DIY: Building with Wooden Pallets

I love working with wooden pallets. They’re free, abundant and easy to deal with. It’s free lumber. Look at them carefully; discard any that have oil or chemical stains. You may be able to paint over this and use them for stacking wood or other things on top.

There are stamps on the wood that will help you identify what’s in the wood:

• · IPPC ISPM-15 says the wood has been specially treated for international shipping.
• · MB means it has been treated with Methyl Bromide.
• · HT means the wood is heat treated. This uses no chemicals and will have no issues being used for indoor furniture or other items.

I would use the other wood for outdoor projects; coating with sealants and paints should make the wood safe for outdoor use. If in doubt, use different wood. A lot of pallets exist.

You may or may not need to take the pallets apart. Practice will help you produce usable wood. This is something you have to learn. Pry bars, cats paws, hammers, reciprocating saws and more are used.

Here are things you can build with wooden pallets:

Furniture

Sofas, tables, wall coverings, flooring and more can be made with pallet wood. You can save wood from the same species or use different species for a custom look.

Stack pallets and attach them for use as a platform bed. Outdoors, use them for planters, to make benches and more.

Build stacking storage boxes, dressers and other useful objects.

Tiny Houses

More and more information is coming up on the internet about using pallets to build small and tiny homes.

A lot of plans suggest using the pallets vertically with one or two 2-by-4’s on either side for wall stud supports. The outside boards are not removed; they are sheathed over. The inside boards are left in place as well. This allows plumbing, electrical and gas lines a lot of room for installation. It also allows more insulation to be used for greater energy efficiency.

Other plans suggest stacking them, as they are made to hold weight. As before, ample space is created for wiring, plumbing and insulation.

Trailers

Build a teardrop trailer using pallet wood for the floor, walls and kitchen area. You can make camping gear using pallet wood to match your style. While other campers are bragging about or lamenting the cost of their gear, you can brag yours was custom made. Your materials were mostly free (except for paint, nails and so forth), and elbow grease.

Build a utility trailer or garden cart for use around your home. There is no end of items you can put together.

DIY stores and lumber yards will not go out of business as people utilize more pallets for projects. The roadsides will clear up, businesses will welcome getting rid of pallets free instead of paying for disposal and useful items will built with low cost.

Source: The author of this article has over 40 years of experience in diverse forms of DIY, home improvement and repair, crafting, designing, and building furniture, outdoor projects, RV’ing and more.