Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[gtaus]

Yeah, salvaged plywood was my plan. We have (what feels like) tons, so it would be easy to replace. If I figure something else out, I'll try to remember to share it here.

That's the direction I am leaning towards the repair in the floor of my chicken coop. I have a number of partial sheets of good quality plywood I have salvaged from pallet tops.

In general, I am to the thinking that the best chicken coop is the one that you can build for the least amount of money and yet have a good solid build at the same time. I made a few repairs last year on the outside of my coop and replaced rotting OSB with pallet wood planks. The pallet wood repair turned out to be better than the original wood and the cost to me was free!

I don't mind at all! I didn't even think about posting it here. You shared it in a really good way, too. Not pushy or anything like that.

A nice chicken coop build like yours using pallet wood really deserved more attention than I expect it would get on the gardening thread. Plus, I had a few questions on your build and did not want to post them on the gardening thread. I like that gardening thread, but it just is too busy, and things get quickly buried under all the posts there.

At any rate, please post any future pictures of the finished coop and/or with your chickens. We love that stuff here. I am looking forward to seeing the finished project and those chickens running around!

 

[Smokerbill]

I checked into that kind of stuff a few years ago. There are different kinds/brands. The ones I looked at were waterproof on one side, the side facing the shower, and they were meant to be installed vertically. I don't think the backside of the product I looked at was waterproof and it was not designed to be used as flooring. I did not think it would work for my coop. But like I said, there are different brands and maybe some would be better than others.

Well, all that, and frankly, at $50 per sheet it would have cost me $200 just to lay down the floor in my coop. That was a budget buster for me.

Crazy thought, but maybe a thin poured concrete floor over the plywood? Bust it out and replace it when necessary?

 

[Swiss]

Thank you for the compliment! We have worked really hard on it, and it feels weird to not have as much to do! I shared it on the gardening thread because that is one of the 2 places I post most consistently, and after having been on this website for 4 years, I was excited to share that we are finally getting chickens!

 

[Swiss]

GUYS!!! GUYS!!!!! GUYSGUYSGUYSGUYSGUYS!!!!!! I found a possible solution that isn't free, but should last for many years:
Horse Stall Mat (link)

I'd put it on top of the plywood, and under the bedding. Is there a reason this wouldn't work as well as I'm thinking? Tractor Supply has a 4'x6' for $50.

 

[Molpet]

GUYS!!! GUYS!!!!! GUYSGUYSGUYSGUYSGUYS!!!!!! I found a possible solution that isn't free, but should last for many years:
Horse Stall Mat (link)

I'd put it on top of the plywood, and under the bedding. Is there a reason this wouldn't work as well as I'm thinking? Tractor Supply has a 4'x6' for $50.

Heavy so it's not going to shift lol. Some can be cut, at least my cousin cut hers for horse stall

 

[gtaus]

Crazy thought, but maybe a thin poured concrete floor over the plywood? Bust it out and replace it when necessary?

Sounds like a crazy thought to me, but maybe it would work?

I have worked with concrete a little bit, and what I know is that it has to be thick enough not to crack and strong enough to support the weight. I don't how thin of a layer of concrete would work in a coop.

Also, the little bit I worked with concrete was laying slabs 4-6 inches thick. That was a lot of manual work.

I think using those salvaged sheets of plywood like @Swiss intends would be the better option. At least I know I can work with wood.

 

[gtaus]

I'd put [the stall mats] on top of the plywood, and under the bedding. Is there a reason this wouldn't work as well as I'm thinking? Tractor Supply has a 4'x6' for $50.

Well, that stall mat is strong enough to support a horse, so it should last a lifetime in a chicken coop. I have never used it, so I don't have any personal experience with it.

There certainly would be value in putting in a lifetime floor and not having to worry about it a few years down the road. Do you know anybody that uses those stall mats for their horses? They could probably tell you if it would work for your coop.

 

[Swiss]

I saw a couple of posts mentioning it so I Googled it. Supposedly, it's a good option!

The 4'x6' one is almost 100 lbs, so I will probably get some smaller ones that I can actually lift to hose it off, if needed.

 

[gtaus]

I saw a couple of posts mentioning it [stall mats] so I Googled it. Supposedly, it's a good option!

The 4'x6' one is almost 100 lbs, so I will probably get some smaller ones that I can actually lift to hose it off, if needed.

Those heavy mats are made for horses. If you want to go the rubber mat floor option, maybe something like this Rubber Gym Floor Roll would be worth considering for a chicken coop....

Certainly less heavy than the stall mats.

I don't want to talk you into or out of anything, but I liked your idea of using sacrificial plywood as the floor covering. Probably because you already have it and it's no cost to you. I like to minimize the costs of my coop build/repairs. I imagine that a rubber mat would probably last a lifetime in a coop. There certainly is value in that.

 

[StinkyAcres]

Yes, they are very nice. The big name brand in these carts, both in the wire mesh and the full watertight bin, is the "Gorilla" brand. My Gorilla-like cart is a Menards special, built like the Gorilla cart but it cost me about $50.00 less than the same size and specs Gorilla cart.

The only weak point in all these carts that I have found is that pneumatic tires will start to go flat a few years down the road. At that time, IMHO, it's best just to replace the pneumatic tires with flat-free filled tires. The flat-free tires will cost maybe $5-$10 more per tire, but you never have to replace them again. In my case, the payback period is about 2-3 years. Not bad for something that I will have for years and years.

I mention this because I just replaced all 4 of my pneumatic tires on my wire mesh cart with flat-free tires. A new pneumatic tire cost about $15 and I got my flat-free tires from Amazon for about $20 each.

Years ago, I bought inner tubes for my pneumatic tires at about $8.00 per inner tube. I thought I would save some money. But the new inner tubes only lasted a couple of years. Just save yourself the time and effort of messing with inner tubes and plan on replacing your pneumatic tires with flat-free tires.

As cheap as I am, it was still worth it to me to upgrade and buy flat-free tires for my cart. I use my carts all the time and they are just worth it to me to put in the flat-free tire upgrades when needed.

As much as I like these carts, Dear Wife likes them even more because she can move full bags of wood chip mulch to her gardens with ease.

For anyone considering buying these 4-wheeled carts, I recommend getting a cart with the handles that convert from manual pull to the other option of using it as a tow behind the lawn mower on the hitch.

View attachment 3794787

WHAAAT?!!! I've had a wagon like that for 15 years and never knew the handle could be converted to attach to a mower. Not that I need it because I have a large mower trailer, but it could come in handy one day.