How To Build A Pallet Shed

How To Build A Pallet Shed BUILDINGS New Techniques 33-4-35 Shipping pallets have a couple things going for them as a building material, says Frank Pye, who farms in Labrador. They're usually free and most of them have consistent measurements. "Most farmers have large numbers of shipping pallets around or they can easily find them. Most of them measure 48 by 40 in., so naturally, a do-it-your-selfer like myself, with a healthy ability for scrounging, found a way to turn them into a useful, low-cost shed." Pye's 12 by 20 by 7-ft. shed has a floor made from 18 pallets (three across by six down). Pye's shed walls are two pallets high û the full 80 in. û because he compensated for the 5-in. pallet depth by inserting 5 by 5-in. sills and corner posts. "One mistake I made was that I should have laid down a scrap plywood floor nailed to both the sills and floor pallets to prevent any future movement of the sills and walls away from the floor," he says. Since every pallet has two grooves designed for the loading forks, these grooves are ideal to accommodate 2 by 4 wall studs, which are aligned flat to the wall instead of perpendicular, as in normal wall construction. "I found that one wall stud for every two pallets makes a very solid building. I added a double 2 by 4 wall plate at the top of my wall, which resulted in a full and secure 7 ft. wall on which to place my homemade 12 ft., 10-in. roof trusses," Pye explains. "If you were to build a 3-pallet wall (120 in. tall), you would no doubt require extra studs." Scrap sheeting from a demolished building serves as Pye's siding for the walls and roof, further minimizing costs. In all, he spent $350 to build his shed. "It only took my 13-year-old grandson and me about a week to finish the project," he points out. "It felt good to recycle so much material and I now have a very useful building. "A pallet shed built on a level, dry site should last 10 to 20 years, or more if tar or other wood preservative is applied to the floor and sills which lie on the ground," he says. Pye plans to build a 16 by 20-ft. shed this summer to house a flock of 100 large hens. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Frank Pye, Grand River Farm, Box 393, Stn. C, Happy Valley-Goose Bay, NL, Canada A0P 1C0 (ph 709 896-1502 (cell) after 7 p.m.; grandriver@xplornet.com).

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