How to Build Walls with Pallets

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Adding 2x4s to the ends of a pallet.

Los Angeles is famous for its flotsam and jetsam. Mattresses, rotting couches and headboards accumulate, forming urban coral reefs under the blistering sun. It’s difficult to figure out a use for these objects other than as art. For utilitarian needs, such as building walls, we must turn to the many pallets that also litter our streets.

pallet house

Sketchup model by Ron S.

But pallets can be tough to work with. The wood splinters easily making disassembly a tricky proposition (watch the Garden Fork TV pallet breaker video if you want to go down that route). Famed internet pallet guru Michael Janzen, of Tiny Pallet House, proposes leaving your pallets whole and adding a 2×4 to the end to make them into a kind of building block. The 2x4s can be new or salvaged from broken pallets.

With the added 2×4 you can construct walls, fences, compost bins etc. It’s an elegant solution to the pallet conundrum.

pallet wall

Sketchup model by Ron S.

Cutting pallets and staggering them with whole pallets adds to structural integrity in a wall.

Not all pallets are equal. Some are odd sizes and some are made out of better wood than others. For a wall building project like the one in these Sketchup illustrations, it would be best to find a stack of similar pallets.

Have you built with pallets? Tell us what you’ve made in the comments.

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4 Comments

  1. the only thing I ever built from pallets was a compost enclosure… what I don’t understand from the picture is how one is supposed to attach the “pallets + 2×4” to one another. Somehow reach inside the pallet to nail them together? Embed rare earth magnets to allow for changeable designs? Extra strong construction adhesive?… inquiring minds want to know!

  2. I made my compost bin with pallets and lined the inside with galvanized wire mesh – has lasted 10 yrs so far. I reinforced the corners with 2 X 4’s – my pallets had plenty of space to slip them into the corner. It also helped that I had 3 indentical pallets – learned the hard way on a previous design. I also always failed at taking pallets apart – everyone I would get had these spiral nails that required a lot of work.

  3. Michael Janzen writes: Make wise choices for when to use reclaimed materials. I built this house with shipping pallets and did everything I could to built it strong. But with the benefit of hindsight I would have searched harder for free normal dimensional lumber for the framing and used the pallet wood for floors, siding, cabinets, and furniture.

    http://www.tinyfreehouse.com/

    • Good point. To which I’d add that I’ve never found enough pallets of similar dimensions to make a coherent wall.

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