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[gtaus]

DIY 4 Inch Lag Screws to Save Money

I used all my long lag screws that I salvaged from pallets I got last summer making my latest pallet wood raised bed v2.0 a few weeks ago. Now I need to buy some new lag screws or find an alternative.

At the Fleet store in town today, I found some nice Torx head 4-inch-long lag screws. But they were 79 cents each.

I use 16 long screws to put together the outside 2X4 framing of my pallet wood raised beds. That's almost $13.00 just for the initial framing if I used new Torx head lag screws. Those Torx head lag screws are really nice, strong, and don't strip out. However, I like to keep the cost of my pallet wood raised beds to a minimum.

The alternative I came up with is using 4-inch-long drywall screws with a 1/4-inch washer.

Just for the fun of it, I weighed a 4-inch-long drywall screw ($2.99 per pound) and it comes out to 6 cents per screw. The washers ($3.99 per pound) are just over 2 cents each. Our Fleet store sells these items by the pound, so they are cheaper than buying the same stuff from a big box store like Menards or Home Depot.

For a set of 16 4-inch-long drywall screws with a washer, it costs me about $1.25 per raised bed. That's not too bad.

If you use the more expensive Torx head lag screws, you can just load them up and screw them into the wood without any problems. If you use those long drywall screws, I have found that I have to predrill a pilot hole into the wood. If not, I risk snapping off the head of the long drywall screw as it drives down into the wood. It's not a big deal, but you have to add an extra step with the predrilling with the long drywall screws or risk breaking off the head of the drywall screw causing a much longer delay.

For those not familiar with the pallet wood raised bed v2.0 I have been building, here is a picture of one I built last year. You can see the heads of the long screws in the 2X4 framing on both the top and bottom on the right side of this picture...

I finished one new pallet wood raised bed v2.0 last week. I hope to build at least one more before spring planting. Like I say, the pallet wood is free, and it only costs me about $2.00 per bed for the new screws and nails I use.

I could probably save a little more money if I reused old pallet nails I salvaged from previous breakdowns, but I like using new screws when I can and my new 18-gauge nails cost next to nothing in my brad nailer gun. Using those tools makes my final assembly go really easy and fast. And, after all, it's still less than $2.00 using new hardware on each bed.

 

[Molpet]

The alternative I came up with is using 4-inch-long drywall screws with a 1/4-inch washer.

I think drywall screws will be fine.

 

[wrathsfarm]

DIY 4 Inch Lag Screws to Save Money

I used all my long lag screws that I salvaged from pallets I got last summer making my latest pallet wood raised bed v2.0 a few weeks ago. Now I need to buy some new lag screws or find an alternative.

At the Fleet store in town today, I found some nice Torx head 4-inch-long lag screws. But they were 79 cents each.

View attachment 3757288

I use 16 long screws to put together the outside 2X4 framing of my pallet wood raised beds. That's almost $13.00 just for the initial framing if I used new Torx head lag screws. Those Torx head lag screws are really nice, strong, and don't strip out. However, I like to keep the cost of my pallet wood raised beds to a minimum.

The alternative I came up with is using 4-inch-long drywall screws with a 1/4-inch washer.

View attachment 3757294View attachment 3757295

Just for the fun of it, I weighed a 4-inch-long drywall screw ($2.99 per pound) and it comes out to 6 cents per screw. The washers ($3.99 per pound) are just over 2 cents each. Our Fleet store sells these items by the pound, so they are cheaper than buying the same stuff from a big box store like Menards or Home Depot.

For a set of 16 4-inch-long drywall screws with a washer, it costs me about $1.25 per raised bed. That's not too bad.

If you use the more expensive Torx head lag screws, you can just load them up and screw them into the wood without any problems. If you use those long drywall screws, I have found that I have to predrill a pilot hole into the wood. If not, I risk snapping off the head of the long drywall screw as it drives down into the wood. It's not a big deal, but you have to add an extra step with the predrilling with the long drywall screws or risk breaking off the head of the drywall screw causing a much longer delay.

For those not familiar with the pallet wood raised bed v2.0 I have been building, here is a picture of one I built last year. You can see the heads of the long screws in the 2X4 framing on both the top and bottom on the right side of this picture...

View attachment 3757309

I finished one new pallet wood raised bed v2.0 last week. I hope to build at least one more before spring planting. Like I say, the pallet wood is free, and it only costs me about $2.00 per bed for the new screws and nails I use.

I could probably save a little more money if I reused old pallet nails I salvaged from previous breakdowns, but I like using new screws when I can and my new 18-gauge nails cost next to nothing in my brad nailer gun. Using those tools makes my final assembly go really easy and fast. And, after all, it's still less than $2.00 using new hardware on each bed.

Fyi...Drywall screws will not hold up to weather. They rust fast.
Don't get me wrong, I use them in certain situations also but if I'm building something for strength (framing nails or screws) or longevity in weather, go galvanized or exterior rated especially anything pressure treated.

As long as you know what to expect from your fasteners going into your project use whatever you want.

 

[gtaus]

I think drywall screws will be fine.

Yeah, I've been using inexpensive drywall screws for many years. Interesting chart on holding strength. Those drywall screws are stronger than I thought. For a small pallet wood raised bed, I think they will be fine.

 

[gtaus]

Fyi...Drywall screws will not hold up to weather. They rust fast.
Don't get me wrong, I use them in certain situations also but if I'm building something for strength (framing nails or screws) or longevity in weather, go galvanized or exterior rated especially anything pressure treated.

Thanks for your comments. I appreciate the feedback. And, in general, I agree with you. If I was doing framing for strength, or screwing down deck boards, I would use the more expensive nails and screws made for those jobs.

As far as drywall screws rusting fast, I'm not so sure what one would consider fast? I have built many small outdoor projects using drywall nails that are well over 10 years old and still holding. Now, if I were to take out some of those drywall screws, I am sure many of them would just break off from rust and age.

But in this case, I'm just building some small raised beds with pallet wood. If I get 3-5 years out of the build, it will be well worth the $2.00 of drywall screws I put into the effort. I suspect the pallet wood might rot out before the screws rust out and break.

Well, that, and I designed my pallet wood raised bed v2.0 to be easily repaired if a pallet board or two rots out. In a worse case scenario, I could just replace the entire raised bed. It takes me less than an hour to build one of those raised beds.

Where I live, I have some older, wooden raised beds made with drywall screws that are over 5 years old and still holding up. And those raised beds were not built nearly as strong as my current design. So, I am hopeful that these new raised beds will be even better over a longer period of time.

As long as you know what to expect from your fasteners going into your project use whatever you want.

Totally agree. I am just trying to put a little perspective on the overall pallet project build. If I was paying lots of money for cedar or redwood for a raised bed, I would use the more expensive outdoor rated screws to match. But I'm trying to keep it real with using free pallet wood and inexpensive drywall screws on the raised beds. I suspect most people that are following this pallet thread, or checking out the content here, are probably looking for ways to save money.

FYI, when I built my 7X12 foot chicken coop with standard lumber, I did use framing nails and exterior rated screws. And I recently purchased a 21-degree framing nailer to use to build a larger shed this summer . If/when I get into that project, my goals will be different and I will not be using drywall screws on that build.

 

[chickengr]

I used drywall screws outside for the pallet chicken coops. but the truth is I live in a hot dry climate. it works well here.

 

[gtaus]

I think drywall screws will be fine.

As long as you know what to expect from your fasteners going into your project use whatever you want.

I watched that YouTube video again that Molpet linked to above. I love how that guy runs his tests and I have subscribed to his channel for a few years. I always seem to learn good stuff from his experiments.

Anyways, thought I would post the other chart from that video that I found really interesting...

If you just want the best bang for the buck, it appears that the inexpensive drywall screws are hard to beat for holding force. Also, I liked his rust test, and on that test the drywall screws did much better than I expected, too. At any rate, the drywall screw is my preferred fastener for most of my pallet projects. After watching that YouTube again, I think I won't have to apologize for using those drywall screws as my primary fastener.

 

[wrathsfarm]

After watching that YouTube again, I think I won't have to apologize for using those drywall screws as my primary fastener.

No need to apologize here, use whatever you feel is best for your projects.

 

[gtaus]

The alternative I came up with is using 4-inch-long drywall screws with a 1/4-inch washer.

Just wanted to update my experience with putting together another pallet wood raised bed v2.0 using the pallet 2X4 stretchers as the outside framing. The 4-inch-long screws turned out to be too long and/or too thick/bin for the undersized 2X4 stretchers I was using. I split a couple of the those 2X4 stretchers using the 4-inch-long screws. So, I backed off to a 3-1/2-inch-long screw and that works better for me.

By undersized 2X4's stretchers, I mean a standard sized 2X4 is actually 3-1/2 X 1-1/2 inches whereas the pallet stretchers I used measured 3-1/4 X 1-1/4 inches. That 1/4 inch thinner makes a difference and I found that the 4-inch-long drywall screw was too big and split the stretcher - even with predrilling.

Of course, by 2X4 stretcher, I am referring to the notched Stringer in this photo...

The undersized 2X4 stretchers will be plenty strong enough for the raised bed build, but I had to adjust to use a shorter screw for the wood I was using. That's the thing about pallet projects, you have to be flexible on your builds because you never have total control over the quality of the wood you get for free. You need to be creative, or adaptive, and discover ways to make a build work.

To make my life easier, I have my drywall screws organized in a storage case. I have everything from 1-inch through 4-inch drywall screws in that case....

What I like about that storage case is that the separate bins can come out of the case, and you only need to take the bin(s) you need to the project. I don't need the entire case sitting on the bench with my project. Sometimes that makes a big difference if you are short on space on the benchtop.

But the big time saver is that I now have my various sized screws all in one place and I don't have to go looking for separate bags or containers for the screw size I need at the moment.

 

[BDutch]

Since I have a nice stash of 5-gallon buckets now, I am using them for lots of stuff.

I use free buckets with a lid from a renovation project to store chicken feed. The sizes vary from 3 - 5.5 gallons (12.5 - 20 liter). 1 contained paint and 3 contained a loam finish.
They are great to stack the chicken feed in our bike shed. Mice proof!

Unfortunately I don’t have a garage or similar to work on pallet projects. If I want to build something I need to wait for nice weather to take my equipment out. But once in a while I read this thread with pleasure to look at all amazing projects.