Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[fuzzi]

Merry Christmas, y'all. Interesting thread here. I love how versatile pallets can be for building, not to mention cheap. From small to large projects, a great resource to build on the farmstead quickly and (fairly) easily.

My favorite thing about pallet building (other than cost effectiveness) is that, with some planning, they piece together like a puzzle when building larger structures like sheds or miniature barns.

I'm a slow one year+ into constructing a 10'x12' workshop. I added on a pallet half-wraparound patio, too, which makes for a nice space to pull my saws out onto.

A quicker recent project was a hay shed. Made from a few pallets and some T1-11 siding. It comfortably holds five bales, but a sixth can go direct in front of needed. The structure still needs a barn door to cover it up from rain and wind and snow (and my Rhode Island Red who likes to lay her eggs in there and mess up the straw stacks).

I am working on the layout for another big project: an 8'x12' mini barn to house my Dexter cows, and probably my mini pigs, too, as I'd love for all of them to pasture together. I have the pallets, and laid out on the ground to map out the work, but now need to connect them together with 2x4s and raise the walls!

I.AM.IMPRESSED!

 

[Smokerbill]

I.AM.IMPRESSED!

I agree. This is an awesome workshop!

 

[electrycmonk]

I have seen some YouTube videos on rebuilding battery packs. Some of them mention it can be dangerous using a soldering iron around Li-Ion batteries. But I suppose if you can tear apart and rebuild a battery pack safely, you could probably save lots of money.

From what I understand, a "dead" battery pack might only have one or two bad battery cells. Seems like you could save a lot of money if you could identify the bad cell(s), replace them, and put the battery pack back into service.

Yuppers. And I will try to remind myself tomorrow to snap a picture of a specific battery testing tool that will go a long ways towards this idea of resurrecting battery backs when disassembled….

 

[wrathsfarm]

Merry Christmas, y'all. Interesting thread here. I love how versatile pallets can be for building, not to mention cheap. From small to large projects, a great resource to build on the farmstead quickly and (fairly) easily.

My favorite thing about pallet building (other than cost effectiveness) is that, with some planning, they piece together like a puzzle when building larger structures like sheds or miniature barns.

I'm a slow one year+ into constructing a 10'x12' workshop. I added on a pallet half-wraparound patio, too, which makes for a nice space to pull my saws out onto.

A quicker recent project was a hay shed. Made from a few pallets and some T1-11 siding. It comfortably holds five bales, but a sixth can go direct in front of needed. The structure still needs a barn door to cover it up from rain and wind and snow (and my Rhode Island Red who likes to lay her eggs in there and mess up the straw stacks).

I am working on the layout for another big project: an 8'x12' mini barn to house my Dexter cows, and probably my mini pigs, too, as I'd love for all of them to pasture together. I have the pallets, and laid out on the ground to map out the work, but now need to connect them together with 2x4s and raise the walls!

That's a nice work shop.

 

[wrathsfarm]

Thanks for those great pictures. On the workshop, how did you do the siding? It looks like an overlap, shingle type layout with the boards laid out horizontally. Did you need to put some kind of particle board on the walls before that pallet wood siding?

I have made some smaller panels using a board-on-board method, but that does not look like a uniform layout. It is fast and functional, though. If I build a larger shed, I would probably want something looking more like your layout.

There is a board and batten siding, which I think looks good, but the pallet wood I used is nowhere near uniform. Some boards I used were bigger and others smaller depending on the gap in the pallet wood planks. But here is a Google picture with uniform spacing...

View attachment 3712509

I have not yet made a large structure out of pallet wood. I have enough pallets, so it's just a matter of considering what type of design would work best for me.

I have built sheds and used T1-11 siding, but I would like to try to use pallet wood for siding on any future shed build.

OSB backer or vertical perlins. You could also turn the pallet so slats are running vertical to act as perlins, then cut your pallet wood so they land on center. This would save lumber cost greatly.

 

[wrathsfarm]

great! thanks for sharing.

I should make something tall for my turkeys but it is too windy and it could be lifted easily. I must figure out how to do it. I keep dirt floor in my coops.

Bury poles or posts at the corners and attach your pallets to avoid lift off.

 

[wrathsfarm]

Not really a pallet project per say but I remodeled my daughters kitchen a couple years ago.
I built the custom counter top for her and she spent an obnoxious amount of time staining/coating it but it turned out nice.

 

[gtaus]

OSB backer or vertical perlins. You could also turn the pallet so slats are running vertical to act as perlins, then cut your pallet wood so they land on center. This would save lumber cost greatly.

Thanks. I was wondering how you put on the siding because I noticed that the pallets had the planks laid out horizontally. To me, that would require something like an OSB backer before you could put on the siding boards.

Although the OSB backer probably adds some strength to the build, I, too, was thinking that for a small shed, maybe orientating those pallets so the planks run vertically, and then putting the pallet wood siding on horizontally, would indeed save lot of lumber cost.

Of course, if you go with a pallet wood vertical shaker style shingle installation, you want those pallet planks to be orientated horizontally for the exact same reasoning.

Google picture of shaker style shingles as siding...

Here is another Google picture of using both the horizontal pallet wood siding and the shaker shingles on the roof....

 

[gtaus]

Not really a pallet project per say but I remodeled my daughters kitchen a couple years ago.
I built the custom counter top for her and she spent an obnoxious amount of time staining/coating it but it turned out nice.

Fantastic remodel. Love those pictures. That countertop is a work of art.

On the pallet walls, did you rip all the pallet planks to a uniform width? That's what it looks like to me. I have seen some walls that rip the planks to uniform width, others that randomly use boards of different widths and patch it where needed, and some that have alternating board widths, like a row of 3-inch-wide boards and then a row of 5-inch-wide boards.

I guess each style has its own particular charm, but I would think that the random sized board widths would be the hardest method to intall. Seems like it would require lots of time consuming special cuts to make things fit.

Anyways, here is another Google picture of a pallet wall with random sized boards....

FWIW, I prefer uniform planks on the pallet wall like you did, because I think it would be much easier to install, and, also, I like things more uniform. But there is a certain appeal to that random pallet board wall look as well.

Actually, I don't think my mind could handle looking at the random sized pallet board wall very long! Somehow, it just runs contrary to my nature.

 

[wrathsfarm]

Fantastic remodel. Love those pictures. That countertop is a work of art.

On the pallet walls, did you rip all the pallet planks to a uniform width? That's what it looks like to me. I have seen some walls that rip the planks to uniform width, others that randomly use boards of different widths and patch it where needed, and some that have alternating board widths, like a row of 3-inch-wide boards and then a row of 5-inch-wide boards.

I guess each style has its own particular charm, but I would think that the random sized board widths would be the hardest method to intall. Seems like it would require lots of time consuming special cuts to make things fit.

Anyways, here is another Google picture of a pallet wall with random sized boards....

View attachment 3713969

FWIW, I prefer uniform planks on the pallet wall like you did, because I think it would be much easier to install, and, also, I like things more uniform. But there is a certain appeal to that random pallet board wall look as well.

Actually, I don't think my mind could handle looking at the random sized pallet board wall very long! Somehow, it just runs contrary to my nature.

Yes, each row is the same width. But some rows are different width all the same and continue on second wall to match at corner. Different thickness of course. I ripped whatever she needed to finish a run. We did start out random but it was way too time consuming. The 2 walls have an Osb backer then covered with tar paper so that any unforeseen gaps would be black.

Her kitchen was a lot of work. Gutted to the studs, new electrical and completely insulated. Plumbing stayed where it's at.
If you noticed the ceiling that's her floor joists acting as beams. Had to run a ledger board on each side, then cut drywall to fit in side each one. Then made custom boxes for her can lights.
Thanks for the compliments. It was all her design. I just swung the hammer.