Free pallets

17 years ago

We answered an ad in the paper,a furniture company giving away pallets. I'd shown my DH all the pics from this site,where pallets had been used to build a shed,compost bin,and fences,so he was more than happy to get them for us. I could only get 12 on the trailer for my first load,and he promised to take us back for more,after the 4th. Let's hope they're still there(hundreds of them) and I can get a good stack to work with.

{{gwi:161565}}

Comments (10)

con22jovi
17 years ago
Way to score. Don't forget to show pictures of all the wonderful things make out of them. Conni : )
Calamity_J
17 years ago
Good for you! I found some pallets for free, that are 10ft long! wanted to get em for fencing, to keep the ratwiellers in, but now the problem is DH is working all the time and would NOT consider them a find, so no help there, and now I only have a 4ft square utility trailer for behind my car, DH's way of saving gas, no more truck for Jane and her JUNK(said like it's a bad thing!) And did I mention,4ft utility trailer!!! Any smaller and I would have to downsize to one of those trailers for pulling behind bicycles!!! DH helping you! What a blessing!
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I'm planning on doing a pallet project or two as well. Since I drive around a lot for work, I try to keep my eyes peeled, especially in manufacturing/industrial areas. I so far, though, have been too shy to go up and ask for any. I've, ummm, liberated two so far, but sometimes it's hard to tell if they are discarding them or just "stacking" them outside (kinda near the dumpster). Interestingly, though, driving with my mom today, we spotted two pallets at the curb in front of houses. i guess people are doing their spring cleaning maybe? They were both on the same block, and since my mom was driving her big stupid suv, we stopped and grabbed them. They were both pretty big and probably would've never fit into my little toyota. So, since fate just dropped them into my lap, i figure i'll have to start building something really soon. Once you start looking, you'll see them everywhere
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Jennifer, it was just stain my DH had in the basement left over from staining the outside shingles, it was cedar colored. I put it in a pump sprayer and just quickly sprayed it. I didn't want it to look really tacky and from the street it looks decent (much better than the trashey area before) and free except for the bolts. Yes, it's 3 bin, the first bin is the largest, second somewhat smaller and the third is the smallest. I will probably put in wire fence with posts for the first bin and possible the second to keep the compost in.
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Yes, the thing with raspberries is they grow to their max height fairly quickly, and that height is about the same as the height of a compost bin. So they screen quickly. Anything you grow next to a compost bin will grow well from the runoff of nutrients. Black raspberries are very vigorous and the roots kept invading the compost bin, but red or yellow raspberries wouldn't be so crazy like that. I LOVE raspberries, so it was a two birds with one stone kind of thing for me. I used to live in a nice suburb so immediately screened my first compost bin with vegetation. I also grew tall flowers around it. When those bins fell apart after many years, we built new pallet bins much closer to the garden and more visible still. They looked very nice, though, and blended in with a wooden fence about 20 feet away, nobody ever complained about them. Hubby didn't want to fight the black raspberry roots, so he said no more raspberries by the bins. They were partly under a big maple tree, so one plus there was that some of the leaves fell directly into the compost bins. At my first house, we had a small chickenwire bin between the air conditioner and the house. Nobody ever knew it was there unless we told them. It was a townhouse, connected on both sides to other houses. A peony bush and some flowers were between it and the closest other house. So when people tell me they have no place to put a compost bin, I know they just aren't trying hard enough! Marcia
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Comments (7)
First rule of compost, it will happen just be patient. Most important ingredient, anything and time. 1- yes, for the start of your bin, 3 pallets is fine. In the future, you may wish to make some more bins along side your first bin so you might want to plan your space accordingly. Each new bin will take two more pallets. A common way to do bins is to have 3 of them. The end bin is where you are adding materials into an active compost pile, the middle bin is where you store cover materials (browns or carbons) for adding into the bin as you have greens that need covering. The bin on the other end is for when you fill up the first bin. 2-Do you need to line it, probably not. Where are you located? If you are in the desert, then lining the bin with cardboard would help it retain moisture while still being able to breath. If you are in an area where rodents are a big problem, then hardware wire might be desirable. I've never had any rodents show interest in my compost bins though so not really a worry. Otherwise, no worries. Perhaps a board or bit of wire to put across the front to keep the dog from digging into it but I've not had any of the neighborhood dogs show any interest in my compost bins. 3-Don't worry too much about correct ratios, you could drive yourself mad that way. Get a mixture of things in there and then react if things don't seem right. If the bin is dry and mostly brown, it will take forever to break down. Add a bit of moisture and it will break down slowly or perhaps turn into leaf mold which is good too. If there is too much green, it will likely get wet and stinky which means add more brown. If it is simply too wet, it can get stinky, add more dry browns. Proper moisture is usually described as moist like a well wrung out sponge. 4-I would probably count tea as a green as are used coffee grounds. But as I said, don't worry too much about ratios. Just get a mixture. A bit of green cover with brown a bit of moist (most food scraps are mostly water) add some dry. If it seems too dry, dump the dish pan on it. If all you got is mostly leaves and shredded paper/cardboard, then ad some urine (or send the guys out to pee on the compost pile) to be your green/moisture. Most important, if it is stinky or looks yucky, you need to add more brown cover material over it. When we add the kitchen scraps or other stinky additions into the compost pile, we dig a hole in the hot top center of the pile and dump in the bucket, then we dump a bag of other peoples bagged leaves over the top of everything. If the addition is small, perhaps just dig the hole in the compost pile and dump in the stuff then cover back over. Good luck and welcome, composting is great! Here is a link that might be useful: TCLynx
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gardeners_hands
17 years ago
! whattya gonna make?
(pant, pant, pant...!)
I just love pallets!
I kinda prefer the oak ones that have sat out and weathered to a silvery gray - but the nice clean ones like yours are great for a million things; like; chairs and stools for little kids, plant pot boxes, garden edging, small staggered shelves, and etc,
Here are pics of a couple of my weathered pallet wood birdhouses;
{{gwi:161568}}
{{gwi:161570}}
{{gwi:161572}}

GH-

Here is a link that might be useful: my album
kudzukween
Original Author
17 years ago
Wow you have some wonderful WONDERFUL birdhouses! Do you use patterns? I've got the power tools and air compressor and tools and table saw,my problem is the math...I can't for the life of me just draw it out,I need a pattern! lol I would just LOVE to make a lot of bird houses. A friend of ours found out we got the pallets,and asked us was there blue pallets there,and we said yes,we didn't pick any of those up. He said but those are the good ones! Well,we haven't gone back yet,BUT FIRST....I found a few dozen picket fence panels in a ditch,we went with the trailer to get them(owner says yeah take 'em!) and the panels are HUGE,way bigger than the 10'.So DH says let's go home,charge up the battery packs for the cordless saw...and I'm waiting,arms folded across my chest,tapping my foot. Guess who will NEVER be forgiven if he makes me miss out on FREE picket fence!! huffing and puffing hands on hips.....the batteries are all charged up. I'm gonna be so *mad* if they're gone. Man,I even have white paint to freshen them up!
leonardhughes
17 years ago
lookin too pick up alot of free pallets
craftylady-2006
17 years ago
Wow, good haul on the pallets. You'll have lots of projects all summer long.

GJ - love "all" of your birdhouses, that sure is alot. Do you have "all" of them on your property? I've never seen a blue pallet, they're pretty.
lady_alicia Zone 5/6 PA
17 years ago
I saw in a book where they made a coffee table out of an old pallet. They had a piece of glass cut to fit the top and used spindles or something for the legs. It turned out great. :)

Have fun creating things with them. Post some pics when you're done! I'd love to see them.

Alicia
kudzukween
Original Author
17 years ago
wow,that was last year(almost). So much has happened in a year,those pallets still lay where I put them! I never got the picket fences,either. My husband and I both have suffered from health problems,and who knows when things will pick back up. I still want birdhouses!
andreaok
17 years ago
hi,
Where can I find books or plans that show how to build stuff with wood fences or pallets?
thanks,
Andrea
mmqchdygg
17 years ago
Here's some larger projects:

Pallet Projects

And scroll to the way-bottom of this wikipedia page to get links to all kinds of crafts (I especially love that hutch-thing which is the first picture in the link "Various Pallet Craft Ideas")

Pallet Craft Links

Free pallets

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Free pallets

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