linked all the hot-water barrels
together so they would all fill simultaneously.
Here, I drill one of the holes for the pipe.

We installed a shut-off valve
between each barrel. This way we can control
which barrels fill. Andrew silicones
the inside while Matthew holds
the tube in place.

Check it out!
Aren't they nice?!?
Now we just need cold water and
a gutter with a drain spout....

Lookin' Good!
It will be so helpful to have running
water for our workshop and garden!