Three years ago I tripped over a rake handle in my garden shed and sprained my wrist. That was the day I stopped treating the floor as a storage surface. The worst offender was never the tools, though. It was the hose.
My 8x10 shed had one corner that was pure hose pile. Fifty feet of rubber coiled on the floor, tangled around a shovel handle, knocking the rake over every time I pulled. I looked at the Suncast hose hideaway for months before I bought one. I should have done it sooner. Here are the ten reasons it fixed my garden tool clutter, in the order I noticed them.
One hideaway that cleared a whole shed corner
The Suncast 175 ft. hose hideaway holds the entire hose off the floor and out of the way. Mount it once near the spigot, and the corner that used to be a tangle becomes usable space again.
Amazon Check Today's Price on Amazon →It gets the hose off the shed floor
The pile in the corner was the anchor of the whole mess. The hose wrapped around shovel handles, buried the hand trowels, and made me step over it to reach the shelf. Once the hose lives in the Suncast hideaway, the floor of my shed is just floor again. I can walk in without looking down, and I do not have to kick the hose aside to get the wheelbarrow out.
It frees a wall hook for real tools
My hose used to hang on a hook near the spigot. That hook now holds my long-handled tools. Rake, shovel, hoe, each one gets its own hook. The hideaway took over the hose job, so the wall does the tool job. That one swap did more for the shed than any shelf I have installed. The tools are easier to grab, and they go back just as easy.
It ends the tangle that pulled tools down
When the hose was coiled on the floor, pulling it out meant dragging it across everything else. Rakes slid, the broom fell, and I reorganized the same corner twice a week. The hideaway feeds the hose out through the guide, so the tools stay exactly where I hung them. I still pull the hose out almost every day in summer, and I have not knocked a single tool off the wall since.
It gives the hose a permanent home
Clutter comes back when things do not have a place. The hideaway is the hose's place. When I finish watering, the hose goes back in the box, and the shed looks the same as it did before I started. That predictability is worth more than the floor space it saves. My wife Carol noticed the difference before I said a word about it.
It holds the whole 175 feet in one spot
I used to keep two hoses because one never reached the back beds. The hideaway holds up to 175 feet, so one hose covers the whole quarter acre. The spare hose moved to the garage, and that freed an entire shelf in the shed. That shelf now holds the pruning saw and the hedge shears, which used to live in a bucket on the floor.
It keeps the hose out of the sun
A hose left in the sun gets stiff and cracks, and a cracked hose becomes a backup hose you keep just in case. That backup was taking up shelf space. The hideaway shades the hose, so it lasts longer and I do not accumulate spares. I replaced my old hose two summers ago, and the one in the hideaway still coils up soft and easy.
It moves the wet mess outside the shed
I mounted mine on the shed wall near the spigot, so the hose no longer lives inside the building. The shed is for tools only now. If you have a wall near your spigot, the hideaway keeps the wet, dirty part of gardening outside where it belongs. The mud stays at the door, and I am not dragging damp rubber across the workbench anymore.
It makes watering a one-hand job
The hose guide feeds the hose out smoothly, so I do not wrestle a knot of rubber. Less wrestling means I do not drag the hose across the workbench on the way out. The bench stays clean and the tools stay put. It also means I use the hose more, because getting it out is no longer a chore I put off.
It clears floor space for the wheelbarrow
The corner that used to hold the hose pile now holds the wheelbarrow. That was the change I noticed first. A shed is small, and every square foot of floor I get back matters. I can walk a full wheelbarrow straight through the door without rerouting around a coil of hose, which sounds small until you have done it.
It looks tidy enough to leave out
Because the hideaway looks like a piece of outdoor furniture, I do not feel the need to hide it. The wicker-style resin surface cleans off with a spray. A tidy hose box outside means the shed stays closed and the yard looks put together. It sits out all year, and after two winters it still looks the same as the day I mounted it.
Those are the ten reasons in the order I noticed them. The short version is that the hideaway did one job and did it well, and every other benefit followed from that. If you only take one thing from this, take that.
How I Mounted Mine
I put mine on the shed wall, about four feet off the ground, right next to the spigot. I used the mounting bracket that came with it and drove the screws into the wall studs. The whole job took about twenty minutes. I measured twice because the hose guide needs to line up with the opening, and a crooked mount makes the hose bind. If your spigot is not near a wall, you can set a post in concrete and mount the hideaway to that. The hideaway weighs almost nothing when it is empty, but a full 175 feet of hose is heavy, so the anchor is what matters.
What I'd Skip
If your whole yard is watered by a short hose that lives on a simple wall hanger, you do not need this. A hanger costs less and takes up less space. If you need to move the hose around a large property, a cart on wheels will serve you better. And if you cannot mount anything to a wall or post, the hideaway needs a solid anchor, so a freestanding reel makes more sense. I also would not buy it expecting to store anything but the hose. It is a hose house, not a tool shed. If you are weighing a hideaway against a hose reel cart, there is a full comparison on this site.
The hook that used to hold the hose now holds my long-handled tools, and the corner that held the pile now holds the wheelbarrow.
Clear the floor and hang the tools
The Suncast hideaway did more for my shed than any shelf I have installed. If your hose is still living on the floor, this is the fix.
Amazon Check Today's Price on Amazon →