Pallet Outdoor Storage Enclosure
Some things can handle being out in the rain and snow, like hard-plastic riding toys, or plastic trash cans. Other things don’t fare so well outside, like bicycles, metal trash cans, and barbecue grills. If you love everything to be neat and tidy outside, but you don’t have the money to build a storage shed, create a wooden enclosure instead. When you make an enclosure out of pallets, you can build the whole thing in a short amount of time, and it can be used to give a nice, neat look to some outdoor areas. Although the enclosure isn’t completely enclosed, it gives you a parking area for things like toys or trash cans.
You decide which way you want the enclosure to face. It will be made of a floor, and three walls, but no roof. The area can be used to conceal eyesores – like trash cans – or to neaten up all of the kids’ riding toys. You’ll need four pallets to build the smallest version. For it, lay one pallet flat on the ground, with the top side facing upwards, to make the floor. Stand a second pallet on one side and screw it to the floor pallet. Do the same to the opposite side to finish the side walls of this short version of the enclosure. Screw a pallet onto the back of the floor pallet, to make a back wall for the enclosure. For the back wall, use “L” brackets to secure it to the two side walls.
When you start with the above enclosure, and add to it, you get a much taller version, to conceal or contain larger objects. Simply screw another pallet on to each side wall, and on to the back wall, and use “L” brackets on the corners. So, for each new pallet you stack, screw it to the pallet below it, as well as to the one beside it.
When you make two or more of the short or tall enclosures, and stand them side-by-side, you achieve a much different look, with more than one section for parking or storing items. Each enclosure can be left alone, or can be screwed to the enclosure beside it, to create something of a building, but without a roof. The front-door openings make it easy to pull toys, bikes, and other things, in and out of the enclosure.
The finished enclosure can be used for compost, to conceal trash cans, to organize outdoor toys, and to store certain tools. Absolutely have to have a roof? Climb up, throw a tarp over it all, and staple the tarp to the top perimeter of the arrangement. Cut off the excess tarp. To make a door in the front, stretch a tarp across the front of the enclosure, and staple it across the tops of the highest side pallets. You’ll use the enclosure(s) – with or without roof and door – in many ways, for many years.
