How to Build Your Own Pallet Shed
What Is a Pallet Shed?
There is a tremendous amount of used pallets being given away by many types of businesses in different locations of the country. Though the pieces of wood that construct the pallet are not very large, they are still a viable construction product useful for building many different structures.
Reusing these pallets helps support the plant's green efforts by saving trees. The pallets can be disassembled and the wood members utilized individually, or the entire pallet can be used as a structural building component. Whole pallets fastened together securely make sturdy walls and roofs for a variety of buildings like garden or storage sheds.
Build a Pallet Shed With Free Materials
The Completed Shed
This shed is constructed with all recycled materials.
The Shed Pallet Framing
These pallets would normally end up in the landfill or burnt if not recycled into a usable product.
Collecting Pallets
Pallets are not too difficult to find in the market. One of the best places to look for used pallets is on the internet. Through a web search of your local area many sources for pallets will likely pop up in the search results, but kijiji classifieds at kijiji.com is probably going to be the best result to explore.
Newspaper classifieds "free" or "to give away" columns are also a good local resource to search. Many business post a sign at their warehouse entrance advertising free pallets. If you see a business yard with a huge stack of pallets, you can always check with the administration office to see if they are willing to give their pallets away.
Making the Shed Walls
Whole pallets are sturdy structural members that can be fastened together for shed walls
The Foundation
Every shed should be set upon a firm foundation. I have many large rocks that I have gathered and positioned in the earth around the perimeter of my shed forming a solid base under the walls.
Similar Size Pallets
Walls are much easier to construct with pallets of the same size.
Sorting the Pallets
Most businesses that give away pallets do not want you to sort through their stockpile picking out only the ones that you desire for your project. Usually, you are expected to take the odd shaped and the damaged pallets along with the good ones. Remember these businesses are giving away pallets that they purchased so that they do not have to bear the expense of loading and hauling them to the local landfill.
After you get your load of pallets to your building site, you will want to sort through them selecting the ones in the best condition and in the same dimensions. You can use pieces of the damaged and odd sized pallets in other stages of the building process. However, when building a shed, you will want pallets of the same width and height for the main structure assembly of each wall and roof component.
The Assembly
Some of the pallets have to be cut to fit together.
Fitting It All Together
Some of the pallets will have to be cut to make the shed the correct size and to install doorways or windows. If you are cautious in planning your shed dimensions, you can place the shed openings at the edge of full-sized pallets. When you need to cut a pallet, you may be able to cut it in half along the side of the centre skid, but if you need another size, you will have to cut the top and bottom boards of the pallet some inches away from the skid. Once you cut the pallet boards to the correct length, you can remove the outer skid from the cut-off section and reinstall it into the section of pallet that you are using.
Cladding the Shed
Some used siding material will provide a good exterior for the shed.
Finishing the Shed
To finish the exterior of the shed some used tin siding or some plywood or even the top pallet boards will work well. The tin that I am using is fastened with sheet metal screws directly to the top boards of the pallets. This tin provides as good an exterior siding as any tin garden shed has and I found it for free.
The door of the shed is made from an old piece of 1/2 inch plywood that I had in my storage materials. I used two pieces of an old piano hinge to hang the door and screwed the hinge to the plywood of the door and through the tin siding into the pallet skid of the shed wall. I cut out the bottom of the door and hung a piece of tarp over the opening making a dog entrance.
Hanging the Door
A piano hinge and some used plywood makes a fine door for your shed.
What to Do With All the Waste Wood?
If you are collecting free pallets and building projects, you will be generating some waste wood pieces that are of little use except for burning. You can utilize much of the scrap in your the fireplace of your home or the fire pit in your backyard if you have those conveniences. Otherwise, you will end up with a huge pile of clutter in your yard that you will eventually have to take to the municipal landfill where you will likely have to pay to get rid of it.
The other alternative is to build yourself a cheap backyard incinerator out of used materials and then you can burn your waste safely as it is produced. Instructions on how to build a simple barrel incinerator are located through the link below.
Questions or Comments?
I welcome all your questions and comments as well as any suggestions or ideas of your own. Please contact me through any of my links with any input that you desire to contribute. I enjoy hearing from everyone.
This article is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge. Content is for informational or entertainment purposes only and does not substitute for personal counsel or professional advice in business, financial, legal, or technical matters.
© 2014 howtopam
Comments
andreas on October 12, 2017:
Great place to learn how to make it yourself much much cheaper. Just google for 'WoodPrix' website:)
jennycooper on February 11, 2015:
built a fence with pallets,and it didn't look to bad after i painted it
Bill Holland from Olympia, WA on February 01, 2014:
I love building things with pallets. We built our chicken coop using pallets and it is very serviceable. Glad to see someone else using them.
Casimiro on January 30, 2014:
Very cool Pamela. I like the amount of detail, especially about how to find used pallets. Many years ago, I built an outdoor sauna from pallets. It could hold about eight people and was wood-fired. It hosted many parties for several years.
