Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[chickengr]

I have a small "hill" close to my house. I am thinking to make a 3 side pallet wall to get sort of terrace/raised bed. I wonder if soil might push the pallets (as there is no the 4th side to keep the rest) so I should somehow fix them first. any suggestion?

 

[Sally PB]

This isn't pallet wood, it's reclaimed decking off the porch roof on the old house. We've talked about building a pantry under the basement steps for years, and finally did it. This is half, the other side is the same. There are now shelves on all the supports.

I originally thought I'd paint it white to brighten it up. Even then, I'd need a flashlight to see into the back corners; the basement doesn't have a lot of light. So I decided to leave the wood bare; I think it tells a story about where it came from.

This will be storage for food that mustn't freeze, like my canned tomatoes. The mudroom pantry is built against the wall between the house and garage. There is a chance that it could freeze, so I have dry goods in there.

We'll put doors on this, probably as a winter project. We'll need to buy wood for that, I suspect.

 

[Smokerbill]

Looks like a really nice haul!

Do you have a storage stand or something like that for the OSB? That's on my to-do-list. I just need more room in the garage for all the stuff I want to build.

Too many ideas, not enough space.

That black pipe would work great as fill tubes for EarthBoxes or 5-gallon planters. But I'm sure it will come in handy for lots of projects.

And you picked up a working shovel? That's sweet. You can never have too many shovels.

I store my sheet goods standing on edge as upright as possible, leaning against a wall. Need to read up on earth boxes I guess. And the shovel, I haven't tested it. It's possible that the fiberglass handle started to crack, but I won't know until I try it out.

 

[gtaus]

We've talked about building a pantry under the basement steps for years, and finally did it. This is half, the other side is the same. There are now shelves on all the supports.

That's a good use for what most people end up with is wasted space. I grew up living in an old house that had a very big pantry to store goods. My parents would buy stuff on sale and stock up the pantry. Now that I'm an adult, I had to build some shelving and pantries in our house for storage. Not only can you save lots of money by purchasing some items on sale and putting them on the shelves, but if we ever get hit with another COVID type crisis, you will have a supply of goods to get you through the emergency.

When I built the house I'm living in, I enclosed the area underneath the steps going down into the basement. It's basically a big closet that collects junk. I've never really been happy with it. I am sure you will get a lot more good use out of your shelving. I did have the forethought to put a light in that under the steps closet. I would think a simple standing lamp by your shelves would make everything bright enough to clearly see into those dark corners under the steps.

I'm thinking something like this that has directional lights you could move to shine on whatever dark corner needs illumination...

 

[gtaus]

I store my sheet goods standing on edge as upright as possibe, leaning against a wall.

Yeah, that's what I am doing at present. My goal is to build a mobile storage shelf for my sheet goods. But that can't happen until I clean up the garage and clear out some of the stuff I have in there.

No room for anything at present in the garage.

Need to read up on earth boxes I guess.

There are lots of YouTube videos on DIY EarthBoxes and 5-gallon bucket self-watering planters. They look interesting for putting out on the deck. They are certainly smaller and you could move them around. But they cost a lot more than the pallet wood raised beds I have been making for the back yard.

And the shovel, I haven't tested it. It's possible that the fiberglass handle started to crack, but I won't know until I try it out.

I don't know how to repair cracked fiberglass. Maybe some type of epoxy?

I have a number of broken shovels, rakes, and hoes waiting for a second life if I can find the right handle for them. The problem I am running into these days is that a replacement handle to fix the old shovel costs more than a new shovel! How does that happen? So, I ended up buying some new shovels, etc... but can't get myself to throw out the old broken tools knowing how easy they are to fix with a new handle. To my credit, I have resurrected a few broken tools with handles slightly shorter than the originals. But that is just the perfect size for Dear Wife.

One of my useful saves was that I had a broken long handle on a pitchfork, like this...

And found a short D-handle from a broken snow shovel to put on it, like this...

I use the shorter Frankenstein fork for loading up the chicken run compost into my carts. I have bird netting on top of the 6 foot tall chicken run wire fencing. The long handle pitchforks were always getting tangled up in the bird netting when I was working in the run. The shorter pitchfork is just the right size.

 

[Smokerbill]

The long handled pitchfork is one of my favorite tools. I have a short handled fork and a short handled square point shovel, which I rarely use anymore because bending to use them stresses my lower back.

 

[gtaus]

The long handled pitchfork is one of my favorite tools. I have a short handled fork and a short handled square point shovel, which I rarely use anymore because bending to use them stresses my lower back.

I agree. Long handled pitchforks are my first choice, too. Except for inside the chicken run where I have that bird netting stretched across the top of the wire at 6 feet tall. Then the shorter handled pitchfork I made works better for filling compost into the carts because the shorter handle does not get tangled up in the bird netting.

 

[fuzzi]

I've been eyeballing the refuse piles at a couple of new houses being built just down the road. This morning I stopped by and got permission to scavenge some wood. He told me to take all I wanted. The more I take, the less he has to pay for disposal. Win Win!

This haul is from the first pile I sorted through. There's another pile I'll go check out later today. I sure wish now that I had a cordless circular saw. It would have come in handy. LOL

The full size sheet was something I already had. All the other OSB leaning against it was what I scavenged. And several 3 and 4 foot sections of 2x4, 2x6, and a couple lengths of 4x12 beam.View attachment 3640685View attachment 3640686View attachment 3640687View attachment 3640689

SCORE!!!

 

[fuzzi]

Round 2 of the new-home-scrap-pile scavenging project. Pretty good haul. I got quite a bit of that cement fiberboard. It would make great siding for exterior nest boxes on my chickens' home.

Lots of OSB, dimensional lumber, too. 1.5" black drain pipe, and even an old fiberglass handle round point shovel. I grabbed some 2x4s and 2x6s that had nails in them, but I can pull those and have some great wood to work with.

View attachment 3641744

Why not just tell them to deliver?

 

[Smokerbill]

Why not just tell them to deliver?

I wish! But it's close, just down at the bottom of the hill from my house, maybe 1/8 of a mile. And with the two trips I made, I got enough material for lots of new projects.