Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[gtaus]

It was snowing here when I woke up! It melted as soon as it fell...but it was real deal snow . Rare treat here.

If you visit northern Minnesota this time of year, you would really be treated with lots of real deal snow! It's hard for me to think of it as a treat.

Also meant it was cold enough that I didn't get much done. But I putzed around a little.

Yeah, I don't have a heated garage/workshop, so this time of year I really don't get much done. If something breaks down and needs to be fixed before spring comes around, then I have a small propane heater that will heat up the garage enough to work on something. I don't normally bother to heat the garage because of the expense burning propane. Most of my jobs have to wait until spring.

I used smaller pallets for the second tier so that my roof will slope, and left spaces for a window in each coop, though I might change my mind on that.

Yeah, that's coming along fine. Thanks for the updates.

 

[ChicksnMore]

If you visit northern Minnesota this time of year, you would really be treated with lots of real deal snow! It's hard for me to think of it as a treat.



Yeah, I don't have a heated garage/workshop, so this time of year I really don't get much done. If something breaks down and needs to be fixed before spring comes around, then I have a small propane heater that will heat up the garage enough to work on something. I don't normally bother to heat the garage because of the expense burning propane. Most of my jobs have to wait until spring.



Yeah, that's coming along fine. Thanks for the updates.

I used to miss the snow soo much! These days I never miss it, but still smile to see it for a second.

Don't blame you for finding indoor work in your winters!

 

[chickengr]

I don't have internet and still stay at a friend's house. I don't have time to read all your post. I hope everyone is ok.

 

[ChicksnMore]

I don't have internet and still stay at a friend's house. I don't have time to read all your post. I hope everyone is ok.

Glad to hear from you and hope the moves been good to you

 

[gtaus]

I don't have internet and still stay at a friend's house. I don't have time to read all your post. I hope everyone is ok.

Thanks for checking in. Hope all is well with you. Looking forward to having you back full time when you can. Miss your thoughts and contributions to this topic.

 

[gtaus]

I used to miss the snow soo much! These days I never miss it, but still smile to see it for a second.

Don't blame you for finding indoor work in your winters!

When I was much younger, winters were a great time. We would go out snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, skating, ice fishing, etc... Cold never bothered me back then. My best friend and I went out cross-country skiing (in town) on a non-school blizzard day with wind chill temps registering.at -80F. Did not stay outside too long on that day, but enough to say we went skiing in a blizzard!

Now, I'm happy to make a cup of hot chocolate and watch YouTube videos on gardening and pallet projects.

Speaking of pallets, I drove by a place in town today that usually has some nice pallets for free pickup. Unfortunately, there was already a guy there with an open box pickup and took all the pallets. I hope he is going to make something good out of them, but I have heard that there is a guy picking up all the free pallets to use as burning wood. Anyways, I missed out on those pallets by maybe 15 minutes.

I usually try to pick up a few pallets on my errands run in town, but today I got skunked.

 

[ChicksnMore]

When I was much younger, winters were a great time. We would go out snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, skating, ice fishing, etc... Cold never bothered me back then. My best friend and I went out cross-country skiing (in town) on a non-school blizzard day with wind chill temps registering.at -80F. Did not stay outside too long on that day, but enough to say we went skiing in a blizzard!

Now, I'm happy to make a cup of hot chocolate and watch YouTube videos on gardening and pallet projects.

Speaking of pallets, I drove by a place in town today that usually has some nice pallets for free pickup. Unfortunately, there was already a guy there with an open box pickup and took all the pallets. I hope he is going to make something good out of them, but I have heard that there is a guy picking up all the free pallets to use as burning wood. Anyways, I missed out on those pallets by maybe 15 minutes.

I usually try to pick up a few pallets on my errands run in town, but today I got skunked.

That's too bad on the pallets! Im really in need of some new pallets. I have to borrow my kids truck for them though and always feel a bit guilty for taking her time. There's been regular listings for free pallets on craigslist though.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Got everything bolted and braced today. Added connecting wood everywhere two pallets come together and spanning the window holes. All the wood is reused so you might have to look hard to see the braces.

Doesn't look much different at this point but it should be solid now. It feels solid.

I have a bunch of press board I got cheap that I'm going to use as siding. Think if I coat it with Henry's Asphalt Emulsion ($49 for 5gal) it should hold up ok. Uncertain about the press board. Henry's says the water based can be thinned for the first coat so it soaks in a bit, then you apply an unthinned coat while thats still tacky. Think that'll maybe make the press board work even though it's so exposed to weather.

I might add a coat of an elastimeric roof coating that's supposed to go on with a stucco look that a local company sells. Over the asphalt. It comes white but they'll tint it at the store if you want. It's $70 for 5gal. Have time to think about that though. Don't have to rush the painting. Especially since the press board isn't up yet.

 

[gtaus]

I have a bunch of press board I got cheap that I'm going to use as siding.

When I built my chicken coop, I used OSB (pressed board) for siding. I bought "barn paint" from our local Fleet store to paint and preserve the wood. It has held up pretty well for almost 4 years, but I will have to repaint everything this summer. The barn paint at our Fleet store comes only in red and white, but that was the look I was going for - old fashioned barn colors.

I don't know much about the quality of paint, but I think I saved something like $10-$15 per gallon on the barn paint as compared to buying an equivalent house paint.

Thanks for the updates on your build. Love to see and hear what other people are doing.

Since I started this pallet project thread, I have seen and posted some pictures of people making pallet "shingles" to use as both roof shingles but also as siding. I think they call that a shake style. Something like this...

I am very happy with my coop built with OSB siding, but I think it would be fun to build a shake style pallet coop. Anyway, it's just another option to consider when siding your coop. I imagine it would take a lot of pallets, and a lot of work, but it could save someone lots of money.

 

[ChicksnMore]

I'd love to try that just for the look of it . Maybe down the road some day