I use pallets for keeping bags off the ground - but there are different grades and sizes. I buy 4-foot square pallets that are made of oak - which means that they are big and heavy. I set them up on bricks so that they don't lie directly on wet ground. I get them at a pallet supplier, who sells mainly to truckers and businesses - try "pallets" in the yellow pages. Seems like I paid $6 each the last time I bought them.

How about concrete blocks and 2 x 6 lumber? You can make it tiered so that the bottom shelf has more blocks and a wider bench, then becomes more narrow as you work your way up. You can get double blocks for between the shelves if you want more space between them.

A polarized plug is primarily for devices that have some exposed metal attached to one side of the AC line. The common one is a lamp where the threaded side of the bulb (as opposed the the button in the middle) may be exposed. This makes sure only the grounded conductor is connected to that side. Plug is the thing with the prongs. The thing on tend end of a extension cord is a socket. The thing on the wall that you plug it into is a receptacle. Obviously you can always use a three wire extension cord with a two wire device just as you can plug a two wire cord into a three wire (Grounded) receptacle. There are two things that determine wire sizing in this situation. First is how much does the device draw. A two pin plug isn't going to draw more than 15A and usually much less. In that case a 14g cord is fine. The other is how much voltage drop is there over the length of the cord. Again with the small loads I doubt you'll ave a problem. If you were trying to run a refrigerator or a table saw or something at the end, that might have sen an issue. Out door cords usually aren't worth repairing. You lose the water resistance with your repairs.

Stoll is as good as it gets for fireplace doors, screens and accessories. I've heard some of their quality control has gone down just a notch recently, but still very good. Their competitors are Design Specialties (glassfireplacedoors.com) and Portland Willamette. The short answer is they have better designs, better workmanship and finishes, and are made in the US. They also stand behind their warranty. Just cherry picking one example, do you think cheap imports have powder coated finishes, or are they spray painted? (Educated guess, the $40 screens at Walmart are not made with a high quality finish.) Can you select from 40 or 50 different finishes? As for designs, their products just plain look better than anyone else's, and they cover all possible styles traditional, colonial, rustic, industrial, modern, contemporary, blah, blah, blah. Another example, look at Design Specialties website, they have a 'glass screen' that is a sleek and modern design, and not something you'd find on Amazon. Stoll's grates for example are thicker steel stock (5/8" vs 1/2" or 3/8") and came in multiple sizes and heights. If you are outfitting a ski lodge or a resort hotel with a showcase fireplace in the center of the lobby then Stoll is the go to supplier for really large or unique sized grates. They have a lower cost version of their grates, the Essential line that I believe are imported and of course lower cost. For fireplace doors all this means a lot, in design, style, fit, alignment, finishes, etc. (translation, don't buy fireplace doors through Amazon or via mail order). For a simple screen this may not all that much, and maybe something generic from Lowes or Home Depot fills the need. Edit: Other sources of lower cost screens and accessories: Link Link WalMart Link