I'm going to make a shed out of pallets.....

[ProDave]

One of the  things you accumulate during a self build is pallets. Everything comes on a pallet. Some good, some bad, some ugly, some not even worthy of firewood.

 

One of the things our plot needs is a shed. Somewhere to put the lawnmower, strimmer, garden tools etc should we ever find a buyer and move into the static caravan.

 

I don't have any spare money to buy a ready made shed, not that I think much of the way most sheds are made anyway.

 

So a while back I said to SWMBO "I am going to make a shed out of those pallets"  The reply was not exactly "oh that's a good idea dear"

 

Some (most?) pallets are not fit for making stuff. But I have rather a lot of these that all my wood fibre board came on.  When dismantled they each yield four 6ft long 5" wide planks and they dismantle relatively easily.

 

 

 

So these planks will clad 3 of the walls of the shed.

 

So lets start.  First you need a base for it to sit on.  Well I have the three large pallets that my windows arrived on.  Quite substantial and put together will make a base 9ft by 7ft, so big enough just for a garden tool shed.  Lay them on the ground with the corners and ends of the members of the pallets supported on concrete blocks. To support the mid span, drive some stakes in as far as I can then fic these to the middle of the pallets. Not only does that give extra support, but it anchors it all down for when the wind blows.

 

Of course I forgot to take a picture of just the base, so here is the base and the back wall.

 

 

The observant will notice the base is slatted with big gaps. The gaps are not even enough to fill in to make it a solid floor.  So the floor will be over sheeted with OSB using the pallets as the "frame" and the OSB as the finished floor surface.

 

Today I built and added the first end wall.

 

 

So one other end wall will be made from the final pallets (still to be dismantled)  The front will then be clad with some different wood, a load of 6" X 1" planks that have been used as temporary bracing during the build. the front will incorporate two windows and a door.  The roof (probably the only bit I will have to buy) will be corrugated bituminous roofing that I used previously for my wood shed.

 

This is a fill in job, low priority, but fun (more fiun than sanding and re varnishing the windows of the old house)

 

 

 

 

[Stones]

I've likewise got a stack of pallets sitting on site. I'll be getting rid of them all except for the three that my windows and doors came on (Rationel do seem to supply very good pallets).

 

At my last house, I built a series of large storage boxes for all of the various garden clutter I didn't want in the shed.  I used the wooden crates the roof slates had come in, one turned upside down on top of the other, strengthened them using offcuts of 2"x2", then clad them with sarking board offcuts. I covered the roof with DPM which was going spare. The only cost was buying some nails. It really was very satisfying making something useful from stuff that would otherwise have been disposed of.

[Declan52]

I had 27 pallets by the time I moved in. Made a shed for my logs and then cut the rest up for my wbs. 

Between pallets and cardboard I was running out of room. Had one large bonfire that sorted the cardboard out and still have maybe 10 odd pallets still to burn.

[Nickfromwales]

2 hours ago, ProDave said:

So a while back I said to SWMBO "I am going to make a shed out of those pallets"  The reply was not exactly "oh that's a good idea dear"

I really didn't want to embrace this tbh, but seeing the 'shed-in-progress' I have to chomp some humble pie. It actually looks quite good. 

[jack]

Looks great.  

 

How do you get the pallets apart?  I occasionally tried that on a few of ours and they seem almost impossible to take apart without damaging the wood.  

[Crofter]

Old pallets are a nightmare, rust twist nails do not want to come out. In the past I've resorted to using a small hole saw to drill around them and just leave them behind- it does make it look as though you have a mouse infestation though.

if it's just for firewood, the best technique is to bounce the whole thing off the ground, hitting each corner in turn, until everything is so loose it just falls apart. Them fire it all through the table saw (mind those nails!) into the waiting wood basket. I can turn a pallet into an evening's firewood in about five minutes this way.

 

The only problem with burning pallets is that I keep coming across bits of wood that are too nice to burn...

[ProDave]

To separate the pallets, forget trying to pull individual nails.

 

I lay a bit of 8 by 2 timber on it's side with one end against the house wall. Stand the pallet upright so the plank you are trying to remove is along the ground and resting against this bit of 8 by 2 and one of the pallets cross members is right next to the 8 by 2 (I can see I am going to have to take a photo as I doubt that description makes it clear)

 

Then hit the cross member of the pallet very hard with the FBH Sometimes the nails come out of the cross member, sometimes they pull through the plank.

 

t helps to keep your pallets dry. The ones that have been inside all the time come apart really easy. The ones that have been left outside, the nails have rusted and they take a lot more hitting to get them apart.

 

For firewood, I put lumps of pallet on the fire WITH the nails in.  They riddle through into the ash pan afterwards no problem. Most people recommend against this.


 

[SteamyTea]

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/waste-exemption-u4-burning-of-waste-as-a-fuel-in-a-small-appliance

 

Just to remind people about burning waste wood.

[ProDave]

2 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/waste-exemption-u4-burning-of-waste-as-a-fuel-in-a-small-appliance

 

Just to remind people about burning waste wood.

And I wonder how many home owners have registered the fact they burn pallets in a domestic wood burning stove?
 

[Declan52]

Not me.

[ProDave]

Acme Mk1 patented pallet dismantling gadget:

 

Left hand end of 8 by 2 is against a solid wall.  Place pallet plank against 8 by 2.  Hit pallet cross member with FBH

 

And it comes apart with no drama.

 

 

[ProDave]

It's got 3 sides and the start of the roof frame now.

 

That's the last of the pallet planks, different wood for the front.

 

 

[Barney12]

Paint it black and it will look just like last nights Grands Design

 

[Onoff]

Great thread. My nephew is badgering me to help with his pallet shed which I've designed but we've yet to start. Tbh this side of next Spring he's got no chance of me helping unless I fancy a break from my stuff. Thinking to tell him to stack the pallets and sling a tarp over it!

 

Those vertical planks Dave, won't horizontal rain come through the gaps?

[ProDave]

Yes I have no doubt some rain will get in. But it's only a garden store, not a workshop so not after air tightness and insulation.

 

I have a wood shed with deliberate big gaps left to ventilate it well to dry the wood and it's surprising how little rain comes in through that.
 

[Ferdinand]

1 hour ago, Onoff said:

Great thread. My nephew is badgering me to help with his pallet shed which I've designed but we've yet to start. Tbh this side of next Spring he's got no chance of me helping unless I fancy a break from my stuff. Thinking to tell him to stack the pallets and sling a tarp over it!

 

Those vertical planks Dave, won't horizontal rain come through the gaps?

 

THere's nothing stopping someone doing a HIt and Miss double wall.

 

Ferdinand

 

[ProDave]

I might add some extra planks to make it hit and miss. But probably only on the south and west more exposed walls, and when I have dismantled some more pallets.
 

[ProDave]

Making progress.  All it wants now is a roof (I am going to have to spend some money) then I can put the OSB floor panels down.

 

 

 

The windows are some secondary double glazing units I have had for ages, just a single pane of glass set into a plastic frame. We used to use them as cloches for growing vegetables.

 

SWMBO came to have a look at this creation, and she has named it the "Steptoe Shed"

 

 

[Tennentslager]

Very nice it is

[Stones]

'Marge, I'm going to build you a spice rack'

 

http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh143/werdnayarg/webstuf/Homer Spice Rack/homer1.png

 

Can't think why that quote came to mind...

 

 

[ProDave]

You can buy coffee tables made out of pallets.  When I suggested that for the left overs............

 

 

 

 

NO

 

[Ferdinand]

1 hour ago, ProDave said:

Making progress.  All it wants now is a roof (I am going to have to spend some money) then I can put the OSB floor panels down.

 

 

 

The windows are some secondary double glazing units I have had for ages, just a single pane of glass set into a plastic frame. We used to use them as cloches for growing vegetables.

 

SWMBO came to have a look at this creation, and she has named it the "Steptoe Shed"

 

 

 

You are fortunate.

 

She could have said Compo ! 

 

Will be a good winter wood store.

Edited October 16, 2016 by Ferdinand

[ProDave]

It's just about finished.  I went into town today and bought the roofing sheets, a cost of about £100 so that's the total spend on this shed.

 

 

 

 

[Vijay]

That looks nice and solid!

[Crofter]

Very good. Puts to shame the one I threw together in a day to house some geese (I ate them, and it now houses a lawnmower, which is relatively safe as I do not have a big enough oven for it).

I was fortunate enough to find my roof out on the hill- a piece of steel roofing which had blown off someone's shed and travelled half a mile or so. It was a bit bashed about, some denzo tape sorted the leaks though.

 

Have you painted that shed with something?