Pallet Shed

by mmoffat

363K1.1K89

Intro: Pallet Shed

My wife and I moved into our new place a couple years ago knowing we would need to get a riding mower to keep up with the bigger yard. Between the riding mower and all the other stuff we discovered we'd need to keep up with the yard, we quickly lost half of the 2 car garage to yard equipment. We priced storage sheds, but ones that would be big enough to hold the mowers and be tall enough to keep me from cracking my head inside cost way too much; over $2300 for a 10'x10' shed at a local big box home improvement store.

We decided to build, but even low end building materials were going to add up quickly. We had been making shelves and small furniture pieces out of pallets for a couple months and started discussing using pallets as our building material. Then, one day, something really fortunate happened. There's a local printing company that occasionally sets their unwanted pallets out on the curb for who ever wants them. We happened to drive by and discovered about 5 of the biggest, stoutest pallets we'd ever seen. Each measured about 4 feet ab 6 feet. We had just found our shed. Well, most of it.

You can build one, too. These instructions show what we were able to cobble together based on what materials we had at hand. Using some of the techniques we learned, you can build your own

STEP 1: Tools & Materials

Tools Needed:

Cordless drill/driver - drill holes / drive screws - Harbor Freight= $25

Phillips heads for screws

a 14" long 5/8" dill bit - for drilling all-thread bolt holes

Circular saw

Oscillating tool - used to cut the all-thread - Harbor Freight= $20

level (the bigger the better)

step ladder

2 pair of pliers

tape measure

Materials:

Dozens of pallets

2 - 5 foot lengths of 5/8" all-thread

about a pound of nuts and washers to go with the all-thread

5 pounds of 1-1/2 in screws
2 pounds of 3 in screws

assorted door hardware as you like

6 - 12x2 ft roofing tin

1 - 4x8 sheet of chipboard

STEP 2: Build Your Base

We leveled out a 10' square area by means of digging into the ground and elevating with cement blocks. Start level and square to keep your building true and plumb later on. Once our site was prepped, I attached my first two 4'x6' pallets to ground contact rated 10' 2x4's using the 3" screws. These became he first corner of the building. The pallets walls were attached to each other by lining them up square, then drilling through with the long 5/8's drill bit. We then measured and cut a piece of allthread a couple inches longer than each hole needed. We bolted the pallets together top, bottom and center using the nuts and washes. It may have been overkill, but allthread is cheap and better safe than sorry!

STEP 3: Working Your Way Around

We added another pallet to the back using screws on the bottom and allthread bolts on the sides, then did the same on the right side

STEP 4: Keep Working Around

We put up the back left corner side wall using screws on the bottom, but used some pallet top boards to attach this side piece to the back wall. These were the last of the 4'x6' pallets.

STEP 5: Working Up the Sides

We added smaller, regular sized (about 40"x48") pallets to complete the side walls. Again, we used screws to attach the pallets to the ground contact lumber, and allthread bolts to attach the pallets to each other side to side.

STEP 6: Bring It Around the Front

We acquired some long, skinny pallets (about 3'x8') from a place a couple towns over that sold hot tubs. These weren't as stout as the 4'x6' we used for the back walls, so we used some 2x4 lumber that would frame the doorway to add structural integrity.

We then added three 12' 2x4's front to back to support a temporary plastic roof and framed in the doorway. Over night it looked like some kind of a weird greenhouse.

STEP 7: Adding Doors & Roof

In the garage, we built a couple doors out of chip board and pallet tops, then hung them in the door frames. We made them plenty wide to accommodate the riding lawn mower that would soon be living there.

At this point, the 10' wide x 10' deep frame of the shed is done!

The temporary plastic roof was replaced with 7 - 12' 2x4's and 6 - 12 foot long sheets of corrugated tin. The shed is about 8 feet tall in the front, and about 6 feet tall in the back, so there's plenty of slant for the rain to run off.
This tin was by far the biggest expense for the shed, coming in at about $120 for the tin and self tapping screws that made up the roof

(We found out a week or so later that an aunt had had an old barn blow down on her property. We could have recycled the tin from her old barn at no cost.)

STEP 8: Windows & Skin

Now the fun part! We left some spots in the front blank so we could let some light in. We did not want all the birds nesting inside, so the window coverings are made from plastic florescent light covers. With a heavy hand, they'll cut with a box knife. We cut slightly smaller than the frame and caulked them in place.

The shed 'skin' is pallet tops. They are very uniform in width, so the look nice stacked on top of each other horizontally. When we would get the the end of a row, we would measure carefully, then cut the last piece to the exact length needed. The left over bit from that board would be used to start the next row, just like hardwood floors. The variety of wood species and colors just adds to the look of the finished product. We completed the skin on front first, then went to the back and sides

STEP 9: DONE!

Since the roof is angled to let the rain run off quickly, those side pieces needed a little more effort to cover and still look nice. Once the proper angle was measured, we were able the set it on the table saw and have a nice, uniform incline all the way up the roof line.

You, too, can build your own shed!
Take your time, measure carefully, don't let mistakes get you down, and have fun!

69 Comments

studioprmtv 2 years ago

I can't believe people are building this kind of a shed. Using pallets to build shed walls is unsafe! Pallets are designed to carry heavy loads in one direction, and when you flip them on their side like shown in the picture, they lose a lot of strength. Weathered pallets are even worse, as weeks of rain, snow, etc. has soaked into the wood and caused it to warp and crack. Over time and use, pallets crack and split and become very weak.

Please, please do not build a shed like this. I would be surprised if it stood five years without shifting out of square and eventually collapsing.

RebeccaH170 1 year ago

Actually, i built a pallet shed like this for a chicken coop. Except i also plywood sided the inside walls and ceiling after insulating them. And i used siding like this one also. It’s VERY sturdy. As long as you aren’t using soggy, rotten wood, and you keep it off the ground, it will be fine. I built a pallet deck on the ground, and that was a mistake . LOL. Especially the rain we get here! But that’s ok. It works for now. Haha!!!! If i stay long enough, I’ll raise a new one off the ground.

these folks used sturdy clean pallets. You should maybe ask questions instead of damning these people with your inexperienced judgemental atittude.

this hut, just like my coop i built a long time ago, and the current chicken coop i built over five years ago from pallets, still stand, are still sturdy, and really, are sturdier than regular walls because of the supports that go both directions. Attaching them together can be tricky, but i found ways to make it work. Just like any building, if you make it secure, it won’t shift any more than any other building. :) nice try with your nastiness though.

mmoffat 5 years ago

About $200 on roofing materials. Corrugated tin isnt as cheap as i would've liked

dlewis21875 3 years ago

One thing I've found that makes a great roofing and siding material is old pool liners. You can get them free and they go on with a little glue and some nails. They can be cut into strips and attached to boards to give a vinyl siding look. Easily turn that $200 in materials to $20 just for the adhesive. Just a thought. I hope this helps someone save a few bucks.

mmoffat 8 years ago

The whole thing was about $220-$225. There was some treated lumber for the ground contact base, a couple cinder blocks to level stuff out, 2x4's for the door frame and roof rafters, a sheet of chipboard for the doors, allthread, washers, nuts, screws (SO many screws!) and the tin for the roof itself. If we'd had known about the tin the awesome aunt had available, the total cost would've been a lot closer to $100.

drexel2002 3 years ago

How often do you treat for termites/carpenter ants?

johnnail 3 years ago

What were the measurements of the pallets?

mpulliam1 8 years ago

I wish I had a neighbor like you. I have so many pallets, and access to an unlimited amount (in the construction biz). We have these pallets that are more industrial then the norm for carrying cement dust. Those would make an amazing floor. Landscaping pallets are great as they tend to be untreated/raw so you generally do not have to worry about any oil/diesel residue and they love to be sanded and stained. Great job!!

kashmerekatt 5 years ago

Hi,
I need to build a shed & this looks like a great way to do it. What part of the country do you live? I'm in Orange County, CA...
Thanks!

VivianW7 5 years ago

Hello. Very nice shed. One comment if I may. Used to erect Agricultural Buildings in UK for about 10 years. Steel. Timber, Asbestos and Metal cladding etc. I notice that you have the roof sheets running the same way as the rafters. Of course - correct but you should have timbers(purlins) crossing at (90 degrees to the rafters) to support the roof sheets. If you look at some of the photos you can see tin sheets sagging between rafters. Perhaps you have them lower down but certainly not at the top. Of course at this size you could of used 2 x 12ft rafters- 1 each end - then put 10ft purlins across the top , at 90 degrees to roof sheet layout -either fixed on top of rafters or using joist hangers at each end. Good shed though.

Griffin can 5 years ago

Thanks for replying and the good info this is what I was needing to find out I have been collecting pallets for a 10x12 shed ..wish me luck.!! Thanks and have a wonderful day

mmoffat 5 years ago

just gravel and dirt. It was North facing, so nothing grew inside.

mmoffat 8 years ago

Nothing, really. Just left it dirt, pushed some up against the side to discourage critters from taking up residence.

AdamF143 7 years ago

Does it leak? Is it water tight?

mmoffat 5 years ago

You could see light through he walls, but everything inside stayed dry.

mmoffat 7 years ago

The roof overlaps & overhangs enough that nothing gets rained on.
The siding pieces are tight enough that nothing blows in. I would say
that it's not water-proof, but it is water-tight. I built in some
venting at the top so the whole thing can 'breathe'. That came in real
handy when I put the smoker in there last Summer!

https://youtu.be/AHgSgYMSkDw

MikeP318 6 years ago

mmoffat, what about vents or a window on each side of building to get air going through and shutting that opening in roof?? I have many squrrels and other animals around.. Cant leave anything open! Hope to hear from you about your thoughts and thanks for posting your shed!

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