Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[gtaus]

Just did a quick look at Menards website for contractor garbage bags. Found these...

If my old eyes see the dimensions correctly, each bag is 2 feet 11-3/4 inches (35-3/4 inches) by 4 feet 5-7/8 inches (let's round to 4-1/2 feet). If I cut open that bag, I would have ~36 inches wide by ~9 feet long. Since my raised bed are 4X4 feet 16 inches high, I could cut the garbage bag in half, lengthwise, and have 2 liners each ~18 inches high by 9 feet long. In other words, one garbage bag would line the side walls of each of my raised beds.

Since a box of 15 bags costs $12.82, that comes out to ~$0.85 per bag, or in my case, ~$0.85 per raised bed for a plastic liner. If the 3 mil plastic is thick enough, that might be the ticket. If nothing else, I guess I could double up the plastic to make it 6 mil thick. I see pond liner starts at about 20 mil thick, but I don't have to make the raised bed waterproof, just would want a plastic liner to make the raised bed water resistant on the inside to help protect the wood and maybe get a few more years out of the bed.

Seems like an option to consider. Anyone have any experience and/or thoughts on this approach? Do you ever treat your raised beds, or line them with plastic? If you did, was it worth your time and effort?

 

[gtaus]

I had to go into town today, so, I drove past the places that I check for pallets. Glad I picked up what I could yesterday because today all the pallet places were empty. Must have been someone else after me cleaning up the remaining pallets that I could not fit into the Explorer yesterday. Just goes to show that you need to be ready to pick up those pallets when you see them, because they might be gone before you have time to time come back and get them.

I know there are some people who pick up pallets this time of year just to burn them for heat. Free heat for them, but I would rather see that wood being used to build something useful.

 

[gtaus]

Sawhorse Upgrade idea

I just came across this YouTube tonight on how to upgrade your old sawhorses and make them sturdier and expand your work area for cutting things like full sheets of plywood. I have old sawhorses that would be perfect for this idea. The best thing about this idea, IMHO, is that you can easily assemble for disassemble the setup as needed. Nothing permanent about this upgrade other then a few cuts in the wood.

If you use pallet/reclaimed wood, this upgrade could be built for free.

Every once in a while, I find long pallets that could be used for the 6 foot long 2X4's. I know I have some reclaimed 2X4 lumber that I could use that is 6 feet or longer. Anyways, a simple and effective way to upgrade your old sawhorses that I hope someone else finds interesting, if not useful.

 

[gtaus]

When I built my house, I put in electric floor heat out in the garage, It was really nice. However, the electric wire was faulty and burned out after only 7 years. Unfortunately, I was stationed overseas in the Navy at that time and did not get in the class action suit here in the USA to recover my damages. So, now I have an unheated garage (which is also my workshop for most practical purposes).

With the outside temperature warmed up to 23F, it still was only 33F in the garage, which is too cold for me.

But I wanted to do some garage clean up and maybe work on something small just to feel like I am doing something other than watching YouTube all day. I took out my Mr. Heater propane heater (30,000 - 60,000 BTU), hooked up one of my BBQ tanks, and let the heater run for about 15-20 minutes. Warmed up the garage to 48F. Warm enough for me to work out there to start cleaning. Anyways, I got everything I needed to clean up yesterday so I could get my old Explorer back into the garage out of the snow and cold outside. Today, I ran the heater for a little while again and then I broke down the pallet with the 3/4 inch plywood top which I told you about a few days ago. That plywood is going to be great for something.

I'm not really making anything at the moment. But I'm watching a lot of YouTube videos and getting ideas on things to do when it gets warmer. With an unheated workshop, winter is pretty much down time for me.

Not much else to report, here, but I'm hoping some of you down south are making some pallet projects this winter. Or maybe our northern neighbors with heated workshops are still making stuff. Would love to hear from you all.

 

[ChicksnMore]

When I built my house, I put in electric floor heat out in the garage, It was really nice. However, the electric wire was faulty and burned out after only 7 years. Unfortunately, I was stationed overseas in the Navy at that time and did not get in the class action suit here in the USA to recover my damages. So, now I have an unheated garage (which is also my workshop for most practical purposes).

View attachment 3380283

With the outside temperature warmed up to 23F, it still was only 33F in the garage, which is too cold for me.

But I wanted to do some garage clean up and maybe work on something small just to feel like I am doing something other than watching YouTube all day. I took out my Mr. Heater propane heater (30,000 - 60,000 BTU), hooked up one of my BBQ tanks, and let the heater run for about 15-20 minutes. Warmed up the garage to 48F. Warm enough for me to work out there to start cleaning. Anyways, I got everything I needed to clean up yesterday so I could get my old Explorer back into the garage out of the snow and cold outside. Today, I ran the heater for a little while again and then I broke down the pallet with the 3/4 inch plywood top which I told you about a few days ago. That plywood is going to be great for something.

I'm not really making anything at the moment. But I'm watching a lot of YouTube videos and getting ideas on things to do when it gets warmer. With an unheated workshop, winter is pretty much down time for me.

Not much else to report, here, but I'm hoping some of you down south are making some pallet projects this winter. Or maybe our northern neighbors with heated workshops are still making stuff. Would love to hear from you all.

Heated floors! O how I'd love that! Sorry it gave out on you and no cost recovery for you.

Its perfect weather here for working actually and I started making some pallet wood repairs/revisions to my oldest chicken coop. I haven't taken any pics yet and I have a sick flock to doctor right now. I just moved them back into that coop to get them as far as I can from my other coops. So not sure when I'll be able to get back to work on it...but I'll make sure to share when I do.

 

[gtaus]

Its perfect weather here for working actually and I started making some pallet wood repairs/revisions to my oldest chicken coop. I haven't taken any pics yet and I have a sick flock to doctor right now. I just moved them back into that coop to get them as far as I can from my other coops. So not sure when I'll be able to get back to work on it...but I'll make sure to share when I do.

Thanks, I look forward to hearing from you guys. Winters are long here in Minnesota, and I have to enjoy life through others, reading posts on the BYC forums, watching YouTube for ideas, etc...

 

[ChicksnMore]

Well...my oldest coops work is on hold for I don't know how long. At least until I have a better idea of what's going on with those birds.

So I started work on my unfinished new coops. The runs are reused dog kennels I picked up over the summer. I got them put together pretty quick but they're still waiting for the roof and coops. The run is two kennels with a door between them and the coops will also have a connecting door. That way I can use them as two smaller or one bigger set up.... depending on what I need.

Most of my birds are bantams, so everything is on a smaller scale. And being in a desert, I tend to focus on airy, open builds rather then warmth. Wind/rain protection, good shade and cool nest boxes are what I need here.

I didn't have a lot of time today, but got started. The first pallets are up.

I tend to work solo most of the time, so all the pallets were wired together with rebar wire first. It holds them in place while I fiddle and makes adding screws easy to do solo. I tighten the rebar wire by twisting it once I'm sure I'm happy with the set up.

Once I'm happy, I start screwing wood in to hold it together. Not sure if you can see it, but there's long boards screwed in. More will be needed later, but it's enough to get it started.

Because I'm building it to fit the kennels, I had to cut one pallet down to fit on the long side. Not sure if that shows very well either, but the last three vertical boards are the cut off piece of pallet.

And last is the tree I had to cut down. Borrowed my daughter's sawzall for it as my hackzall was sloooow cutting through the trunks. Smelt like popcorn when it was cutting...lol.

 

[gtaus]

The run is two kennels with a door between them and the coops will also have a connecting door.

I would love to get some used dog kennels. They make great chicken runs. I don't know about living out in the desert, but where I live, I would take advantage of being able to shut the door between the two sections of the chicken run. I would be able to have fresh green grass growing in one section for the chickens opening it up only long enough for the chickens to "free range" on the fresh grass buy not long enough for them to eat everything down to bare dirt.

I didn't have a lot of time today, but got started. The first pallets are up.

Are the pallets going to be your new coops? Not quite sure where you are going with them. But thanks for sharing and please post updated progress pics when you can.

 

[gtaus]

And last is the tree I had to cut down. Borrowed my daughter's sawzall for it as my hackzall was sloooow cutting through the trunks. Smelt like popcorn when it was cutting...lol.

It's amazing how much you can cut with just a sawzall and a long pruning blade. I use my recip saw with a 9 inch pruning blade all the time. If I have to cut something larger than maybe 4 inches, then I start to take out one of my chainsaws.

I don't have a hackzall, but I imagine they are good for trimming up smaller branches. Good thing your daughter had a sawzall because that tree trunk looks like it would have been too hard to cut with your hackzall.

 

[ChicksnMore]

I would love to get some used dog kennels. They make great chicken runs. I don't know about living out in the desert, but where I live, I would take advantage of being able to shut the door between the two sections of the chicken run. I would be able to have fresh green grass growing in one section for the chickens opening it up only long enough for the chickens to "free range" on the fresh grass buy not long enough for them to eat everything down to bare dirt.



Are the pallets going to be your new coops? Not quite sure where you are going with them. But thanks for sharing and please post updated progress pics when you can.

That would be wonderful, but grass doesn't grow here without a lot of effort. Think you'd have a hard time convincing anyone here to let chickens near their grass

Ya, the pallets are the beginning of the coop. When I first moved to Tucson I tried a typical coop for chickens. Those aren't right for here. It's hard to put enough ventilation in a closed box if temps are mostly over 100°...even nights we can hit over 80... sometimes in the 90's. Inside gets too hot. When I'm done, each coop will have a dirt floor, three full sides, one almost fully open side and an alcove for roosting. Probably can't visualize that very well.

At any rate it's the design I've used for years. It might look weird to you when I'm done...but after 30 years of chickens, I swear by it for here.

I love my hackzall but ya, it's slow for something's. DH gets nervous when I use the chainsaw though. Love him but he has his little sillies. I do use it when needed, but calm hubby's are easier to be around.