How to Shorten A Garden Hose

You might find that your garden hose is too long for your needs.  Perhaps it’s too big for your garden hose reel.   Or maybe you recently moved and have a smaller yard that doesn’t require a long hose. 

 

Luckily you can shorten a garden hose in 4 easy steps:

1.  Measure and Mark your Desired Hose Length

Make sure you unroll your garden hose completely to make sure that your hose will reach the areas of your yard that need watering.

You may even want to turn the water on to make sure you’re not falling short of the hard to reach areas.

2. Cut your hose where marked using a utility knife or wire cutters

Depending on what kind of hose you have, a simple pair of scissors may do the trick.   However, if you have a contractor/farm grade hose, you may need a stronger utensil to cut it.

If you have wire cutters, that’s what we’d recommend.   If you don’t have wire cutters, you can use a utility knife.  Just be sure to cut the hose safely, setting the hose on the ground, securing the hose securely with the other hand out of the knife’s path. 

Be sure you make the cut line perpendicular to the length of the hose.   A diagonal or jagged line will make installing the replacement difficult and prone to leaking. 

3. Insert Replacement Fitting into the cut end of the hose

You can find a garden hose replacement fitting at your local hardware store or you can try one from Amazon.com.   It’ll look something like this:

Or This:

You can also use a crimping tool on an ear clamp, which would leave you with a slightly sleeker finish than the screw clamps above.

Note that if all you want to do is shorten your garden hose, you will only need the male replacement fitting.   Make sure it’s male otherwise you won’t be able to install a spray nozzle if desired. 

Many garden hose replacement kits try to sell you both the male and female fittings.   In this case, you won’t need the male replacement fitting since you are not connecting two lengths of hose together.

However, take a look at the upcycling ideas below.   You may want to buy a female fitting so you can make use of the extra hose you’ll have.

Also make sure you buy the right size fitting!  An 18 mm fitting is for a 5/8″ diameter hose.  A 19mm fitting is for a 3/4″ hose.

**Don’t make this mistake! – Be sure to put the clamp on your garden hose on BEFORE you insert the replacement fitting into the hose tube.

***Pro Tip:  If you soak the end of the garden hose in boiled water, it’ll make it much easier to insert the replacement fitting into the hose

Although this video explains, how to fix a broken garden hose, it’ll also help explain how to shorten a garden hose.

4.  Slide Clamp to the End of the Hose & Tighten

You’ll need either a phillips head or flathead screwdriver to tighten the clamp depending on what kind of replacement fitting you purchase. 

Be sure that your clamp is as close to the end of the hose and flush with the replacement fitting before tightening.

And Voila! You now have a re-sized garden hose ready to use. 

Upcycling Your Extra Garden Hose

Now that you’ve shortened your garden hose, you’ll find yourself with an extra, perfectly good length of hose.  Don’t throw that away!

You can always check out some upcycling ideas for the hose.  Or you can store that hose for later use in case your primary hose breaks down.  Another idea would be to turn your extra hose into a small leader hose that can attach to a hose reel.  

If you do that, you can repeat the steps above, but use the female replacement piece instead of the male on the cut end of your hose. 

If you have any other ideas on what to do with your shortened garden hose, please leave them in the comments below!