Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[gtaus]

O too bad on those 12' pallets...what fun you could have with those. Amazing find on all the boards though!

I'm not as strong as I used to be, but I don't think I would have been able to move those 12-foot pallets by myself even 40 years ago. Working by myself has it's limits on what I can do. That's why I am posting mini reviews of tools I find that are helpful to me, at my age, working alone on these projects.

I did, however, manage to scavenge up some really good boards in that pile and that more than made up for time and money it costs me to drive to town and back.

I'm still all excited about those 12-foot-long boards I got, but now I have to find a place to store them until I can use them. My longest storage shed is just over 8 feet. Probably end up laying down some pallets on the ground, end to end, and then putting the 12-foot-long boards on top of the pallets. At least they would be up and off the ground.

 

[gtaus]

Just a quick update on some small pallet related projects with my chickens and gardening. Yesterday I sifted out 18 cubic feet of chicken run compost in my cement mixer compost sifter. Rough estimate of value is a big 2 cubic foot bag of compost costs $5.00 (or more) at our big box stores. So, I sifted out about $45.00 worth of chicken run compost in a few minutes yesterday.

Note: The pallet platform I constructed for the cement mixer compost sifter is working great. The ground is not completely 100% level, so the top pallet was starting to slide a bit off the bottom pallet. I fixed that with a couple of scrap pieces of 2X6's which I used to screw the 2 pallets together on the backside. Now the pallets are locked together.

Initially, I thought I would have to screw some lag bolts down into that front leg support into the pallet wood. But I found that the compost sifter did not move around at all when I put it into use. The operation is rock solid now and it sifts out the compost as fast as I can toss stuff into it.

Having said that, I don't shovel into the sifter all that fast anymore. Still, it only takes me about 10-15 minutes to fill up that Gorilla cart with 6 cubic feet of sifted compost. At that rate, I'm still making sifted compost at $60.00 per hour, or more, even at my slow pace.

For those of you that might know about the cement mixer compost sifter, here is the working end of the system. I use a pitchfork to toss in the compost litter while the drum is turning. The sifted compost falls through the wire screen in the barrel and drops into that black Gorilla cart under the wire. All the stuff that is too big or not yet fully composted, gets rejected out the front end and into the garden cart in the front of this picture. I typically just toss all that rejected stuff back into the chicken run for more composting, but it also makes for great top mulch later in the growing season when the plants have been established in the garden beds.

I managed to top off 4 of my raised bed gardens with that (3 wagons full) sifted chicken run compost. Looking good. Where I live, we don't plant most things until after our last frost date of 29 May. In the meantime, I'm planning on building some more pallet wood raised beds this spring. I'll be posting some pictures after the build. I'm thinking of using a different design this year. So, stay tuned...

Also, I talked about some of those 12-foot-long beams I picked up last week. Three of those beams were made of some type of composite material and the beams were something like 3X4 inches instead of the usual 4X4 inch standard. I took them anyway thinking I would find a use for them. Well, I did! I built a grazing frame out of 2X6's and hardware cloth for inside the chicken run, thinking that grass would grow up through the wire and the chickens would have fresh grass all summer long. Unfortunately, the chickens scratched litter on top of the wire, blocking out the sun, and nothing much grew in the grazing frame last year. So, my plan it to use those composite beams to build a frame height extender under the grazing frame. That should raise the grazing frame high enough that the chickens will not be able to scratch litter on top of the wire on the grazing frame, so maybe I will be able to get some grass to grow in there this year.

 

[gtaus]

Pallet Scavenging Update...

A few weeks ago I posted a picture of a mountain of pallets that I was told I could take whatever I wanted from the pile....

I have since made 2 trips to that site and have been picking through the pallets and wood. Yesterday, I took apart a few pallets that were made up of 2X8's, 2X6's, and 2X4's. Lots of good lumber on those pallets. Mostly, I am picking out pallets that had good 2X4's in the pallet because one can never have too many good 2X4's ready to use.

One oversized pallet I scavenged had some heavy duty 3X4 beams with solid 1X6 boards on top. When I started to take it apart, I noticed that there were a number of special type screws used. I love screws because they come out so easy with my impact driver. So, I found the correct sized Torx bit and took those screws out, still in perfect condition. I had never seen them before, but I found them on the internet.

Here is what they look like top-down...

I don't know what I'll use them for yet, but they came out in perfect condition. I managed to salvage 18 of them, and at a cost of approximately $0.80 each, that one pallet alone was worth $15.00 in the hardware alone!

Today I went back there looking for more pallets with those special fasteners, but could not find any more. Oh well, I was lucky enough to find what I did. I loaded out other pallets that have lots of good wood to use.

Speaking of saving salvaged hardware, I have upped my game and started to fill some of my Harbor Freight parts storage cases with all those pallet nails and screws that come out and are ready to use again. So far, I have filled up 2 of the cases with the normal sized bins. I have one case of the larger bins filled with drywall screws which I use all over the place. Here are some stock photos from Harbor Freight of the cases I bought.

One of my future pallet projects will be to make an organizer shelf in my garage workbench(es) to slide these cases into. I have a label maker and made some labels to stick on the handles to identify what's in each case. Right now, the cases are just stacked one on top the other, but the shelves will make it easier to pull out any individual case as needed.

So, I have been busy scavenging up pallets, breaking them down, sorting out the lumber, and organizing my nails and screws I salvaged. Started building a new pallet wood base for the grazing frame for the chicken run using some of those 12-foot long 3X4 composite beams I got a few weeks ago. Pulled out all the nails and cleaned them up good. Hope to finish that project this weekend. Will post some pics of that project when I get it done. Later....

 

[gtaus]

Grazing Frame Upgrade for Chicken Run

A few weeks ago, I scavenged some pallet wood that had some 12-foot-long 3X4 inch composite wood beams. At the time I did not know what I would use them for, but later I discovered that they would work perfect for building a frame under my existing grazing frame in the chicken run.

Quick pic of my setup for pounding out the nails in those long beams (notice all the pallets in the background that I managed to get over the winter)....

I pulled out the nails in the beams and cut some pieces to make a bottom frame that was 3X12 feet. Here it is laid out on the grass...

I did not have any screws or nails long enough to put the frame together, so I had to buy eight 6-inch-long lag bolts (2 in each corner) to put the frame all together. That's the only money I spent on this project, and it was just less than $3.00 for the long lag screws.

Moving into the chicken run, I had to clean off and pull up the existing grazing frame. I had used reclaimed 2X4 lumber for the 12X3 foot frame and then covered it with hardware cloth. The idea was the grass under the grazing frame would grow up and through the wire, providing the chickens fresh grass to eat all summber long. Unfortunately, the chickens scratched litter on top of the grazing frame, which blocked out the sun, and nothing was able to grow by the end of last summer. Here you can see the old frame after I pulled it up and was raking out the soil underneath. Of course, the chickens were happy to help and were eating all the worms and bugs that were uncovered when I raked that area.

One corner of the original grazing frame has rotted out and the wood was no longer held together. So, I found a couple scrap pieces of 2X4 and fixed that corner.

Then I put my new bottom frame in place, spread some fresh grass seed in the soil, and then lightly covered it with some fluffy compost.

Then I put the original grazing frame back in place on top of the new bottom frame. I am hoping that the additional 4 inches of height on the grazing frame will be enough to prevent the chickens from scratching the litter on the wire and blocking out the sun.

Here's a picture of the final setup....

I know nothing looks green at this time, but we just had snow on the ground until last week. We need some rain and warmer weather to start the grass growing and green up everything. At any rate, I have fresh grass seed ready to take off in that grazing frame this year.

I like the concept of using a grazing frame to protect some patch of fresh grass in the chicken run. As you can see, the chickens totally destroyed all the grass in the chicken run last summer, so I doubt any of that origianl grass will grow back this spring. But I hope to see some green grass in the grazing frame 3-4 weeks from now.

 

[gtaus]

Pallet Wood Mobile Workbench

While I was outside in the yard working on some stuff, I found I needed, or could have used, a workbench out in the yard. So why not make one out of a pallet?

I found a nice pallet, just a bit bigger than my tow behind utility dump cart. In order to get a good fit, I flipped over the pallet and screwed on some scrap 2X4's, just wide enough to fit around the side walls of the dump cart.

Then I flipped it over, right side up, and slid it on to the utility cart. Presto! Instant mobile workbench whenever and wherever I need it!

I may or may not fill the gaps with strips of pallet wood. Lots of my outdoor work is pounding out nails of wood and the gaps in the pallet top make it easier to pound out those nails in the voids between the planks. You can't do that if the top is solid filled.

Anyways, the 2X4's on the bottom of the pallet that I added keep the top securely on the cart when I move it from one place to another. Also, since nothing is permanently secured in place, I can easily fill the cart with all my tools and accessories under the pallet workbench top and just lift it up if/when I need those tools.

It's a really simple pallet project, but already I have found it quite useful. Instead of working on the ground, I am now able to work at table height and not be bending over all the time. At my age, the less I have to bend over to work during the day means I won't be as sore later that night.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Got the roof on my coops and runs but still need to roof coat them. Wasn't thinking it through completely when I decided on roof coat instead of metal sheeting over the osb. Now I have to figure out how to apply roof coat and tape the seams on a roof I can't climb on. I don't think my foots reliable enough to go onto the roof and walk only on the beams. Think I should have done the coating as I went instead of installing the whole works to coat after. At any rate...if anyone has suggestions I'd sure love to hear them. Thinking of trying a ladder and long pole or maybe seeing if I can crawl along the beams.

I added decorations to the insides of my pallet build just for fun.

 

[gtaus]

At any rate...if anyone has suggestions I'd sure love to hear them. Thinking of trying a ladder and long pole or maybe seeing if I can crawl along the beams.

That's unfortunate. Where I live, we have to build our roofs strong enough to hold a pretty fair snow load in the winter. That means, however, that every roof I have ever built was strong enough to hold all my weight as well and I have always been able to walk on my roofs.

What kind of roof coat are you using? I have only ever used asphalt shingles, so I am having a hard time imagining what you are trying to do. If the roof coat is like painting, then I guess maybe a long pole roller paint brush might work. As for getting up on the roof, I was thinking that maybe you could tack some planks across the roof to spread your your weight as you work, but then maybe you would be adding some holes into the roof and that would not be so good.

Maybe someone at your local lumber yard or big box pro desk could offer you better options? Good luck.

I added decorations to the insides of my pallet build just for fun.

Very nice.

 

[gtaus]

Well, I cleaned out my chicken coop this morning and removed all the paper shreds litter from the winter. Took about 5 Gorilla carts full of coop litter - or 30 cubic feet - out of the coop. After 4 years of use, my coop is in desperate need of repairs. Some of the wood has rotted out, and last winter, for the first time, my new chickens ripped up sections of the linoleum I had on the floor to protect the wood.

I'll have to look at the big stores for some new linoleum scraps to make the repairs in the floor covering, but I plan on using some of my pallet wood and reclaimed lumber for replacing the rotted wood.

When I made my coop, I used OSB to make the trim boards and just painted them. I did not expect them to last this long - 4 years - but it's time to replace them. I have lots of pallet wood that has nice hardwood planks that I can use as trim board and then paint them. It will be better than the original OSB trim I used.

I'll try to take some before and after photos of the rebuild on the coop.

Also, I have a lumber wood swing set that is almost 30 years old that needed some repair. The cross bracing rotted out and I had to replace it. I found a nice pallet wood plank made out of solid deck board and ripped that into new braces for the old swing set. Put the new bracing on the old swing last night and it is a lot better. Will have to clean that swing set with a power washer to knock off the moss and repaint everything with some kind of wood/deck preservative.

Here is a Google picture of the type of swing I have - but mine is now 30 years old and does not look nearly as good. I'll share some photos if/when I get everything cleaned up and repainted. For now, the old swing is just back together, solid, and working. Anyways, here is a picture of what type of swing I am repairing looks like when new...

 

[ChicksnMore]

That's unfortunate. Where I live, we have to build our roofs strong enough to hold a pretty fair snow load in the winter. That means, however, that every roof I have ever built was strong enough to hold all my weight as well and I have always been able to walk on my roofs.

What kind of roof coat are you using? I have only ever used asphalt shingles, so I am having a hard time imagining what you are trying to do. If the roof coat is like painting, then I guess maybe a long pole roller paint brush might work. As for getting up on the roof, I was thinking that maybe you could tack some planks across the roof to spread your your weight as you work, but then maybe you would be adding some holes into the roof and that would not be so good.

Maybe someone at your local lumber yard or big box pro desk could offer you better options? Good luck.



Very nice.

It needs coated with the paint on asphalt, then the seams taped, then another layer of asphalt, then white rubberized roof coat. All gets painted on.
My first time doing no metal sheeting over the wood and I'm already regretting it. They do roofs that way here a lot though. It's supposed to keep things cooler but . It's mostly used on flat roofs (mines angled) but I see it on some pitched roof houses too. It seals out the water and gives a reflective surface.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Well, I cleaned out my chicken coop this morning and removed all the paper shreds litter from the winter. Took about 5 Gorilla carts full of coop litter - or 30 cubic feet - out of the coop. After 4 years of use, my coop is in desperate need of repairs. Some of the wood has rotted out, and last winter, for the first time, my new chickens ripped up sections of the linoleum I had on the floor to protect the wood.

I'll have to look at the big stores for some new linoleum scraps to make the repairs in the floor covering, but I plan on using some of my pallet wood and reclaimed lumber for replacing the rotted wood.

When I made my coop, I used OSB to make the trim boards and just painted them. I did not expect them to last this long - 4 years - but it's time to replace them. I have lots of pallet wood that has nice hardwood planks that I can use as trim board and then paint them. It will be better than the original OSB trim I used.

I'll try to take some before and after photos of the rebuild on the coop.

Also, I have a lumber wood swing set that is almost 30 years old that needed some repair. The cross bracing rotted out and I had to replace it. I found a nice pallet wood plank made out of solid deck board and ripped that into new braces for the old swing set. Put the new bracing on the old swing last night and it is a lot better. Will have to clean that swing set with a power washer to knock off the moss and repaint everything with some kind of wood/deck preservative.

Here is a Google picture of the type of swing I have - but mine is now 30 years old and does not look nearly as good. I'll share some photos if/when I get everything cleaned up and repainted. For now, the old swing is just back together, solid, and working. Anyways, here is a picture of what type of swing I am repairing looks like when new...

Would love to see pictures of both projects