When working in your garden, it often isn't long before you need to wash your hands, rinse off some pots or give a plant a good soaking. I built this outdoor sink to make all these jobs more of a pleasure. The sink can be installed close to the action, and beyond its water-related duties it also provides a work surface and storage shelf for garden bits and pieces. The simple faucet makes cleanup easy without any complicated plumbing. Add a “Y” fitting to your hose connection and you can leave the plumbing hooked up to the sink all season long. My design is based on a 10"-tall stainless-steel bucket. Buy a bucket before you begin work, just in case you need to adjust the project's dimensions.
Download the illustrated garden sink project plans here!
| YOU WILL NEED | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| PART | MATERIAL | SIZE (T x W x L*) | Qty. |
| Slats | cedar | 1" x 2" x 48" | 10 |
| Uprights | cedar | 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" x 30" | 4 |
| Shelf supports | cedar | 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" x 12" | 8 |
| Soap shelf | cedar | 3/4" x 3" x 48" | 1 |
| Angled brackets | cedar | 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" x 9 5/8" | 8 |
| Faucet | |||
| Pipe | copper | 1/2" x 1 1/2" | 1 |
| Pipe | copper | 1/2" x 3 1/4" | 1 |
| Pipe | copper | 1/2" x 5" | 1 |
| Pipe | copper | 1/2" x 22" | 1 |
| Shut-off valve | copper, with drain | 1/2" | 1 |
| Plumbing elbows | copper | 90° | 2 |
| Hose coupling | brass, threaded | 1 | |
| Pail | stainless steel | 10" - tall | 1 |
| *Length indicates grain direction | |||
Prepare your materials
Start by milling enough cedar for the parts from 2x6 or 2x8 lumber, resisting the temptation to make this project from off-the-shelf 2x2s. While they might work, the factory-rounded edges won't look as good as the crisp edges you'll get by sawing parts from wider boards. You should even rip off the milled edges on the wider lumber first to make the unit's appearance the best it can be.
Another reason to begin with wider stock is wood quality. You're more likely to get straight, sound project parts by beginning with wide boards that allow you to cut out defects, such as wavy grain and big knots. All this makes wider lumber a better choice for an outdoor project that will see a lot of water.
4 Comments
This is a neat project. I made something similar but I put a potting spot in mine using an old plastic pail 25gal that I got free from a resturant.I cut a circle a piece of plywood and attached old plastic picnic table legs to the four corners stood it up and sank the plastic pail into the opening . I put pegboard on the back to hold all my tools.The plywood top is large enough for the pail and a work space and my sink. This was a very inexpensive project and something that I use a lot. I love it.
Can't make out what it is from the photo. Can't you do an "enlarge photo" of the accompanying photo? You have a really good magazine with very creative and unique plans. However, it would be very convenient if you would post the plans, with the accompanying article summarized, into one downloadable PDF. It's really tedious to have to print each page, pdf, and image individually. At the very least, could you make it so that the entire article prints -- without all the extraneous ads and web stuff -- when you click the "print" link, instead of each page???
This sounds like a great project, however I cannot enlarge the picture enough to get a good look.
that i agree 110% Very good sugestion.