9 Ingenious Uses For Old Tires

You probably have tires lying around somewhere in your yard or homestead like me. The thought of calling the waste management guys to come and pick them up has hit you, but you’re currently stalling – probably because you feel like you’ll be wasting your money or simply because you want to dispose of these tires in a much more eco-friendly way.

If this is you, read on, because I will be sharing some of the most exciting DIY projects that you can do whilst re-purposing your tires. These fun ideas need no level of craftsmanship, so invite the rest of your family to join you in the amazing adventure.

Let’s go!

Uses For Old Tires In Your Garden

The first place you should start when upcycling your tires is in your garden. You can use them as:

Flower Pots Or Raised Beds

Tires make great raised bed support as well as flower pots. There are many ways to make these, but here is the easiest way:

1. Take some tires and spray paint them with any color of your choice.
2. Get a sheet of plywood and carve it in such a way that it can fit inside the tire but cannot fallout.
3. Find a perfect place for your garden and place your tires there.
4. Pour in a mixture of loam soil and compost into your improvised pots.
5. Get some flowers, plants or vegetables, and transplant them into your new garden.

Note: Tires slowly release harmful gases and chemicals when they start to wear off, so make sure you do not plant anything that is edible in them without taking extreme precautions.

Related: Are You A DIY-er?

Garden Chairs

Prior to writing this article, I had no garden chairs. I put it upon myself to come up with some ingenious garden chairs that would wow my friends – and guess what? I did. You could too if you follow these seven simple steps. Also you will save lot’s of money.

1. Get two tires of the same size and spray paint them with a color of your choice.
2. Drill holes on one side of each tire.
3. Stack the tires one on top of the other, ensuring that the drilled sides are facing each other.
4. Get a rope with the same color scheme as your painted tires and thread your way through the holes, joining the two together.
5. Measure the diameter of your tire then get a sheet of plywood and carve it into a circle with the same measurements you took.
6. Apply glue onto the edges of your carved plywood sheet and place it on top of your tire and apply pressure.
7. Leave your invention under the sun to dry, then move on to creating another chair.

These garden chairs aren’t just for sitting. They also double down as tables and decorative material, which breathes life into your landscape design.

Uses For Old Tires Inside Your House

Old tires are not only used in your garden. Believe it or not, they can also be used inside your house. You can re-purpose them as:

Stair Grip

If you have wooden or ceramic stairs in your house, then you know how slippery and dangerous they can get, especially when it is a raining outside.

To counter the likelihood of slipping and falling, you can put some stair grip onto the top edges of your stairs (or on the whole stair, if you have enough tires). Here’s how you can do it:

1. Get your old tires and carve out the sides, leaving only the top part which touches the road when you’re driving.
2. Cut that remaining part into half and repeat the above steps for more tires. This will leave you with several sheets of tire.
3. Cut those rubber sheets into 2 inches in width.
4. Get some super glue and apply it on the sheets and place them on the top edges of your stairs.
5. Apply pressure until the rubber sheets have fully gripped and you’re done.

Using your tires like this is a life saver, you should try it out.

Apart from stair grips you can also use your tires to make:

Indoor Furniture Chairs

Tires make great chairs – that is why they can be used outdoors and in.

The process of making these two is almost similar, just a few different steps you need to take on the indoor ones.

1. Go outside and spray paint two tires with a color scheme of your choice.
2. Drill holes on one side of each tire.
3. Stack the tires one on top of the other, ensuring that the drilled sides are facing each other.
4. Get a rope with the same color scheme as your tire paint and thread your way through the holes, joining the two together.
5. Measure the diameter of your tire then get a sheet of plywood and carve it into a circle with the same measurements you took.
6. Apply glue onto the edges of your carved plywood sheet and place it on top of your tire and apply pressure.
7. Wait for the glue to dry then turn your chair upside down, with the open part facing upwards.
8. Stuff in one pillow into the bottom tire.
9. Then get and stuff a continental pillow or larger pillow that would protrude outwards.
10. Replicate the same steps onto other two tires if you want more chairs like these.

You can use these chairs in your home office or sitting room or bedroom. It’s your choice to make, the picture below is just an example.

Uses For Old Tires In Your Backyard

There are many case uses for old tires in your backyard, but I will give you only two, the first one being as:

A Bike Stand

This idea is super ingenious I tell you, just found out about it a week ago.

1. Get two tires.
2. Dig a hole and bury half of your first tire, then dig another hole next to the first one (about 3 inches apart) and bury half of the second tire.
3. Ensure the soil around the tires is compact, you can pour water around to solidify the ground but it’s not really necessary.
4. Get your bike or kids’ bike and park it there instead of leaving it lying on the floor.

If you have several bikes in your home, you can create a stand for each of them.

The second way you can use old tires is by making a good old:

Tire Swing

Did you really think I would leave this one out? Not a chance. Here’s one way to do it:

1. Get three strong ropes, a tire, a big industrial chain and padlock.
2. Go and look for a tree with strong branches.
3. Climb up the tree, wrap your big, short chain around the branch and lock it using a padlock.
4. Take your tire and drill three holes which are all spaced equally from each other.
5. Take your first rope and push it through the first hole then tie a knot there tightly, leaving majority of the rope unused.
6. Repeat the same process for the remaining two ropes on all the other holes.
7. Now climb the tree or ladder and tie a knot on the chain with each rope.

Make sure the length of all the ropes is equal after you tie the knots, so that it remains balanced when you take a swing. Take a swing and ensure that the swing is ready for use, if it is let your kids have a ride and start enjoying their new swing.

Some of you reading this article might be living in a farm and wondering how you can re-purpose your tractor tires. Well, continue reading to find out how.

An Earthship Wall

If perhaps you have more than enough tires lying around, you could build an earthship style tire wall. For those who don’t know what an earthship is; it basically a home design made in the most eco-friendly way possible.

In today’s case, we won’t be building any home. We will be constructing a wall around my farmhouse to replace the worn down fence I have. Here is how to do it.

1. Dig a half-a-tire deep trench where you’ll be constructing your wall.
2. Line up your tires compactly in that trench.
3. Make a mixture of semi-dry mud and rubble and pour it into all those tires, filling them to the brim.
4. Take a spade and a sledge hammer and punch in the soil, making sure it’s compact.
5. Take your second layer of tires and close their bottom openings with a cardboard so that your mixture doesn’t flow out easily during the construction.
6. Place those tires on top of the first layer and pour in your semi-dry mud and rubble mixture on all of them.
7. Compact the mixture again with a spade and sledge hammer.
8. Depending on how tall you want your wall to be, repeat Steps 5 to 7 again.
9. After reaching your desired height, put the soil back into the trenches you dug till its level.
10. Use a rake to level up the area around your wall and you are done.

2 Ingenious Uses for Old Tractor Tires

Services that help you dispose of tractor tires are somehow non-existent or if they are there, tend to be quite expensive.

Why throw away your money and tires whilst you can upcycle them into something worthwhile for free?

Here are two ways in which you can ignite your imagination and reuse your tractor tires in your homestead, the first being as a:

Portable Seesaw

Seesaws have been my choice of entertainment for as long as I can remember.

Make one for your kids, they’ll highly appreciate it. Here’s how:

1. Get a tractor tire and cut it into half.
2. Get a long, strong piece of lumber and balance it on the tire.
3. Sit on one side whilst your partner and kids sit on the opposite side – then start seesawing.

Seesaws are great for exercise, as well as for entertainment, so spoil yourself ones in a while and take a ride.

Our last case scenario for a tractor tire is as a:

Sandbox

Kids love sandboxes – that is why they’re always begging to go to the park. Create your own sandbox at home so your kids love staying home with you, here’s how:

1. Get your tractor tire and place it anywhere in yard.
2. Spray paint it with your kid’s color of choice.
3. Gather up some sand and pour it into the tire until it’s full.
4. Buy some beach toys and let your kids start playing there.

Sandboxes make a great playground for kids. It’s safe, it’s at home, but most of all, it was made by you.

Landfills are bombarded with tire waste every day, which is really bad. Become one of the eco-friendly people who reuse and re-purpose their tires, in turn, saving our ailing environment.

Of these ideas we have given you above, which one are you going to try out first?

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