Rain Barrel Winterization

The even described below took place around Oct 19.  It's just taken awhile to get this posted - ed.

The temperatures have started to dip down in the evenings.  And as freezing temps were arriving sometime this week, it was time that we drained out the rain barrels and prepared them for winter storage.

There was, of course, a problem...  In order to put in the two rain barrels in the spring, we had to cut away part of downspouts.  With the barrels removed, we had to figure out how to re-attach the rain drainage as we didn't want any water coming back to the foundation in case of an early winter shower.

I checked around various hardware stores and was surprised to find that there was a lack of pipe couplings for rain spouts.  I mean the kind with one side larger than the other so that it slides on an existing pipe.  The only kind I found was the "elbow" shaped ones and those just wouldn't work for what we needed.

So I had to cut and crimp the attached spouts and slip on the old drain pipes that we cut away in Spring.  Then we used zip ties screwed into the walls to hold them in place.  In the end I also duct taped the seams and zip tied the tape in case the tape would peel during the cold winter months.

Now the spouts are securely in place and there should be no issues with rain or run off.  So we hope!!