Have you ever thought about building a shed for free, or very cheaply? This article outlines how to source free pallet wood, the construction process and things to think about for your own build.
Our goal – to build a shed for free, out of pallets using permaculture principles to guide us. There were two of us and we had two weeks of time dedicated to building.
We needed free wood. The most abundant source of free wood scavangable in an urban environment is the prolific pallet!
The site was a concrete hard-standing 8mx3m, where a previous, very old, shed had just about fallen down.
Step 1: Foundations and damp proof course
The concrete hard standing is a great base to start from, however water still pooled on it when it rained. So we designed a damp proof course of bricks to raise the pallets up and prevent them from rotting over time.
This also provided a level surface to build from.
Step 2: Pallet prep
Pallet sourcing was no problem, first we identified our nearest industrial estate, knocked on a few doors and asked if we could help them deal with their rubbish problem! (Note- it’s important to ask as some companies recollect pallets– so simply taking them could turn out to be theft!).
We used identical big pallets for the back wall and identical medium sized pallets to make the front wall, and a mix of both to see what happened at the sides! Once we’d sourced a decent range we decided to ‘thin them out’ by removing some of the lengths –enough to lighten, not too many to weaken the structural integrity.
Step 3: Walls
Corners are the place to start. Balancing 2 pallets precariously around the back corner, we screwed in our ‘cross members’. We used wood off-cuts to provide diagonal strength across the corner, hold the pallets together and ensure maximum use of resources.
The sides consisted of medium pallets to match the front line, with diagonally cut pallets to make the link between the back height and the front – while a good level of weather proofing is important air-tightness isn’t, in fact those mismatch gaps provide excellent ventilation!
Step 4: Making windows
We had a couple of old pieces of weirdly shaped clear plastic and a small rectangle of glass lying around – ideal for windows. So we cut out corresponding holes in the pallet walls before erecting. We used the cladding (coming next) to hold the windows in place from the outside, and more of our trusty wood off-cuts to hold them in place on the inside.
Step 5: Cladding
Any spare moment in the build was deemed a cladding moment. To ensure structural cohesion and protection we decided to horizontally clad the whole structure (apart from the back that was covered with a tough plastic sheet – it is not subject to weather and would be impossible to access for cladding as it butts up against the neighbours wall – give or take a 10 cm gap).
To clad the shed we needed a large supply of single pallet slats. If there is any part of this project that was the most laborious this was it. The goal was to build from pallets, and for free. Without these limitations there are plenty of other ways to clad the building that would take less time.
Removing slats from pallets requires practice. The technique is to prise off the easy ones with a crowbar or pallet tool and saw off the ones that are never going to prise. In my experience, use of brute force results in bashed about unusable timber.
We then simply jigsawed them up each wall to produce a rather pleasing rustic effect.
Step 5: The roof
After unsuccessfully trying to build a roof from salvaged plastic bottles. We were unsuccessful because we were unable to flatten the bottles enough to make tiles. We instead were able to salvage some aluminium roof sheets, and we bought some clear plastic roofing (the design is to use part of the shed to raise seedlings, so the roof needed to be transparent).
Step 6: The door
When we took down the old shed we made sure we kept the door, with a lick of paint, and rejigging of the locking device, somehow we made it work!
All in all the venture cost us a week’s solid labour, another in prep, and about £45 in roofing and a resupply of mortar for the brick base. It gained us a whole chest full of pride and satisfaction; a secure, watertight shed, and a super snugly crèche for our seedlings and salads – which are thriving!