Our Rain Barrel
We have been receiving many requests for our rain barrels and while this is not our primary business we have not said no to anyone who has asked us to build one. This summer we have stared building small batches of barrels to sell. If you are interested in one send us an email. Sometimes we have a couple ready to go but most of the time we take about a week to get a batch built
When we set out to build our rain barrels we had 6 criteria that our barrels had to meet
1 - Durability - with 2 kids under 4 years of age these rain barrels were likely to get knocked around. The fixtures had to be solid enough that they would not break if someone “accidentally” used one to stand on. They would also have to survive cold Ottawa winters and hot Ottawa summers (Yes, it does get very hot and humid up here!).
2 - Safety - The lid would have to keep kids out and the barrel should not tip over on someone. We also do not want to provide a breeding ground for mosquitoes and the West Nile virus.
3 - Low Toxicity - The materials used should not be prone to leaching toxic materials. We wanted our water to be as clean as possible for use in our gardens.
4 - Ease of Construction - We did not want to spend hours and hours building each barrel. Time is precious!
5 - Use of recycled materials - Where possible we did as much reuse as possible.
6 - Inexpensive - Why pay over $130 CDN plus tax when you can do it for under $60 CDN.
In the end our rain barrel design is by no means the be all and end all of rain barrels but it is a method that fulfilled every one of our criteria. We have come up with a simple, b inexpensive and eco-friendly way to build rain barrels.
