There are thousands of great uses for your foam noodles once you've retired them from the pool. Fathers around the globe enjoy being able to fix things creatively. With these projects, you can stay occupied for hours while offering entertaining, valuable solutions for problems around the house. Read on for dads’ tips and tricks to using pool noodles around the home.
Protect Walls From Getting Banged Around by Doors
When you're in a hurry, it's easy to open doors too quickly and slam into walls, scuffing the paint up in the process. You can help protect walls from damage with these two items:
- A pool noodle
- A utility knife
Cut out a small section of the noodle. It should be about six inches long. Make a slit lengthwise in the pool noodle piece and put it onto the edge of a door, cabinet, or gate. This will prevent people from knocking edges into walls when opening or closing them too quickly.
Keep Your Fishing Poles Upright
Getting up early to go fishing and prepare your poles only to discover that they’ve become tangled can genuinely ruin your morning. With a fishing pole rack, though, you can keep your rods separated and upright. Here’s what you will need to make one:
- A 3-inch-diameter PVC pipe
- A pool noodle
- A utility knife
- A fender washer
- two-inch screws
Insert one-inch holes about every four inches in the PVC pipe. Make incisions in the noodle with a utility knife, spacing them four inches apart. Hang the pool noodle on your wall so that at least two of the incisions rest on studs.
Pull the holes apart, insert a fender washer, and secure the noodle to the wall with two-inch screws. Finally, choose the best height, screw the PVC pipe to the wall underneath it, and place your fishing rods inside it.
Protect Your Knees
With a proper kneeling pad, you can support your knees, making getting up and going back down much easier on your joints. However, store-bought kneeling cushions can be rather expensive. So making one out of foam noodles is a lot more cost-effective. Your homemade cushion will make gardening and other activities more comfortable. Here’s what you will need:
- Pool noodles
- A utility knife or something with a smooth—not serrated—blade
- A tape measure
- A permanent marker
- Something to bind each noodle section, such as hot glue, packing tape, or strong twine.
Measure your noodles and mark three separate 17-inch sections with your permanent marker. Now, with your utility knife, cut out each one so that you have three individual pieces. For extra-large pads, you can add another 17-inch part.
Brush hot glue across the side of one of the noodles and attach the two sections. Add your third piece in the same way, then let the glue dry. You can also use rubber bands, twine, or tape to hold the parts together. However, hot glue will offer you the most secure, non-moving fit.
Carry a Kayak or Other Objects on Top of Your Car
A roof rack is a series of bars attached to a vehicle's roof. You can use it to transport heavy items like luggage, bikes, canoes, kayaks, skis, and more. However, not every car comes with a rack already installed. This means you may have to jury rig your own solution when transporting heavy, oddly shaped objects. Here's everything you need for this:
- Pool noodles (this one is probably pretty obvious by now)
- A cam buckle or ratchet straps. Cam buckles or ratchet straps are lengthy segments of tough nylon linked to adjustable buckles. The buckles enable you to wrap them around objects and then crank them tight to secure the objects in place. You’ll typically find them in hardware or auto stores, and you should pick up between two and five sets.
The pool noodles provide a versatile and sturdy platform for your kayak (or other objects) to rest on while also protecting the roof of your car from scratches. The first step to fastening your kayak is to ensure that the noodles fit comfortably along your vehicle's rooftop without bulging out over either side. When the noodles hang over the sides, you’ll need to cut off the dangling sections.
Space the pool noodles roughly every three feet based on the size of your vehicle’s roof, with one in the middle and one in the front and back. Once you position your noodles, you must secure them. Run one pair of ratchet straps through the holes in the middles of the pool noodles into the inside of your vehicle using an open door.
After you've secured the pool noodles, you'll need to lay your kayak on top of your vehicle with the help of at least one other person. Flip the kayak face down so that the cockpit faces your roof. At the same time, have someone stand at each end. Carefully mount the kayak on the top of your vehicle with the kayak's center resting on the pool noodle.
Now, secure the kayak to the top of your car by opening the front and rear doors and passing one pair of ratchet straps over the front of the kayak. Attach the straps inside your car and tighten them. Remember to twist the straps as you run them through your vehicle to avoid a high-pitched shrieking sound while driving. Repeat this method for the kayak's back end without overtightening each strap.
Keep Your Boots Upright
While the earlier project can be beneficial when you need to haul big, heavy objects, this final project will be much simpler but still highly functional for the people in your life who love their boots. Storing boots can be brutal as they're taller than most shoes, and the tops tend to flop when you place them on the ground. This can leave creases and deform them. For a quick and easy solution to this problem, you only need two things:
- A pool noodle
- A utility Knife
You should cut one of your noodles into four equal-sized pieces. Place a quarter of a pool noodle in each boot and push it down until it reaches the sole. The top will not only stand up, but the ankle will also become filled out, so it won’t be eternally sunken. One noodle can fill two pairs of boots.
With these dads’ tips and tricks to using pool noodles around the home, you can tackle typical problems many people face with affordable ingenuity. Honor Trading Company supplies wholesale foam noodles that are incredibly versatile for clever DIY projects. Feel free to reach out to us with any questions you may have.
