Ever since I saw one at a friend’s house, I’ve wanted a rain chain. They are artistic replacements for gutter downspouts. They turn needed water removal into a beautiful water feature. What a delightful idea.
I had to hold off on getting one for three years, because during that time I wasn’t a home owner. Now that I am, my rain chain was my first purchase. I figured I earned it with all the home buying and moving stress.
Most rain chain instructions tell you to drill a hole in your gutter and hang it there, but if I did that, the water would splash all over my patio. What to do… what to do…
I think one of the best things about not being a professional handyman is that I get to think outside the box. I can take risks. If I screw up, no one gets hurt except me. Ingenuity is a wonderful thing.
So, rather than hang it directly below my gutter, I decided to extend it outward. So I drilled a hole in the SIDE of the gutter, just large enough for a length of 1 inch PVC pipe. But this is a narrow, flimsy gutter, and the rain chain is rather heavy, so I decided to extend the pipe on through to the other side of the gutter for extra strength.
Now, before sliding that pipe in, I made some modifications to it. I capped off one end and sealed it with silicone. On the part of the pipe that would be inside the gutter, I drilled a bunch of holes so the water could get into the pipe. I cut a slot into the end of the pipe so I could hang the rain chain hanger from it, and the water would fall on the chain. Then I slid the pipe through, put the hanger in the slot, sealed and siliconed a cap on the other end, and put silicone around the holes I had cut into the gutter. Then I hung the chain.
Now, as you can see, in the picture below, the chain will not be hanging on the patio. But I didn’t want the water to roll back onto the concrete, either, so I got an old terrarium bowl I had lying around, dug a hole, and placed it there at an extreme angle, so the water will go outward. Then I filled it up with some gravel that I stole from the driveway of the place I used to rent. (Shhhhh…)
Yeah I know there are ready-made water diverters that I could have used, but they aren’t as pretty.
Will it work? We shall see. Here’s how it looks when I tested it with my water hose on a sunny day. (And the water now makes a lovely tinkling sound.)
And here’s how it looks when I stand at my back door.
Not bad, huh? I’m rather proud of myself. And I’m actually looking forward to rainy season now!
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