Foot-powered shower

Portable dacha shower with foot membrane pump

It is intended for dacha and garden cabins and can also be used in field conditions. The design was approved by everyone who used it for several years. A typical dacha shower is usually a booth on a frame of four posts with a water tank on top. Because of its weight, such a fixed Read more…

Gym in your bedroom

Sports wall-bed: compact home gym that saves space

“Hypodynamia, old age, and shortness of breath…” — so goes a well-known song. Indeed, in our age of widespread mechanization and computerization, the question of maintaining an active lifestyle is very acute. The way out is physical culture and sports. That is why mini sports complexes and home exercise corners are becoming familiar in our Read more…

Perpetual wind fan

Wind-powered fan for outhouse and cellar without electricity

Many rural outbuildings need ventilation. Without it, houses and sheds become damp, cellars and basements get wet, and using an outdoor privy without a fan is, to put it mildly, uncomfortable. Of course, fitting a toilet or cellar with an electric supply or exhaust fan is not difficult, but many dacha buildings are far from Read more…

Swings — land… and water

Tire swings: frame diagram and water-barrel attraction

In any courtyard you can see flower beds and playground elements made from old tires. On river cruise ships and at docks they are used as fenders. But that is far from all the uses for automotive “footwear” that has served its time. Take swings, for example… If you replace the traditional seat board with Read more…

Corner shelving unit

Corner utility shelf: 40×40 timber, half-lap, brackets

Around the house you often have to make non-standard furniture, especially when bought pieces don’t fit the room. The author ran into this when it came to a shelf unit in the utility room of an apartment. If you took the traditional route, you could put up the shelf quickly and cheaply. But on a Read more…

Pull-down stairs

Motorized attic stairs: hatch door and electric drive

Designing internal stairs — for example, attic stairs — is often troublesome. For comfortable, large flights there is usually not enough room, and they end up very steep, which is quite dangerous, especially for older people. In one issue of an old Czechoslovak magazine, an interesting compromise design was proposed, which we offer to our Read more…

Designing shade

Gazebo with pergola: how to build a gazebo and veranda — DIY

The so-called architecture of small forms is undeservedly forgotten on garden plots. For example, pergolas and trellises are light openwork structures, usually covered with plants and forming freestanding “green” walls, gazebos, or covered alleys. Blending organically into the surrounding plantings, they create cozy corners sheltered from direct sunlight. In this KDM issue we want to Read more…

Kneeling bench

DIY universal garden bench (Ezermester) for raised beds work

No matter how small a rural plot may be, cultivating it takes a fair amount of work and daily chores. One moment you need to plant something, the next you need to loosen the soil or hill plants up. And all of this usually has to be done bent over or squatting, which makes your Read more…

“Mixer” for concrete

DIY barrel concrete mixer: scheme, paddles, and trough

In two evenings I built a simple but productive concrete mixer that makes work on country-site construction much easier and faster. I was building a garage from 400x200x200 mm concrete blocks that I formed myself using formwork and this very mixer. It is made from an old 50–60 litre barrel. Anyone can assemble something similar Read more…

Flour from a… meat grinder

Meat grinder flour mill attachment — DIY guide

More and more often the editorial office receives letters and phone calls with the same request — to publish drawings and explain how to build a simple flour mill with your own hands. The need for such a device is felt not only by rural residents but also by city dwellers. “Modelist-Constructor” has already written Read more…