5-Gallon Bucket Book DIY Projects, Hacks, and Upcycles

334 Pages·2013·39.21 MB·English

by  Chris Peterson

5-GALLON
BUCKET BOOK
DIY Projects, Hacks, and Upcycles
Chris Peterson
CONTENTS
Introduction
1 HANDY HOME ADDITIONS
Small-Room Air Conditioner
Cable and Cord Organizer
Trash Compactor
Shoe Rack
Shelving
Package Mailbox
Cat Litter Box
Mousetrap
Acoustic Speaker Dock
Cyclone Dust Collector
Water Filter
Gravity Cat Feeder
Manual Washing Machine
Portable Wine Rack
Variation: Portable Beer Cooler and Storage
Camping and Composting Toilet
Dryer Lint Trap
Quick 3
Plastic Bag Dispenser
Hose Handler
Bucket Spacer
Simple Storage Stool
Rod-and-Tackle Bucket
Child’s Bucket Seat
Toy Storage Center
Handy Workbench
Variation: Sawhorse
Variation: Workmate
2 BARNYARD HELPERS
Chicken Feeder
Variation: Chicken Waterer
Variation: Chicken Waterer 2
Egg Incubator
Nesting Box
Egg Washer
Pig Trough
Bee Feeder
3 FAMILY FUN
Air Cannon
Quick 3
Popcorn Bucket
Beanbag Toss
Goal Markers
Toddler’s Swing
Trotline Buoy
Boat Anchor
Drum Set
Miniature Washtub Bass
Quick 3
Five-Gallon Buck-O-Lantern
Bucketman Costume
Candy Dumpster
4 YARD AND GARDEN INNOVATIONS
Pond Filter
Quick 3
Sweet Potato Starter
Onion and Potato Keeper
Lumière
Vermiculture Bin
Japanese Beetle Trap
Upside-Down Tomato Planter
Vertical Wall Planter
Strawberry Pot
Garden Fountain
Quick 3
Rolling Composter
Walking Watering Can
Compost and Soil Sifter
Post-Mounted Birdhouse
Aeroponics System
Index
Resources
About the Author
Introduction
THE FIVE-GALLON BUCKET IS AMONG THE BEST OF MAN’S
INVENTIONS, RIGHT UP THERE WITH THE WHEEL AND SLICED
BREAD. NOT ONLY ARE THESE HANDLED CONTAINERS THE
PERFECT SIZE FOR CARRYING A WEALTH OF DIFFERENT
MATERIALS FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER, THEY CAN BE
UPCYCLED INTO A MIND-BOGGLING ARRAY OF NEW
CONVENIENCES AND HANDY INVENTIONS.
That’s because these buckets are both remarkably
strong and surprisingly adaptive. They’ll hold up to
high pressure and heavy loads. They’ll take a beating
without getting bent out of shape. They can be cut, melted, glued, drilled,
pressurized, depressurized, and more. They are also amazingly simple to work
with and reconfigure. In fact, one of the many glorious things about working
with a five-gallon bucket—especially when converting it into something
exceedingly useful—is that you won’t need many specialized tools. Chances are,
you pretty much have everything you need sitting in your toolbox right now. The
add-ons used to create the projects in this book can all be sourced from any large
home center or well-stocked hardware store (some of these projects even
repurpose common household items). You may find that leftovers from other
home improvement or homesteading projects work perfectly for a five-gallon
bucket project—especially other PVC materials such as plumbing pipes, tubes,
and fixtures. That said, the possibilities are even greater with add-ons made
specifically for converting five-gallon buckets, available online from plastics
suppliers (see Resources, page 144).
As if that weren’t enough to sway you, the buckets are so ubiquitous that you
probably won’t even have to pay for one (see The Bucket Bargain, page 9, for
more info on finding free or low-cost buckets). Even if you do need to purchase
a new one, you’ll end up shelling out less than you would drop on a morning
latte. Quite the bargain!
This is especially true considering the fantastic number of potential uses. The
impoverished populations of many developing countries have long understood
this. You’ll see beat-up, timeworn versions pressed into service for everything
from rooftop favela gardens to rural water purifiers to outdoor showers.
The wealth of projects collected in this book includes inventions that range
from useful to just plain fun, and from as simple as it gets to fairly involved.
These can serve apartment dwellers (Small-Room Air Conditioner, page 12);
homeowners (Cyclone Dust Collector, page 34) and their children (Air
Cannon, page 94); small farmers (Chicken Feeder, page 72); hobbyists (Post-
Mounted Birdhouse, page 137); and even back-to-the-land homesteaders and
survivalists (Camping and Composting Toilet, page 48). If you don’t see
anything that catches your fancy in the list of projects, you must be that rare and
remarkable person who already has everything.
Each project also includes at-a-glance indicators describing how much time,
money, and expertise you’ll need to execute the instructions. These should help
you plan accordingly so that no five-gallon-bucket project is left half-finished.
Look through these projects and decide on the ones that best serve your needs
or tickle your fancy, or use any of these projects as a jumping-off point for your
own one-of-a-kind creations or adaptations. One way or another, you’re sure to
make something useful, fun, ingenious, and time-and money-saving. Imagine
how happy you’ll be drinking your own clean, clear water made with your five-
gallon-bucket Water Filter (page 37). Or how impressed your campground
friends will be when they see you using a homemade Boat Anchor (page 103)
or Trotline Buoy (page 101). The rewards and benefits are as plentiful and
varied as the projects themselves.
Along with those tangible compensations, if you’re reusing a bucket that saw
a prior life as a big sauerkraut container or a self-contained supply of wall
compound, you’ll be saving a bucket from the landfill. The vast majority of
plastic buckets are not biodegradable, so the environment thanks you.
CHOOSING YOUR BUCKET
Depending on which project you choose, you’ll quickly find that not all five-
gallon buckets are alike. The vast majority—but not all—are made of high-
density polyethylene (HDPE). This plastic holds up under high temperatures and
releases very low levels of contaminants. Low-density polyethylene containers
are flimsier and will not tolerate higher temperatures or high-temperature
contents. All the projects in this book should be executed using HDPE buckets.
Many of the projects in the pages that follow, and probably many that you can
create out of your own imagination, involve consumables of one form or
another. Any food or drink requires that the plastic it touches be food grade.
Non-food-grade plastic buckets may contain harmful compounds that can leach
out of the plastic and into whatever is kept in the bucket—especially if the
foodstuff is acidic. This is very important to keep in mind for projects such as
the Water Filter (page 37).
If you’re unsure of what the bucket contained before you got ahold of it, the
bucket itself can probably tell you a lot about the original contents. Obviously, a
label listing food contents, such as beans, frosting, or salad dressing, indicates
food-safe plastic. Symbols on the label also offer clues. A snowflake means that
the bucket (and its original contents) can be refrigerated or frozen. A wave
symbol or dishes in water mean microwave safe and dishwasher safe,
respectively—all signs that the bucket contained food. The manufacturer listed
on any label may be a giveaway as well. Do a web search for the manufacturer’s
name or any code on the bucket, and you’ll likely turn up what that manufacturer
produces and puts into its buckets.
Lastly, you can look on the bottom in the recycling triangle that is stamped on
most buckets. A 1, 2, 4, or 5 inside that triangle tells you that the plastic out of
which the bucket has been manufactured is probably safe for food. In most
cases, a 7 and the term bioplastic mean the bucket is food safe as well.