DIY Garden Hose Holder with Storage


Check out this article on how I built a custom made DIY Heavy Duty Garden Hose Holder with Storage box. Read more to find out Ideas and tips on how to build one for yourself.

The other day I was at my father in law’s house and was trying to reel back up one of his hoses.I got pissed at it because he had like 300 feet of hose (~2 acre property) on a tiny Home Depot hose holder. So after I reeled hose on top of hose for 10 minutes, I realized I had a great idea for a fathers day present.

It all starts with an idea, but the next step is usually a drawing (unless I just have a really clear picture of it in my head).

DIY Garden Hose Holder with Storage

My ‘engineered’ drawing on a piece of scrap paper. It really does help to get your idea out of your head and onto paper.

When I come up with a new project. Unless it HAS to be EXACTLY like the drawing, I usually try to design it around recycling or using metals and supplies that I already have in my shop. The picture above is probably my 5th rendition of the idea after I remembered I had a piece of steel handrail that I could upcycle into something new.

DIY Garden Hose Holder with Storage

The metal handrail. Looks stout, but the spindles aren’t welded all the way around because you can bend the whole handrail unit to an angle for use on stairs.

DIY Garden Hose Holder with Storage

So after bending the rail back and forth a bunch of times to break the welds, I was able to get the bottom piece off with a 3lb sledge.

DIY Garden Hose Holder with Storage

Next up, I completely removed the spindles by bending them back and forth until the welds completely broke enough for me to slide them out. (I probably needed the exercise anyways…)

Next step is to start laying out the pieces similar to our drawing. During this process I went out and checked the height of my hose reel a couple of times to figure out how big I wanted this hanger. This one is probably larger than most people would want, but keep in mind I need it to hold ~300ft of garden hose.

DIY Garden Hose Holder with Storage

Laying out all of the pieces.

DIY Garden Hose Holder with Storage

Closeup of the layout on the garage floor. Notice the soapstone drawing for the round piece at the top that I needed to make.

As in the picture above, soapstone is a great way to lay out and mark projects. I can draw all over my garage floor and not even think about cleaning it up, because it goes away when I sweep the floor. Like sidewalk chalk, but it doesn’t stick around as long. For more info on soapstone, check out my article here: What is Soapstone?

Next, I needed to make the rounded part at the top. The best way I could think of to do this is with a vice and some sweat.

DIY Garden Hose Holder with Storage

Stick the 1/2″ x 1/2″ solid square stock in the vice and start bending.

DIY Garden Hose Holder with Storage

The best technique I found was to bend it maybe 5-10 degrees then pull the piece out of the vice by 1-2″ and do it again until I had a nice curve. I didn’t actually clamp the vice onto the piece each time. I just left the jaws ~1″ wide so I could slide the piece in and out as needed.

DIY Garden Hose Holder with Storage

After 7 or so trips from the vice to my workpiece, I finally got them matched up. Notice I also cut the two lateral metal pieces to length.

My next task was to get everything squared up and start tack welding it together. This job was made pretty easy with a couple of squares.

DIY Garden Hose Holder with Storage

Getting square and ready to tack weld together with my MIG welder.

DIY Garden Hose Holder with Storage

DIY Garden Hose Holder with Storage

 

DIY Garden Hose Holder with Storage

After tacking everything together, I made sure it was square and final welded all of the joints. For the joints that I wanted to be smooth, I used a grinder for the initial knockdown of the weld then a smaller grinder with a ‘flap wheel’ to sand the surface flat.

 

Next up was to make short cross bars that will eventually hold the hose.

Here is a time saving TIP: When making cuts that need to be close and fast but not super accurate (we are talking 1/8″ or so), measure and cut your first piece then feed your material into the saw and quickly measure the next piece by putting the piece you just cut on top of it. Then remove it before cutting.

Like this:

DIY Garden Hose Holder with Storage

Lay the cut to length piece on top, then clamp down the piece you are about to cut. This way you don’t have to use a measuring tape and marker or soapstone each time.

DIY Garden Hose Holder with Storage

Viola! 4 equal length pieces. (close enough for a hose holder, these aren’t airplane parts we are making)

DIY Garden Hose Holder with Storage

Using the square again, I welded on the first leg.

DIY Garden Hose Holder with Storage

Then another leg and the three hose support bars.

DIY Garden Hose Holder with Storage

I also bent a front hoop to match the back one. I welded it on each side then cut a piece to length for attaching in the middle.

DIY Garden Hose Holder with Storage

The start of the toolbox mount. I have a bad of 100’s of these tabs, I have no idea what they actually go to, but they are very useful. You can buy a large washer with 1/4″ hole and accomplish the same thing.

DIY Garden Hose Holder with Storage

Toolbox mount welded together and onto the hose holder.

DIY Garden Hose Holder with Storage

This is version one of the toolbox holder. I later decided that the toolbox in this location would get in the way of the hose, so I cut it off.

DIY Garden Hose Holder with Storage

Version 2 of the toolbox mount put it on the backside of the hose holder. This way it won’t interfere with reeling up the garden hose each time.

Next I drilled some holes in the toolbox to attach it to the mount with 1/4″ bolts. Added a coat of primer and paint. Then reassembled, and we have our final product!

Hope this post helps you with your project. Feel free to comment below if you have ideas or questions for me. I definitely don’t know everything, but try to help out where I can.

Now YOU, yea YOU! Go out in your garage and build something!
(Be safe, have fun, and learn something while you are at it)

Don’t have a welder, or just starting out? Check out some of our other articles like: Get started welding for under $250 guide and My 10 favorite home fabrication tools.

UPDATE 2015-08-13

Went and snagged some ‘after’ pictures of the hose reel installed and in use. The paving stones aren’t needed to hold it down, but they do a good job of keeping the area from getting muddy. Works pretty good.

In case you were counting there are three different hoses on the same reel. This thing handles them like a champ and makes it a lot easier to roll up.

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