Many months ago, we found a vintage sink that we thought looked really cool. We thought about refurbishing it and using it somewhere in our tiny house, but it’s rather large and heavy; so instead, we decided to turn it into a birdbath.
This project doesn’t really take much skill or effort – the hardest part is finding a pole that’s just the right dimensions and sturdy enough to support the weight of the sink. As luck would have it, while sifting through our pile of scrap materials the other day, we happened to find just such a pole.
DIY Sink Bird Bath
First, we used a post pounder to drive the steel pole several feet into the ground – approximately half its total length. If you don’t have a post pounder, you could also do this with a mallet or a post hole digger; or you could simply dig a hole with a shovel and backfill it. The rocks stacked up around the base of the pole serve no purpose. We just did that for decoration.
Next, we took apart the drain assembly and reinserted it upside down. We did this for two reasons: #1. The pole fit better this way. #2. It allowed the sink to rest on the pipe at an angle that evenly distributes the weight on the center of the pole, rather than most of the weight hanging out in front of it, which might cause the pole to bend or the sink to break.
We wrapped galvanized wire around some of the sink’s hardware and the pole to secure it snugly so it doesn’t wobble, turn, or tilt.
After all that, it was just a matter of plugging the drain hole so that it actually holds water. We did this by running a very thick band of silicone around the bottom of the drain – shown in the photo above – and around the top of the drain, we glued tiny pebbles together with silicone. This was kind of like doing masonry work – for ants.
And here’s the finished bird bath!
