It’s been about 2 weeks since my last post because I just haven’t felt like doing stuff around the homestead after a fox killed many of my chickens. But today, I finally got around to an outdoor sink project that I’ve been meaning to do for a while, focusing on the construction of the structure to hold the outdoor garden sink and countertop.
Why did I want an outdoor sink? Well, I thought it would be useful for cleaning garden pots, cleaning chicken poop off of things, and a spot for kids to play and make a mess with water like they do in the bathroom sinks. Outdoor garden sinks are versatile in their use.
Basically, I had a fiberglass countertop with an integrated sink that was in a bathroom, and I renovated that bathroom a bit, and I didn’t want to throw the sink and countertop out at the dump. So, I bought some 2 by 4s to build a stand for the countertop/sink since the cabinet it was on in the bathroom was junk. I kept the drawers and drawer slides for another project, but the particle board structure of the cabinet was practically cardboard and definitely not weatherproof.
Since I’m using an old and free sink, I don’t really care if it will stand the test of time. It’s underneath a deck, so there isn’t much UV exposure, if any, to cause the plastic resin of the countertop to become brittle over time. And lucky for me, there is a hose spigot under the deck, so I just ran a short hose from the spigot to the faucet, making it a functional outdoor garden sink. So, yeah, it only has cold water, but depending on how much use this thing gets, I could potentially add some upgrades like a taller faucet and an on-demand hot water heater – or maybe even make an outdoor shower.
Plumbing an Outdoor Faucet
The green hose that I used was a short 6 foot extension hose with female ends on both ends, but it came with a male adapter. I used that male adapter to fit a female/female 3/4″ to 1/2″ reducer and then fit a 3/8″ MIP straight fitting to 1/2″ MIP to the copper tube already on the sink. Then I should have added a plug to the other copper pipe, but I had a leftover angle valve, so I just used that to prevent water from going up into the faucet and then down the other copper pipe – I had not expected that :)
How to Find an Outdoor Sink
If you don’t happen to have an extra sink lying around, you can get a sink with a countertop for dirt cheap or even free on craigslist or Facebook marketplace. They’re typically heavy and cumbersome, so most people don’t like to keep sinks around if they don’t have a use.
Other than being used as an outdoor garden sink, sinks can have other uses on a homestead. You can use one as a birdbath or even a pot for a container garden if you plug up the drain. I also have a toilet bowl laying around because I split the tank while trying to tighten a small leak – which led me to have to buy a whole new toilet – but I think I might make that toilet bowl into a planter…it’s a little trashy, but it might be kind of funny. We’ll see.