Conserving Water

A rain chain is a simple and attractive alternative to traditional downspouts.

Hang your rain chain from your inverted downspout clip.

By Michelle Kaufmann

The more we build, the more storm water runoff we produce. Solid surfaces like driveways, patios and roofs interfere with the natural flow of rainwater into the ground, which can damage both your home and the environment — soil degradation, erosion and the polluting of local water supplies are some of the biggest problems.

You can create a more thoughtful system and turn rainwater runoff into something that benefits your garden and lessens harm to the surrounding environment. Rain chains are a gorgeous green alternative to traditional gutter downspouts. Plus, they won’t clog the way traditional downspouts do, and they keep working even when frozen, becoming long, beautiful icicles.

You can create and hang your own rain chain using items that you probably have lying around the house.

VIDEO: Watch Michelle Kaufmann create this simple rain chain >>

Steps:

• Find or buy as many rings as it will take to create a rain chain long enough to drop from your chosen gutter down to the ground below. It’s a good idea to measure the exact distance, especially if you’re going to buy the rings. Large binder rings or key rings will work beautifully for this. Definitely feel free to mix and match all different sizes and styles of rings or just stick with a uniform look – whatever you prefer!

• First, simply link or clip all of your rings together in one long chain.

• For larger diameter rings, you should thread a length of metal wire through the chain to ensure that water flows continuously downward.

  4. Next, you’ll need to remove the downspout from the drain you plan to hang your chain from (hopefully you’ve chosen a place that’s visible from inside your home!) and then slide a gutter strap into place over the opening.

• Hang your beautiful new rain chain from the gutter strap and anchor it to the ground using a little u-shaped garden stake, which you can then conceal with plants or stones. Better yet, have it lead into a water catchment system so you can collect rainwater and use it to irrigate your garden in the dry season.

Provided by Michelle Kaufmann - http://www.michellekaufmann.com

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