Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[Smokerbill]

Making progress on the slab. Used free wood I ripped and cross cut to size on my table saw. Screwed the pieces together with my corded drill. Dug down where the form was to be placed and added some gravel so it would be easier to level.

Now it's pretty close to level. Close enough, anyway. I secured the form into place with some old rebar tent stakes with rings welded on at the top.

Still need to add a little more gravel inside the form, wet it down and pack it, then dig down around the inner edges of the form, and around the well casing so the concrete is deeper (4") at those areas, creating a footing. The rest of it will be about 2" thick.

 

[gtaus]

I have a small "hill" close to my house. I am thinking to make a 3 side pallet wall to get sort of terrace/raised bed. I wonder if soil might push the pallets (as there is no the 4th side to keep the rest) so I should somehow fix them first. any suggestion?

That is something I have never done before. I have no personal experience with building a terrace bed. Rather than pretend to answer your question with my guesses, I'll just link you to this YouTube video where a guy shares his thoughts on terrace beds and what he has learned. He states that this is his version 2.0 of the terrace bed builds because his first attempt was not successful. If you have 30 minutes for the full video, it might save you some time and effort on your build.

 

[StinkyAcres]

I have a small "hill" close to my house. I am thinking to make a 3 side pallet wall to get sort of terrace/raised bed. I wonder if soil might push the pallets (as there is no the 4th side to keep the rest) so I should somehow fix them first. any suggestion?

I drove in t-posts at the front of my terraced garden beds to keep them from crawling down the hill. They have still moved with the frost heaves but not significantly.

 

[Smokerbill]

Got the little slab poured and finished off this morning. I didn't think I'd have enough Quikrete cement mix, so I went to HomeDepot to get a couple more bags. Ended up finding three 60# bags that were ripped, but still nearly full. 70% off!

Ended up using only 4 and 2/3 bags, so I still have 4 bags left for a future project.

I'm using a few free pallet cut offs to support a free piece of OSB, to keep the rain off the well head until it firms up enough to let the rain fall on it.

@gtaus , I used one of the 4x12 beam sections I scored to compact the gravel bed under the concrete. Worked great!

 

[Sally PB]

Not pallets, not free... but I got some slightly used 2x6 lumber today at an estate sale. 2 8ft+ pieces, 2 that are about 5ft, and 4 that are 3-4ft long. $12, but today was half off day. $6 for all those.

 

[gtaus]

Not pallets, not free... but I got some slightly used 2x6 lumber today at an estate sale. 2 8ft+ pieces, 2 that are about 5ft, and 4 that are 3-4ft long. $12, but today was half off day. $6 for all those.

That sounds like a good deal for good lumber. I always check Home Depot for cull lumber at 70% off to see if they have any deals I can use. It's new wood, just with some defect in the lumber.

I don't know what the current price of lumber is these days, but I'm sure that during the COVID lockdown you would have paid something like $6,000.00 for those pieces of lumber. That was a crazy time.

I used to get all nerdy on figuring out how much money I saved by picking up pallet and salvaged wood. I even had a Google spreadsheet that I could enter my salvaged lumber and determine how much it would have cost me at the store, at that time, at their current prices. I saved hundreds of dollars.

But I ended up with so many pallets and salvaged wood in the backyard that Dear Wife asked me to stop picking up wood until I work down my stock pile. That, unfortunately, was a reasonable request so I have not been scavenging for pallets or salvage wood for about 5 months now.

 

[gtaus]

I used one of the 4x12 beam sections I scored to compact the gravel bed under the concrete. Worked great!

Oh, I bet that 4X12 was nice for compacting the gravel bed. Last time I had a job something like that all we had were some 4X4's. Took a long time to compact the gravel that way. But we just used what we had and did not have to buy anything. For a small slab, it was not worth buying a compactor.

I just noticed that Menards has their soil tampers on sale. For those who don't know what we are talking about, check this out....

That's actually a pretty good sale price. I'm going into town tomorrow and maybe will check it out. Although I don't have a current use for a tamper, every once in a while I need one. Tools like these will last a lifetime, so it might not be a bad idea to pick up one on sale and store it in the work shed with my other landscaping tools. Not all of us are lucky enough to find a 4X12 beam to use!

EDIT: I just noticed that my local store does not have these in stock. I could order one online, but the shipping to the store is an additional $40.00. So that idea is already a bust. Probably a good deal if your local Menards still has these in stock.

 

[Kiki]

This thread was nominated for BYC's favorite thread. Please vote for it here:
Week 2 - Favorite Thread Poll VOTE ends 9/29

 

[gtaus]

This thread was nominated for BYC's favorite thread. Please vote for it here:
Week 2 - Favorite Thread Poll VOTE ends 9/29

Thanks for the nomination, whoever it was. I am glad to hear people are finding value in this thread. I know I have been encouraged by the posts of others. There has been a lot of good information shared. Thanks to all who keep this thread alive.

 

[NanaK]

But I ended up with so many pallets and salvaged wood in the backyard that Dear Wife asked me to stop picking up wood until I work down my stock pile.

That's a lot of pallet wood!

I'll bet you could make and sell some of those nice flower boxes you made for your wife. Next spring when people get ready to start gardening in your area I'll bet lots of people would like them. You could use some of the photos of the ones that are planted to sell them. Could be some interest in your raised beds too. They could be custom sizes to fit people's need.

Could be a nice side project to make a few $$ with little investment.