DIY: Recycled Tire Rocker (aka Tire Teeter Totter)

I pinned this DIY a few weeks ago on my Pinterest board, thinking it was a cute idea, but really? would I ever have a chance to execute it? All signs pointed to “doubtful”. Then I got an invitation to a 1st birthday party for my friends’ little girl and on the bottom of the invite it read “Regifted, reused, or repurposed gifts only…” – and I thought BINGO! It was really a battle between two options. a. the tire and b. the pillowcase mat – I didn’t own any cute pillowcases and I couldn’t find any standalone for purchase at Target, so… tire rocker it was.

I wasn’t worried about where to get the tire, I knew my parents had plenty out at their place. They use them yearly to plant their zucchini/yellow squash harvest. The tire serves as the mound. Anyway, they said to come on out and take one off their hands – and they had plenty of scraps of wood due to a project they’ve been working on. So off we went on a Friday afternoon, hoping for the best, not quite certain how we were going to execute this – though my husband felt confident.  So, observe. The Tire Teeter Totter project. I would map out all the supplies for you, but I was on baby duty and dinner duty and supervision-of-project duty all at the same time and not quite certain I’d be able to remember everything, but you might be able to gather everything from the pics.

Step 1: Find yourself a tire and saw it in half. Be careful! Tires have steel threading in them (a new discovery for me – but if I would of thought about it, that makes sense!) Cip off any extra ‘wires’ with wire-cutters for safety reasons. We also pressure washed it to remove the grit/grime so our primer/spray paint would stay on!

Step 2: Spray paint your tire with a white primer. You can opt to save this step for after your screw in the 2×4’s.

Step 3:  Once your primer dries, cut 2 2×4’s the width of the tire and level, then screw in. 2 screws on each side.

Voila!

Step 4:  Cut a 1×8 plank (we used cedar – as it was the sraps we had available) to the length of the tire. We measured 1 inch over on both sides to have a little overhang.

Step 5:  Attach the plank to the 2×4’s already attached to the tire.

Step 6: Sand down the plank to create a smooth surface. And round out the edges (safety!)

Step 7: This is where you can save the tire priming for. Make sure to get good coverage on all pieces. We primed the inside of the tire too, but it’s your choice. I don’t think it’s entirely necessary. 

Step 8: Once your primer dries, use your color of choice to spray paint all items – don’t forget to spray the screw heads as they will show!

Step 9: Reassemble your pieces.

Step 10: If you want an added safety feature, add a rope for your kiddo to grab on to. We added it when we reattached the cedar plank to the 2×4’s. Pretty simple.

And to personalize, we added a “C”

I thought of another great idea for this if they “rocking” doesn’t pan out. You could easily add two bolts to the sides and hang it from the tree as a swing.

If you have any questions about this project, just leave them in the comments section! Enjoy!