Pallet Mania

A chicken coop built from pallets

I’m a sucker for anything built with pallets. Why? Quite simply, they are the most useful bit of detritus in a constellation of easily scavenged items that includes used tires, milk crates, futon frames, headboards and shopping carts. Reader Mike “Garden Daddy” Millson from Jackson, Tennessee, who blogs at www.gardendaddy.blogspot.com sent me an interesting link to a Canadian pallet enthusiast who has built some nice structures and saved himself a load of Canadian dollars. Check them out here:

http://summerville-novascotia.com/PalletShed/

The amateur architect critic in me will note that many of these structures look better before they were completed, but I’m in a much more forgiving climate that allows for open air experimentation. Note the wise practice of keeping pallets whole and using them like large bricks. Smart, because the things split up like crazy if you try to take them apart.

Now will someone please build a house with those headboards and futon frames?

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7 Comments

  1. Great building – how many pallets were taken apart to make it? How did you get the nails out?

    -Dominic
    olympiacres.com

  2. I liked the finished chicken coop the best and thought it was really well done. Pallets are another reason I wish I had a truck….

  3. I have a collection of futon frames upstairs. It’s not possible for me to walk past them lying out for garbage pick-up.

  4. @Dominic:

    We don’t know how many palettes it took to build that shed. It does look as though the builder deconstructed some palettes to face the front–actually, he may have cut those short pieces off palettes, instead of prying them apart.

    Personally we do everything we can to avoid taking apart palettes because we’ve found almost impossible to get the nails out without splintering the thing into pieces. That’s why we say it’s better to use them whole, as building blocks.

  5. We like to use pallets too. They are a great source of wood. We haven’t done anything major with them…our next project is a garden gate which should be pretty easy. From what I have read paper suppliers and motorcycle shops are great places to get wood that would otherwise be very rare and expensive in the U.S.

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