building with pallets?

  • Hey Guest, Early bird pricing on the Summer Moot (29th July - 10th August) available until April 6th, we'd love you to come. PLEASE CLICK HERE to early bird price and get more information.

milius2

Maker
Jun 8, 2009
989
7
Lithuania
Hello!

I was wondering if anyone has ever built enything from euro pallets? Next year I plan to build a simple makeshift pallet house for birds and was wondering maybe you've got the ideas for fixing cheaply and effectively them together ect...?
 

Dreadhead

Bushcrafter through and through
I've worked on farms where they have build several structures from euro pallets. They nailed them all together to form the walls, then added a layer of chipboard / plasterboard either side, and then filled in the cavity with sawdust for insulation. It worked surprisingly well!
 

ozzy1977

Full Member
Jan 10, 2006
8,558
3
46
Henley
Chep used to sponsor a furniture competition in Australia using their blue pallets, the results were simply amazing.
 

Two Socks

Settler
Jan 27, 2011
750
0
Norway
This guy built a "wall of death" from pallets:
[video=youtube;qSjhjaN5zKI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSjhjaN5zKI[/video]
 
Nov 29, 2004
7,808
22
Scotland
I quite like this bed for the kids.

5LDJd4F.jpg


From here.

I also snapped this simple dividing wall/planter outside a cafe in Budapest last week.

PB140003.JPG
 
Last edited:

mrcharly

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 25, 2011
3,257
44
North Yorkshire, UK
Most of the pallets I've handled have been such awful wood. Splintery and soft - could cut chunks out with a fingernail. No way could you use them for furniture.

OTOH when my dad had some steel posts shipped out from australia they came with the bundles separated by 3x4 jarrah, one of the finest hardwoods in existence. The stupidity of it would make you weep.
 

Jared

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sep 8, 2005
3,408
649
51
Wales
Got my hands on 6 as a kid. And just put them together as a cube, with one pallet as a drop gate. Thought it made a pretty good den, until the grownups decided to use it for a rabbit hutch. :)
 
Last edited:

milius2

Maker
Jun 8, 2009
989
7
Lithuania
I'll do some research on it, google is useless as always, because for "sponsored projects" and "innovations to save the third world" they take them appart and build using the boards, that is useless info, because they do too much work for it to be effective. I was thinking something along Mr Hamish's lines... But plaster boards are excellent on their own, so no need for pallets, only a simple frame. Needs to be cheap as chips too. So my idea for now is to use the pallets top for inside and the 3 bottom boards for outside. Put maybe some wool if I can get or sawdust with lime and for outside cover it with some sheeting or such.... if I had wool, there would be no need to do anything with the inside. I think I should get a few pallets and build someting small to try out. Like Jared, maybe some tiny house. Yes, for furniture they must be better checked for quality, but there is some great quality out there. I've also found some hardwood red colored timber in some pallet. So there is something to do in this field.
 

janso

Full Member
Dec 31, 2012
611
5
Penwith, Cornwall
Friend of mine has nearly finished a shed built out of pallets! Recycled roofing sheets, reclaimed windows, door and gutters/ drainage and membrane and pallet strips again for shuttering the outside. It's pretty amazing but it took about 9 months of actively storing pallets to make it!


Sent from my hidey hole using Tapatalk... sssh!
 

Big Si

Full Member
Dec 27, 2005
405
52
58
nottinghamshire
Pallets are the main source of building materials up on most allotments, I cut the boards off of the ones I use with a reciprocating saw fitted with a hacksaw metal cutting blade.
Si
 

milius2

Maker
Jun 8, 2009
989
7
Lithuania
Janso. Yes, storing them is quite an obsticle. I think they should at least be covered with some plastic for the winter. And gathering them is a problem, they are not available at such high nubers here and I'm charged a bit of money for each. Around 1 quid per pallet. And there is not that much wood there to pay for.
Muncus, great bench, your girfriend got skills! :)
Big Si, i got the tool you talk about, nice one.
 

BCUK Shop

We have a a number of knives, T-Shirts and other items for sale.

SHOP HERE