Ultimate DIY Guide to

Rainwater Harvesting
Insanely Cool Rainwater Projects

Second Rain, Inc.

________________________________________________________________________

Version beta
Thank you. ...........................................................4
Data, Case Studies, Reason ..............................................................................................4

Where to Start ......................................................5

How Much Zucchini is Enough? ......................................................................................5
Water supply from the sky ...............................................................................................6
Example ............................................................................................................................6

Let the Rain Games Begin ...................................7

Asphalt Tea, anyone? ........................................................................................................ 7
Get your mind out of the gutter ........................................................................................7
Quick, Create a Diversion!................................................................................................8
The First Flush..................................................................................................................9
Meet Roger, Over. ............................................................................................................11
Half Alive or Half Dead? .................................................................................................12
Emergency Fund ............................................................................................................. 12
Let’s Get This Party Started Right ..................................................................................12

Forget the Barrel… .............................................14

Keeping Up is Hard to do................................................................................................ 14
Back to the Future… ........................................................................................................15
The Versatility of a Simple System .................................................................................16
Sleeping ON the Rain, Not in it… ................................................................................... 16

Show Me the Plans Already! ..............................17

Cost Comparison Analysis ..............................................................................................17
DIY Rain Party ................................................................................................................18
The WaterShed - 1680 gallons ........................................................................................18
The Studio - 400 gallons .................................................................................................19
Cedar Rain Bench - 300 gallons or 420 gallons ............................................................20
The Rain Bench - 65 gallons or 140 gallons ...................................................................21
Outdoor Rain Kitchen - 1,080 gallons ...........................................................................22
Self-Watering Garden (SWG) - 65 gallons or 260+ gallons ..........................................23
Getting All Hooked Up ...................................................................................................26
Pump and hose reel add-ons ..........................................................................................26
Roger is Brilliant. ............................................................................................................27

More Sweat Than Money ..................................28

A Concrete Jungle...........................................................................................................28
Let This Sink in ...............................................................................................................29
Get Ready for It ..............................................................................................................29
Thank you.
I want to take a quick moment to congratulate and
thank you, on behalf of your neighbors, your family,
your environment, for being part of the answer to the
question, “What can one person do about it?”

And if you haven’t seen the CBS 60 Minutes special ‘Depleting Our Water’ - it’s worth a
watch:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/depleting-the-water/

So here is your guide, raw & uncut. Keep in mind I am completely biased and opinionated,
and these are thee best and most innovative techniques here. If I find (or make) a better
way, I will update this guide AND send you the updates if you have purchased it.

Note: I will not be showing you how to catch water in a trash can or barrels. You can find
how to do that on a hundred websites and a thousand youtube vids. Oh no. This is much
cooler than that.

Data, Case Studies, Reason

Found in this guide are specific techniques for any DIYer, urban survivalist, or responsible
homeowner who is already convinced they need to catch rain— notsomuch about how many
gallons of water we all waste or how bad our water infrastructure is. I could fill hundreds of
pages with stories, and many good books and websites have hundreds of pages of reasons
why we need to do something about it NOW. I believe you already know this, which is why
you’re here. Of course, if those books contain other fabulous solutions, I will include them
here and credit them for it.

I say ‘survivalist’ in the above list because if you are a serious prepper you will clearly see
how these techniques and plans will give you an arsenal of new ways to catch and store a
relatively constant supply of water, and do all of this completely under the radar. You know
how important this is in the event that any major water supply goes down.

So that’s my lengthy explanation of why this guide is as condensed as possible (?), to get
you the information you need right now to get started catching and storing rainwater, in the
coolest ways possible. Ready? Let’s roll!
 “Always Remember You Are Unique, Just Like Everyone Else”
-Anonymous

Where to Start
First, you’ll need to establish the main reason you are doing this. Someone wanting to use
rainwater to provide their entire family with water should go about the setup a little differently
than just supplemental watering for a small veggie garden. If you want to water your lawn
with harvested rainwater, please don’t. Lawn takes a lot of water to keep it nice. Tear it out
and plant some artificial turf on nice soft wrestling mat foam instead…

A garden, on the other hand, would be a wonderful use for stored rainwater.

How Much Zucchini is Enough?

First, how much water do you use? If you downloaded our free rainwater calculator, just
enter the # of people in the house and any wacko extraneous uses, and voila. If you never
got it or lost it somehow, you can find it at www.secondrain.com. There is a free link to it in a
blog post titled “rainwater calculator.”

A 25'x40', or 1000 square-foot garden

Vegetable gardens generally need 1 would want 623 gallons per week to
inch of water per week. You can be happy. That’s a lot of water.
conserve more by using drip irrigation or
wicking (self watering) beds, which I'll And that’s a lot of zucchini.
touch on later.

So it’s like this for most any garden:

Length (ft) x Width (ft) x .623 = gallons per week

If it’s dry for say, 3 weeks, and you have a 1,000 square
foot garden, you need to have about 2,000 gallons to
water it through the dry spell.
Water supply from the sky
Next find out how much rainwater you can collect. Use
A 25' x 40' roof, or 1000
the same formula, and you get gallons per 1 inch of
ft.², can produce up to
rainfall on your roof.
623 gallons per 1 inch
There are other ways of collecting surface runoff, but of rainfall.
your roof is pretty much ideal, and we’ll get to earthwork
later on.

Example
Let’s say your roof is 1,000 sq.ft. and your mixed vegetable garden is 1,000 sq.ft., and that’s
all you want to use your rainwater for.

In your climate, it’s not uncommon to go for 4 weeks in summer without a drop of rain, so
your ideal rainwater storage might be at least enough to last 4 weeks, or (623 gallons x 4),
2,492 gallons.

Of course, you would need at least 4” of rainfall to fill it up, but you can also direct air
conditioner or dehumidifier condensate, manually or automatically, into this system. These
are 2 very pure sources of “greywater” that should not be wasted. And now you are not so
limited by watering restrictions, and your plants would be happier with nice, soft rainwater.

This is just one example of why you might want to catch some rain, why a barrel or two is
not nearly enough to store it, and just a barely a hint of how. Next, we’ll start where the rain
falls and dig into some serious details.
Let the Rain Games Begin
Asphalt Tea, anyone?
The ideal roof material for rainwater harvesting is metal. It stays cleaner, gets rinsed off
quickest when it rains, and it lasts forever. Probably the most common roofing material
however is asphalt shingles. If you’re not going to be drinking it, no worries.

If you plan on drinking water from a shingle roof:

Pick up some stuff called Shingle Saver at your local home

improvement store. It’s an acrylic coating, in white or clear, that
rolls on over your roof and protects it. It’s expensive, but along with
coating it so the asphalt does not leach into the rainwater, it also
extends the life of your roof by 50 years or so. The water isn't
drinkable yet, but at least you won’t have so much chemical
garbage in it.

You could cut off a

Get your mind out of the gutter downspout and stick
a barrel under it, but
If you don’t have gutters on your house— get some…? if you live in cold
Seriously you could still do it, but gutters would be a swell move climate or get heavy
at this point, especially if you coated your roof already. (Hey rains (like basically
you’re fast) Gutters aren’t hard to install, but this isn’t a gutter anywhere), use a
guide. Just slope them down 1” every 8’ run toward the opening. diverter.
Let’s assume you have them, either 2”x3” or 3”x4” downspouts.

There are lots of downspout diverters out there, and for the cost of all the fittings and
finagling to create your own DIY downspout diverter out of PVC, you may just save time and
money by buying a pre-made one and using the directions to install it on your downspout.

These 3 diverters are across the price range and all work on 2x3 or 3x4 downspouts.

“A Person Who Never Made a Mistake Never Tried Anything New”

-Al Einstein
Quick, Create a Diversion!
Low-end Diverter: The cheapest one I found is $25.95 -called Flexi-Fit by Rain Brothers,
LLC. It’s a piece of rubber that you put through a big hole you drill in the side of your
downspout, and it will divert maybe 60% of the water. I have installed 2, but don’t know how
much of a problem it has with debris and cleaning. No filter.

Here is the link to it: http://store.rainbrothers.com/universal-flexifit-downspout-diverter-kit/

(price includes tubing and some adapters)

High-end Diverter: The most expensive at $222 is the WISY from Germany.
As you'd expect, it's pretty super; stainless steel, aerates, comes with a VW
van (kidding, but it’d be a lot cooler if it did). I have not used this yet, but if
you’ve got money to burn, go for it.

Here is the link to it: http://www.rainwatermanagement.com/wisy-

downspout-filter-collector/index.html

Mid-range Diverter: A good balance between them is one by Saving Rain, LLC. Designed
by Master Gardener Mom, it has a large enough opening at
the top to work with up to 4 inch square commercial
downspouts (I have used it on a few), and works very well
with 2x3 or 3x4 residential downspouts. It diverts 99% of all
rain coming down your downspout, which most others don’t
do. It also aerates, has an easy access filter, and its
winterizing plugs double as filter handles— very nice. Made
in the USA. It runs about $40.

Here is the link to it: http://savingrain.com

“Each Mind Has its Own Method”

-Emerson

Great, we’ve got water from your coated roof, to gutters and being diverted, now what?
Drink or Flush? It boils down to cost,
End use will guide a few decisions you make from here really. Most of these filters
on - and it already has (remember the acrylic roof can be retrofitted if you
coating?) decide you want to do
more filtering later on…
For the purposes of keeping this concise, let’s say you
want to keep cost down and collect rainwater primarily
for outdoor use (58% of all home use is outside). That said, these next 2 filters are not
necessary for watering plants, but also not crazy expensive and will certainly help clean it up
and reduce maintenance down the road…

Gutter Guard or Foam

This is just an insert you put in your gutters that stops some of the leaves and junk from
washing off the roof and into your system. They should be self cleaning, and by design they
prevent clogging and reduce gutter maintenance overall.

Gutter Guard ($2 per ft):

http://www.costco.com (search: “EasyOn Gutterguard 24’ ”)

Foam Insert ($1.56 per ft):

http://www.homedepot.com (search: “gutter foam”)

The First Flush

As the name implies, this is like the toilet of your rainwater system. It takes (most of) the
crap away, the single most effective way to get clean rainwater. Many people around the
world use only this filter and drink the results. Then again, many people also get sick and
die from drinking contaminated water…

A first flush is basically a junk container. It leaks!

But it’s supposed to. The first bit of rain starts
running off, with all the crap (literally) from the roof
since the last rain, and falls into this container. It
fills up with this swill and inside there is a ball or
float that, when it reaches the top, stops and
separates the continuing runoff (a bit cleaner now)
from the dirty runoff trapped inside the first flush.

Then, when it’s done raining, *Whoosh* - it Also called a “roof washer,” the
size of a first flush should be
flushes out the bad stuff. Ok it’s usually slower
relative to the roof, standard
than that, but gradually it drains and is ready to
being 10 gallons per 1,000 sq.
take the ‘first flush’ from the next rain. ft. of roof.

Many people use a vertical piece of PVC — 10’

of 4” PVC will hold 6.5 gal.
Use adapters to place it in the line before it
reaches the tank or up on the gutter on the
upstream side of the downspout, attached
to a solid support (it’s very heavy when full).
The float can be a ball or empty plastic
bottle.

As with diverters, there are now pre-made

first flush filters that might just save you
enough time over creating it all. Depends if
you have more time than money, or vice
versa…

Here is a great YouTube video by Rich Allen

that shows how he made his diverter, along with some more great ideas for DIY Rainwater:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvIFMGuqBp8

(while you’re at it, check out his solar heaters)

This free guide from GrowNYC includes details of options for making a DIY diverter/ first
flush using PVC: http://www.grownyc.org/files/osg/RWH.how.to.pdf

This is a link to the prefabricated first flush filter shown above ($35): First Flush

“You Can’t Have Everything. Where Would You Put it?”

-Steven Wright
Meet Roger, Over.
roof size: length: 35 feet

Now it’s time to match your ideal storage Square foot catchment area: 1925 sq.ft. width: 55 feet

Catchment area material type: metal (for runoff coeffiecient)

quantity with your ideal space. Potential rain collection, 1" rain: 1199.275 gallons

Rainfall amounts for: Los Angeles, CA

I don’t know yours, but take Roger's, for

example. He lives in L.A. and figures it’s time to
Harvest

at least see what his options for rainwater are. Avg Precip
Month (weather.com)
potential
(gal/mo)

Jan 3.98 4,773

Feb 5.08 6,092

Back to that calculator… Roger got ahold of it, Mar

Apr
2.83
0.98
3,394
1,175
May 0.31 372

too, plugged in the numbers from his home in Jun

Jul
0.12
0.04
144
48
Aug 0.04 48
L.A. with a roof size of 35’ x 55’, or 1925 sf… Sep
Oct
0.24
0.91
288
1,091
Nov 1.38 1,655
Dec 2.76 3,310 *N/A for off season if no snow melt potential

…He then entered his local average rainfall Total 22,390 gallons

amount (find yours at the link below) and

Notes on water usage:

calculated what CAN be stored. His home can Average water use per person per day (pppd):
(Average in U.S. is 99 gallons - info from USGS)
99 gallons

catch over 22,000 gallons each year.

Number of people in household: 2 (monthly)
Water usage monthly in this household: 6,023 gallons ======> indoor: 2,529 gallons
Water usage annually in this household: 72,270 gallons outdoor: 3,493 gallons
Average outdoor water use is 58% 36,135 gallons

Notes on rain barrels:

1. Buy local. Build your own. Make it useful (planter, table, bench ;)
2. Use a diverter to place the barrel anywhere, not just under a downspout (or plan for a geyser!)
3. Modify soaker hoses to automatically water your plants-- use that rainwater!

Your local rainfall: http:// 4. Add on more barrels, benches, etc. for maximum benefit - like catching 6,092 gallons in one month!?!
5. Connect at bottom if all at same elevation or use overflow if added ones are lower in elevation
6. Be creative. Have fun. Save water. Peace Love Irrigation.

www.usclimatedata.com/climate/united-states/
us

Roger's family water use, based on national average of 99 gal/ person/ day is 70,000+ gal/
year.

Now, Roger knows these are entirely AVERAGES - there will be a freak rainfall here and
there, and anyone who is collecting rainwater will likely start to live more consciously than
this— but for the sake of simplicity, he’ll go with it.

According to the stats, 58%

(average across the U.S.) of all
household water use is outdoor,
primarily irrigating plants and
gardens…
 “Tanks, but no Tanks”
-Roger

Half Alive or Half Dead?

For outdoor use, Roger wants to catch enough rain to
make it at HALFWAY through dry spells. Why only
halfway? If his plants can’t survive any drought at all, he
reasons, they don’t deserve to live. Tough love, Rog,
tough love.

He believes a little struggle is actually a good thing. It

makes us stronger. After all, what is the oldest living
organism on earth? That ole bristlecone pine growing on a windswept, barren wasteland for
5,000 years and counting….…

Emergency Fund
Being realistic, Roger knows that basic human need is a 10’ x 20’ garden needs
about a gallon a day or 30 gallons per month. If he can 112 gallons/ week,
store in reserve at least 500 gallons, they can make it a 448 gallons per month
month on just this. 1,000 gallons? 2 months. Without
any rainfall whatsoever.

Let’s Get This Party Started Right

Are you ready for the fun part? Because this is the fun part. Until now, you’ve been
calculating, catching, directing, funneling and filtering rainwater to get it here. Let’s check
back in with our ole buddy…

A week earlier, Roger (not THAT kind of tank!)

1,000 gallons of water would only knew of the barrels
have meant at least 5 rain his city was giving away.
barrels sitting at each corner,
literally, AROUND the house. Even IF they were free,
Roger’s response?
“Tanks, but no tanks.”

He wanted to do something different so he started looking for ideas online. Surely with
about a billion people posting stuff, someone has felt the same way and come up with an
alternative. He bought this guide, started reading, imagine his surprise when…

Hi, Roger!
 “The Best Way to Predict the Future is to Create it”
-Abe Lincoln

That Was Weird.

Seriously though, what are the main reasons people don’t want to use tanks or barrels?

1. They are not attractive. Come on, you have to admit that.

2. The cost and thought of shipping is just ridiculous.

3. They take up valuable space in your landscape.

4. Finding and cleaning used ones isn’t always safe or easy.

5. One barrel is not enough to make a significant difference .

6. Using new plastic to manufacture them is counterintuitive.

The bottom line is that barrels are not enough as a stand-alone option for homeowners.

So let’s think outside the barrel. Or tank. Why? Why Not?

Instead, imagine, if you will, being able to mold that barrel into a seat, a table, a building of
some sort — and not near your downspout but anywhere on your property, even far away
from your house…

Thinking? Fantastic. Shall we see what Roger came up with?

“Action is the Real Measure of Intelligence”

-Napoleon Hill
Forget the Barrel…
Roger really wants a vegetable garden, but random watering restrictions and without any
reserve of water, those veggie plants don’t stand a chance.

First, he needs to find enough space on his small lot for at least 1,000 gallons of storage.
“Over 18 rain barrels?! No way!!” —Wait, stay with us, Rog! Remember: Forget the
current options, forget the barrel…

As far as projects that had been on the horizon or at least

talked about, Roger’s wife Sarah mentioned she would love
a daybed, and Roger was planning to build one out of
pallets. He just needed to find some pallets…

Keeping Up is Hard to do
They have a patio, but some friends down the street had an outdoor kitchen put in about a
year ago. It is great for entertaining, and Roger loves to grill out with friends, so he got a
quote. At $15,000, it proved to be more than they
bargained for. And Roger, while an avid DIYer, isn’t keen
on the idea of moving and cutting tons of concrete or
stone, so they’re saving
up for a smaller version.

Roger’s push lawnmower and his other tools have been

crowding the garage, and with a garden in the future it
would be handy to have a little garden shed…
Back to the Future…
Fast forward 4 months: Roger is firing up his new grill, getting all set for the neighborhood
party they are hosting. From the street, the only indication that anything is different is the
following:

1. His landscape looks healthier than ever, even though it is brutally hot, dry and there is a
watering ban in effect.

2. A small rectangular box is attached about halfway up each downspout, with a 1” round
tube from each going down to the ground.

3. There are a couple of cedar day beds in the garden in the front
yard, with a cute little rain gauge on one of them shaped like a
rain drop.

4. You can just glimpse an new garden shed out back.

5. There is a ‘raindrop’ sign by the street that reads: “Are You

Looking at My Rain Barrels?! Try to Find All 72”
 “FACT: Water is Our Most Precious Resource”
-“Water From The Sky” by Michael Reynolds

The Versatility of a Simple System

Roger’s largest capacity of water storage is part of his

second DIY Rainwater project, the garden “WaterShed."
Once again, he built exactly according to the instructions
that came with this guide. He was already familiar with
the system, since it uses the same basic liner with
welded fittings and it’s really a repeat of what he already
did, just a few more times.

It is 12’ x 16’ and stores 1,680 gallons. The extended

metal roof increases rain catchment area to 14’ x 24’. The
shed is located at a lower elevation than much of his property, so he installed a solar pump
with retracting hose reel to water all of his landscape. Total WaterShed material cost:
$2,500

Runner up with a 1,080 gallon capacity: He put together

some seating, a bar and built-in grill on his patio:
basically an outdoor kitchen. The setup can be used
with his gravity-operated watering hose or connected to
the pump. He capped all surfaces with manufactured
stone caps (wetcast concrete that looks like stone).
Outdoor kitchen material cost: $2100

Sleeping ON the Rain, Not in it…

Roger’s first project was a simple cedar daybed that holds 300 gallons, with outdoor
cushions. Placed in a shady spot at the edge of the lawn, Sarah was thrilled and loves the
smell of the cedar. He used the instructions included; it
took one weekend and cost $600 to build.

And just so there wouldn’t be any arguments over who got

to use it, he built another one and placed it near the first.
This one took half the time to build since he had already
done it once. Same cost, $600.
 “What’s Another Word for Thesaurus?”
-Steven Wright

Show Me the Plans Already!

All totalled, by following some detailed instructions, Roger now has 3,960 gallons of
rainwater storage inside 2 daybeds, 1 garden shed and 1 outdoor kitchen. Total cost was
$5,800, or $1.46 per gallon.

Cost Comparison Analysis

That’s equivalent to 72 rain barrels. A quick search online for rain barrels revealed this:
Most are over $100; here is one blue beauty for $95, or $1.73 per gallon:

You read that right.

The 2 daybeds,
garden shed, and
outdoor kitchen
ACTUALLY COST
10% LESS THAN
BARRELS, not to
mention finding a place for
72 rain barrels…

Got room for this many barrels?

Luckily,
Sarah and Roger had been saving for the more
‘traditional’ outdoor kitchen for a year now and
had not taken a loan for it, so they took the
$7,500 they saved and put it toward this project.
Now they have $1800 left over to go on a trip!

Wanna hear something even cooler? They just checked with the local water utility and city:
They will still get the same rebates as rain barrel. Way to go, lawmakers!
 “I Refuse to Join Any Club That Would Have Me as a Member”
-Groucho Marx

DIY Rain Party

Sure, Roger put in some time, and was it worth
it? You bet it was.

Most of the progress came on 3 “weekend

work parties” when, after he had all the
materials and plans ready, he invited a few friends over (who happened to be DIYers) for a
project, pizza & beer — the pizza during, beer after!

In the end, they spent 1/3 the money they thought they would
have on just the outdoor kitchen and got much more: their
outdoor kitchen, 2 daybeds, a garden shed, 72 barrels worth of
rainwater storage and an easy system to use it.

Now his buddies are having their own “weekend work parties,” and Roger is happily helping
them out building their own DIY Rainwater projects.

“Ok normally I don’t read instructions,” you may say, “But just for fun…”

Alrighty then, here are some links to a growing number of Second Rain’s ‘DIY Rainwater
Project’ plans. Some of these may have been included along with this guide, and you can
find the most updated versions at secondrain.com.

These plans are included with DIY kits that include liners and fittings, some tubing, but no
lumber. Buy that locally and save cash.

We’ll start right off guns blazing…

The WaterShed - 1680 gallons

If you’ve got a garden, or chickens, then you want a
1680 gallon WaterShed …is it a garden shed? is
it a chicken coop? is it 30 rain barrels? Yes, it is.
sans barrels.

Material cost for this DIY WaterShed: $2,500

(includes approx. cost of locally sourced lumber)
To access downloadable plans for this 12’x16’
“WaterShed” or one of the 1,080 gallon Outdoor
Rain Kitchens, go to secondrain.com and sign up
for the Newsletter on the right side. Sorry they are
not ready yet, but everyone on the email list will
get an email as soon as we roll them out.

Here are my girls testing out an almost finished

one— my own neighbor’s! Looks like I’ve got
some keeping up to do!

The Studio - 400 gallons

A little smaller, but just as smart as the WaterShed, this Passive and Active Solar Heated
greenhouse/ studio is perfect for Mom. Literally. I built this exact design with my sister for
our Mom.

In Wisconsin in winter, the sun is low enough to come all the way in the windows to flood the
400 gallon bench along the north wall with light, and heat. An automatic solar hot water
heater turns on when the sun is shining on it and heats the 400 gallons of water quickly,
which, due to the amazing thermal mass of water, keeps it nice and warm inside.

(left) Mom’s studio in progress, openings for

windows below, solar water heat above, and 400
gallons in a rain bench inside along the north wall
(look close) Totally wrapped with second-hand
polyiso insulation for R-18 walls, R-36 floor and
ceiling!

…and Revis, my sister’s golden.

(right) Solar hot water heating using PEX and aluminum

transfer plates, leftovers from my radiant floor project.

Plans for this will be added as soon as we finish it!

 “I’m Against Picketing, But I Don’t Know How to Show it…”
-Mitch Hedberg

Cedar Rain Bench - 300 gallons or 420 gallons

Plans for the 300 gallon cedar bench as seen on the TV show Tiny House Nation:

http://www.secondrain.com/300gCedarRainBench

password: SitThereSaveWater

It’s 19 pages long so that may be a separate attachment from this guide. This same kit can
be modified to hold a maximum of 140 gallons if build to the 420 gallon plans.
 “Big shots are only little shots who keep shooting”
-Christopher Morley

The Rain Bench - 65 gallons or 140 gallons

And, if you want to start smallest, to see how a basic rain bench works:

Original 65g Rain Bench DIY kit/ using 1 sheet of T1-11 plywood (shown
left). Here are the instructions that came with it:

http://secondrain.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/
RainBenchCANADA2011feb.pdf —it’s not only for Canadians, but it
does include the French version (Parlez vous Francais, s’il vous plait?) This has been
updated with the 140 gallon cedar rain bench instructions, but both still work.

The DIY kit and liner have grown but the basic design has been the same since 2008. We
have never had a liner fail; they are guaranteed 2 years, and operation is very simple.

The updated instructions that will be included with the140g Rain Bench
DIY kit are included with this guide as well (see appendix), which show
you how to build this cedar bench (left).

Cost for the above DIY Rain Bench kit is $79, with free shipping.

Cedar Rain Bench/ Daybed “wrap &

cap” to cover 2 of the original 65 gallon
benches with cedar (130 gallons, right):
http://www.secondrain.com/cedar-130-plans/

password: ILoveWater
 “Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished”
-Lao Tzu

Outdoor Rain Kitchen - 1,080 gallons

Once you’ve built one rain bench, it’s really not a stretch to imagine building another, and
one more… and the next logical step would be to start arranging them until you have a fully
functioning seating area, counters, tables, a bar, built-in grill…

OK you might not be the outdoor entertaining type, but chances are you have friends or
family or both. And chances are you invite them over once in a while. If you don’t have a
patio, you might just hang out in the backyard on nice summer days, maybe grill some
burgers or brats.

How cool would it be, next time you have a few friends over, to have a beautiful, comfortable
place outside to sit, grill, eat, drink, be merry, and also have that very place function as
your entire rainwater collection system?

That’s what is not only possible, but completely affordable and buildable by any Do-It-
Yourself homeowner or Handyman using these DIY Rain Bench kits.

Need Proof? Here’s one.

 “Lay Hold of Something That Will Help You, and Then Use it to Help
Somebody Else”
-Booker T. Washington

Self-Watering Garden (SWG) - 65 gallons or 260+ gallons

Remember that watering requirement back on page 7?

Yep, that’s the one. Now I don’t think that factors in

a 10’ x 20’ garden needs evaporation, which is a lot. But if it does, here is a way to
112 gallons/ week,
take that right out of the equation and make your irrigation
448 gallons per month
much more efficient…

I will go over a small wicking bed here (and by small, I

mean 2’x 3’, not like a plastic bottle planter - they're nice but you don’t need to pay for how to
do that. It’s online all over the place), and a larger one (3’x8’) with 3 options to make them
work.

First, after testing and testing I have to say that every place has its own unique variables that
have to be considered when building your own.

That said, here are the basic steps to make a self watering (wicking) bed:

1. Build or find an empty box or container the size you want your garden

2. Line the inside with a layer of fabric (heavy duty weed barrier), then waterproof liner,
then fabric (fabric is optional to extend life of liner)

3. Add a vertical inspection tube to see water level and to fill the reservoir,

4. Pop a perforated tube through the liner where you want it to overflow
5. Create volume for air/water and increase the capacity of the reservoir,

• examples: stone, milk crates, pots, buckets (upside down), pipe

6. add some growing medium (compost mix) and grow some veggies!

Clear as mud? I like pictures, too…

I also like when someone tests stuff, comes up with the best version they find, and includes
it in the DIY Guide I just bought from them… So here you go! The testing is always
ongoing, so here is where we are now:

If you already have a rain bench and want a self

watering planter, this retrofit goes right on top of a
standard Rain Bench (RainBenchCanada link
above).

Take off the cap, plop one of these 8” deep trays

in:

https://www.menards.com/main/building-materials/
concrete-cement-masonry/concrete-accessories/
shape-super-tub/p-1480926.htm ($13 here) , cut
out the middle of the old cap and trim it out with
2x4 and decking.

Also, cut out the top of the liner and tack it up to the sides. Drill a bunch of 1/2” - 1” holes in
the bottom of the tub, tie a knot in some old t-shirt shreds and insert so the knot is at the top
and doesn’t fall through. The shredded t-shirt will suck up water and make it available to the
plants.

This will create a 2’ x 3’ self watering planter with 65 gallons of rainwater storage.
 “A Diamond is a Piece of Coal that Stuck to the Job”
-Michael Larsen

For a 4’x4’ raised self-watering garden, you can use

cedar or plastic lumber that lasts forever, or you can
use treated plywood and coat it. The version to the
right uses the 140 gallon DIY Rain Bench liner,
fittings, and 5- upside down 5 gallon buckets. This will
handle larger, deeper rooted plants and wick better
due to the soil going all the way down to the bottom of
the reservoir. The buckets give at least 25 gallons of
capacity, with another 25 gallons (at least) in the air
space in the soil.

For a full-blown Self Watering Raised Garden, extend the

above design to 8’ for 300-420 gallons. It’s a nice size for a
permanent vegetable garden near the patio.

Plans for the self watering gardens are posted on the blog at secondrain.com
 “Home is Where the House is.”
-Jack Handey

Getting All Hooked Up

The fittings to connect 1” tubing come with the Rain Bench DIY kit and Saving Rain diverter.
1” I.D. (inside diameter) vinyl tubing is available at various sites online, and at
secondrain.com. This is very easy to use, cuts with a knife and no need for clamps if just
gravity pressure.

It’s also worth mentioning again the fact that the Rain Bench should be filled from the
bottom, and overflow from the top fitting.

The Rain Bench DIY kit hooks up to garden hose as well,

but we’ve found
that 1” diameter
is much better
for flow (garden
hose restricts,
too small)

Pump and hose reel add-ons

The pump here is a 1/2 hp Wayne pump, self
priming ($110), and hose is a self-retracting Flexzilla Air hose -also works for water ($60)
and a few misc fittings to adapt it to garden hose.

The hose shutoff hanger is simply 2 screws. (insert diagram/plan)

The picture to the left is pretty much the same setup inside
a bar on a patio.
And hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The one on the
right was our very first pump hookup with a retracting
air/ water hose in 2009. It’s under a deck and still
works just fine!
So what’s happening back in Roger’s neighborhood?

…Now if Roger was smart, he would keep a water reserve, but also use some right away so
there is empty space for the next fresh rainfall. Is Roger smart?

Roger is Brilliant.

He did these things— I mean, he doesn’t want to look like a complete idiot in front of the
world here— but then he took it to another level…

He wanted the convenience and security to be able to have pressurized water even if the
power went out, so he used a small 12V RV pump, battery and solar panels to charge and
operate it. Ole Rog set it up on a timer (using only excess solar power) to regularly
recirculate and aerate to keep the water clean.

Not quite there yet, but happy to have the plans for it, he also wants to eventually add a
complete filtration panel (like the one shown below) to be able to use rainwater for all
household needs, including drinking. Recent events have raised questions as to the
reliability of safe, clean public water supply…
More Sweat Than Money
Possibly the cheapest and most effective thing he did,
however, came out of recently reading the works/blogs/
books of Brad Lancaster, Owen Dell and Art Ludwig. To
the high point of his landscape Roger directed one tube
from his closest downspout diverter, along with a drain
line from his washing machine (go greywater!).

The picture above is just after Brad harvested the equivalent

From there, the rain and
amount of rain as a 1,000 year storm event by using this
greywater slowly follow
technique. Read how: http://www.harvestingrainwater.com/ swales Roger made,
2014/10/09/harvesting-rain-from-a-1000-year-storm-event/ back and forth in his
planting beds and even
the edge of his lawn, so it ideally never leaves the landscape and continues to gradually
soak into ground.

*** This Is Key ***

Note: I am in no way affiliated with Art, Brad or Owen. They are just smart, honest,
environmentally conscious dudes who tell the truth. This is basic permaculture.

A Concrete Jungle
If you’re wondering why all of a sudden we have to do this, why the urgency to get every
drop of water that falls to go into the ground, look no further than your local shopping center
or pretty much any business center. It has been the progressive covering of the ground with
impervious surfaces that has been blocking this water infiltration, instead channelling it as
fast as possible to the nearest waterway, where it then drops all the pollutants it just picked
up before it flows further away, eventually out to sea.

At the same time, the increased development has been demanding more water, which is
pumped from the very groundwater that rainfall is being blocked from recharging.

Now you can see how quickly this can cause problems, and the importance of every home
with a roof and green space to be adapted to offset this effect, if our kids are to have any
groundwater left to pump…
 “What you can’t see is often more powerful than what you can”
-somewhere on this page…

So ole Rog, after a day of thinking and digging, made a ‘dry stream’ - or more like a series of
‘dry pools’ that meandered back & forth through his property (around his house), so that now
the same surface runoff has to travel about 30 times as far to get off is land… What is it
doing while it meanders?

Let This Sink in

After 24 hours or so, there is no standing water. Where did it go? Into the ground. What
you can’t see is often more powerful than what you can.

When he was done, Roger took

an area that was previously
graded to GET RID OF water and
transformed it into a fertile series
of meandering beds, planting
them with things that send down
very deep roots (See above root
depth diagram). Not all that
noticeable— unless you are
water.

Before, when it rained, water

would runoff where it pleased,
going far around plants that
desperately needed it, and doing
NOTHING to sit and soak in, but
now…

…Now even if he did not have all the ridiculously cool rainwater storage (ever think you’d
utter that phrase?) — now just from the landform alone he has a MUCH more self-sustaining
landscape.

Get Ready for It

And just when Roger starts getting comfy, grilling on his new rainwater system, in his new,
lush landscape, his phone rings.

It’s his neighbor. He read the yard sign in Roger’s yard. He is wondering how on earth he fit
that many rain barrels in his yard, where they are, and how his plants are still alive in this
drought…

“Come on over,” Roger says, “I’ll show you how.”