From shipping crate to Pallet Coop (w/ pics)

[HelenB]

I've been accumulating free pallets and planning to use them to construct my first coop. Both DH and I have tried prying the wood off of them, to no avail. How did you get them apart? Do you want to come over and help me build mine? Yours looks great!

 

[laughaha]

Where did you find a crate like that? I would love to pick up 3 or 4 of them.

 

[dlfridie]

I love your coop! The stones really finish it off nicely.
What came in that crate?
I want to look around for one like it.

 

[Amyable]

Thanks everyone! The crate was used to transport a sign for the dealership my friend works for. There were 2 crates; she kept one and saved the other for me. I guess if you see a new building going up, ask the general contractor if anything like that will be delivered. It's hard to tell from the pics, but the coop is pretty cock-eyed, they don't quite build those things straight

HelenB, the most work was taking apart those danged pallets! If you can get newer ones, they come apart much easier. I used 2 hammers - I placed the claw of hammer #1 between the pallet boards and the 2x4, and used hammer #2 to pound the claw in, which basically pries the board off with the nails. Then you just work your way down the board. Sometimes they could be hammered out from the back, most often I had to pry them. i did break a lot of boards in the process. Sorry, but no, I don't know if I'll ever tackle making a pallet coop again

I kept saying, I'm being frugal, it's almost free, I'm being frugal...

 

[FenDruadin]

Oh my goodness! That is the most perfect coop I have ever seen. It may not be *your* dream coop, but it's most certainly mine! It reminds me of something from the old English countryside. So beautifully quaint--and the stones are the PERFECT touch.

Word has been getting around that my husband & I love used crates, and we've been getting them from various places. Pallets are easy to find free--I know people at several warehouses that tell me to come get them whenever I want. You're right--taking pallets and crates apart is often the hardest part of building with those materials. But it's SOOOO gratifying when you're done and can say, "I did that!"

I would probably just use plywood for the sides, personally--because I get it free with the crates usually. It wouldn't be NEARLY as adorable, but it would be quicker. Any particular reason you didn't just do that, or was it strictly a matter of you didn't have any plywood handy?

Thanks for sharing your coop. I now have an aspiration. How tall was the crate you started with? Usually the crates I'm being given are only about three feet tall. Wonder where I can get one that's five feet?

I've already got windows... and paint... and hinges... and plenty of plywood (and pallets)... oooo, I am just itching to get started. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Amyable]

Lotsa questions, curiositycat! It would have been so much quicker and easier to side it with plywood, but I didn't want to spend the money. THere was a very rudimentary pieced plywood roof on the crate, but I took it down and covered the floor with it. We bought plywood for the roof, it took 3 sheets. The only plywood we had laying around, I used to build the human door (and it was pretty thin stuff.)

The crate top is almost exactly 5.5 feet tall (I can just walk through without hitting my head, lol). The peaked roof adds another 1.5 feet. Hopefully it will be easy to clean out. I wish it were wider, less than 4 feet. Putting two of those together would have been awesome! Could you stack your shorter pallets to get more height and reinforce them together?

A couple people have commented on the rocks, I really really like that part too. It made a huge difference in cuteness factor!

 

[Montana-Hens]

Nice job!

 

[FenDruadin]

Cool--thanks for the response! If you ever build another one, check around to the warehouses in your area and find out if they ever throw away large wooden crates--that's where we get our plywood. Sometimes it's particle board, which is useful for certain applications, but the plywood ROCKS. There's a company near here that makes robotic equipment for the manufacturing industry, and when they ship something they PACK it. They do not want it going anywhere or being touched by ANYTHING, so it is in high quality lumber. The down side is that it is usually put together with screws, staples, and nails, and everything is double thickness and it is a ... well, it's a really serious pain to take apart. But the result is really really nice quality wood.

I've been trying to come up with a use for the platform bottom the crates always come with. They contain GREAT wood when taken apart, but it seems like they ought to be useful as-is and not have to be taken apart, but I haven't figured it out yet. The floor of a structure, I guess.

Anyway--gotta run. I'm supposed to be working. Better get to it. Thanks for the feedback. I am inspired.

 

[blefky]

Wow, I'm so impressed!

Great way to use available resources! Also, to laughaha, I frequently see pallets available on the "free" section of Craigslist in my area. Now that I have a visusal I think I'll be spying around for crates and pallets myself - thanks for the motivation!

 

[Kansaseq]

I LOVE that coop! Really nice job, and I love how rustic it is. Would love to have it for my own. I just acquired 15 pallets to add on to one of my existing coops. I plan to use the pallets mostly as is, for framing. Haven't figured out how to get free plywood just yet.
Do you have any pics of the babies using the coop?