Ways to build and save money

[raingarden]

There is a tool called a pallet buster I will invest in if I ever go the pallet route. Busting up a couple pallets with a crowbar and sawsall was difficult.

Do those things work? If so, I'm getting one too. We always end up splitting the wood trying to separate the planks.

 

[Krugerrand]

There is a tool called a pallet buster I will invest in if I ever go the pallet route. Busting up a couple pallets with a crowbar and sawsall was difficult.

Cattle panels are still pretty inexpensive as far as building materials go. I believe you can get them home by folding loosely into an arch and strapping into the bed of a truck or trailer, but I have neither. I cut mine in half with bolt cutters and slid in the back of the SUV, since it was for a trellis instead of a coop.

I successfully got a pair of cattle panels home by first strapping 12' 2x4's to the cargo rack on the minivan. then, I secured the cattle panels to the 2/x4 and the cargo rack.

It also works to discourage people from driving too closely behind me.

 

[Ted Brown]

Do those things work? If so, I'm getting one too. We always end up splitting the wood trying to separate the planks.

I use a reciprocating saw with a metal blade. Just run the blade between where ever the boards are nailed.

Borrow, rent or buy off kijiji or Craigslist or...

 

[raingarden]

Thank you Ted. We have a recip saw and will try it.

 

[Sally PB]

There's also good old fashioned barter with friends and neighbors.

A neighbor goes to a lot of estate sales. I've asked her to be on the look out for various things I'd like to get, but not enough to buy brand new. Mostly kitchen stuff, but it would work for other things too.

 

[RiverOtter]

My bitty coops and pig sheds got WAY cheaper when I realized they're not load bearing. You do not have to build that to code, and OSB is fairly self supporting. So now I use at least 80% less framing than the first one I built. Muuuuch cheaper

Also, paint is a preservative. I painted OSB - which, lets admit, is cheap crud - with that thick, oily barn paint that takes 2 days to dry, slapped it together with just enough framing to nail to and built a mini-shed that housed a sow and her litters for 6 years before it came apart. And pigs are rough on housing, that little thing stood up to a LOT of piggie butt scritching. It actually didn't give up the ghost until a horse decided to get in on the butt rubbing.

Another one that I bothered to repaint once in a while I had for 5 years, then gave to a friend who needed a tiny shed for ducks, and she still had it 4 years later, and might have it yet, I haven't been to her place for quite a while.

 

[TJAnonymous]

@RiverOtter - I had a horse who decided to butt rub on my garage door. Literally ripped the entire garage door from the frame and out of the wall. When I went running outside to see what the heck was happening, he was standing there with his head poked through the big gap between the framing and the garage door like "hey! what's going on in here?"

 

[Mystikal]

If you have a local ReStore you can probably find some good treasures there.