Trash day can't come soon enough

Mar 02, 2010 25 Replies

I've been thinking about building a trash can storage bin to get the trash cans out of my garshop and outside where they belong. We live in an area prone to heavy snowfalls, with lots of wild animals around. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to build one of these to make it easy to handle year-round?



My main concerns are racoons and snow right now. I might put wheels on it to make it easy to take to the end of the driveway.



Puckdropper


definitely put the wheels on it. 'Everyones' Favorite HFT has 10" air filled tire on sale often. I have got them for $3.99 before. This week they are $5.99 in my catalog (or weekly e-mail) SKU 30900-0VGA. I use them on the push carts I make for my kids for the 4TH of July and playing on the sidewalks. They hold me, so they will hold lots of trash.

Mike > I've been thinking about building a trash can storage bin to get the trash

What kinda wild animals? Short of bears, you should have no problems. A stout wood box with slanted hinged cover w/ clasp lock should keep the smaller varmints out. All our regular dumpsters have black plastic hinged tops, so snow accumulation is not a problem. A slick black paint or roofing material should work.

If you have bears, it's a whole new ballgame. Our disposal company gave us a couple bear-proof dumpsters after a rash of bear problems, last Fall. Hell, human beings can barely get into them! They're the child-proof caps of dumpsters. ;)

nb

Last night the raccoons pulled the top off of our bird feeder (it is in our deck rail) pulled out seed and made a mess. I am making a fence charger rail to put on top of present railing to jolt the creatures. The rail is 15 feet above the ground. Happy landing raccoons. ww

I like that approach. A couple of caps and an old TV flyback transformer works nice too.

notbob wrote in news:SR9jn.215899$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe25.iad:

Small critters mainly. (Wild animals does evoke an image of large ones. Poor word choice on my part.) The racoons have a reputation for being crafty and figuring out how to get in to things, so I was wondering if just a regular hasp (or a turning hasp) would work. If I put a lock on it, then everyone would need a key to get inside, which means the trash will get stuffed in my garshop anyway.

The black sloped roof makes a lot of sense, even though their intended storage place doesn't get much sun.

Puckdropper

Michael Kenefick wrote in news:Yf9jn.67080$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe11.iad:

That sounds like a good starting place. With 3 or 4 of them on there, it should be quite easy to pull.

Ever seen the hitch/handle that some wagons have? It's a standard T handle that can be twisted out of the way to connect to a standard mower/ATV hitch if you don't want to pull the load yourself. I sure wouldn't mind having one of those.

Puckdropper

I'm gonna sick PETA on you guys. Raccoons have feelings too!

The bear proof dumpsters use turning hasps PLUS an old-fashion steel keychain slide clip attached to a chain. A good carbiner type clip might work, too.

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thought. I'm no woodworker, but seems to me putting lengths of 1"x1" or 1"x2" around the inside edges of the hinged lid would not only make it stiffer, but would further obstruct those "handy" racoons.

nb

If these don't have inner tubes I'd get something else. You have to keep the pressure up in tubeless tires or one day you discover you have a sled rather than a wagon.

notbob wrote in news:odbjn.67082$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe11.iad:

The keychain slide clip is a great idea. It'd require the 'coon to use both paws and remove it, the hasp, and finally open the lid/door. Sometimes security is not about preventing access, just making the small fish look more appealing.

I like the 1x frame idea. A reasonably secure fit on the lid might serve to keep the bugs out as well. (If the base has a lip, then the lip on the lid could fit inside it (maybe loose T&G?) while still allowing for expansion and contraction.)

Puckdropper

"DGDevin" wrote in news:YfadnWglm6Bh3xDWnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.com:

They do have inner tubes, the hub bolts together and the tube is required to get an air tight seal. In fact, the HF item page has a link in the upper corner pointing to a replacement inner tube.

It appears they're the only place around here that carries the 10" tube with 4" rim, however. I went all over town once looking for a replacement tube, and didn't find one. Walked in to HF a few days later, and there they were.

Puckdropper

Yeah, I saw the ad for the tubes but I still wanted to suggest making sure these ones have tubes. I'm good about keeping car tires properly inflated, but I didn't pay the same attention to my hand-cart and last time we went to use it the pressure in the tires had become low enough that the tires had lost their seal on the rims. *Now* there are inner-tubes in those tires.

----------------------------------------- A couple of hasps complete with a bar thru them held in place with a carbiner hanging from a string should solve the coon problem.

Yes those little rascals can be inventive.

Lew

If your deck railing is metal and well grounded this should work. Otherwise you will need to provide a ground rail in addition to the hot rail. Art

"Lew Hodgett" wrote

I remember, taking the trash out one night, confronting an enormous racoon sitting on top of one of my garbage cans. He made it very clear that that was his garbage can and I would get hurt if I got any closer. I made a hasty retreat.

I came back later and cleaned up the mess. I started putting bungee cords on all my cans after that.

On Tue, 2 Mar 2010 08:16:55 -0700, the infamous "WW" scrawled the following:

Install motion-sensor-activated lights and camera so you can show us the fun, please.

Please Eat The Animals... Is that what PETA stands for??? (grin) WW>

On Tue, 02 Mar 2010 10:19:08 -0600, the infamous Steve Turner scrawled the following:

What do the People for the Eating of Tasty Animals have to do with this, Steve?

Yeah, they'll feel that "This diner hurts too much to enjoy. Let's go somewhere else, QUICK!"

On Tue, 2 Mar 2010 11:40:33 -0800, the infamous "DGDevin" scrawled the following:

Those 10" wheels and tires, with tubes, will be on sale for $3.79 each between March 12-14 at HF.

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