Begin by stalling a heavy duty liner on top of the roof.
How to collect rainwater from roof.
To prevent the barrel from becoming a mosquito breeding ground fasten a tight fitting top to it and screen the ends of the downspouts leading.
The risk of getting sick from rainwater may be different depending on your location how frequently it rains the season 5 and how you collect and store the rainwater.
To get an idea how much water the roof of your own house might yield use the rainfall harvest calculator above.
Installing a garden roof is another way to collect and use rainwater.
Collecting rainwater is a technique that has been practiced for centuries as an environmentally friendly method to collect rain for distribution in gardens and across landscaping.
How much rainwater can you harvest from your roof.
Rainwater harvesting is collecting the run off from a structure or other impervious surface in order to store it for later use.
Rainwater for gardening collection is a technique that has been widely practiced over the centuries.
In most locations today you will find that most people build their houses with roof gardens that will absorb the rainwater.
If you don t have a roof garden though you can still collect rainwater and use it.
Traditionally this involves harvesting the rain from a roof.
Here s a handy little calculator to help you estimate how much rainwater can you harvest from your roof.
To collect rainwater you can attach a rain barrel to your home s downspout so when it rains the water flows directly into the barrel.
Rain barrel supplies list.
The easiest way to harvest rain is through a rain barrel make your own from a large trash can or an old drum linked to a pipe fitted to collect rainwater from the rooftop and verandah of the house.
Today houses are built with roof gardens that naturally absorb the rain and grow an insulating layer of grass.
Just a half inch of rain falling on a 1 000 square foot roof will yield 300 gallons of water.
Dust smoke and soot from the air can be dissolved in rainwater before it lands on your roof.
When you look at the numbers it s surprising how much water you can collect every time it rains.
The rain will collect in gutters that channel the water into downspouts and then into some sort of storage vessel.
Then add some soil on top of the liner to create garden beds.
If you want to collect rainwater without a roof or downspout you can use a tarp instead.
Not only will the collection system water the plants but it also filters out harmful materials that are typically present in rainwater.