We live on the prairie so wood is hard to come by. Not so for pallets though- it seems there are always a surplus of pallets being thrown away. We collect them wherever we go. We even have a friendly store owner who saves them out back for us.
Of the many uses we’ve found for our pallets: perfect firewood for the rocket mass heater, a temporary front landing for our new home (perfect for scraping off muddy boots), compost bins, bins for sand, and sturdy platforms for our lime and cement bags (to protect them from moisture). We’re also planning on using a few in the construction of a new dog house and recently came across a great idea for “pallet gardening” on Grow Food, Not Lawns facebook page.
Gotta love it when free stuff turns out to be so darn useful!
have built workbenches and other stuff from pallets; good to predrill regaurdless if nailing, screwing, or bolting together; pallets are Pressure Nailed together from many kinds of wood
pallet wood should be taken apart and allow to air dry a few months before using
have also encountered pallets made with “2 x3′s”; sometimes topped with plywood; and once in a while redwood from california
i have been building garden beds from them for a while. can anyone give me sugestions on better ways to remove the nails?
I built the frame for my compost pile, dog pen, work bench and chicken coop from pallets free from the hardware store . The broken pallets are used for fire wood for the stove….
Yes pallets have been an essential building block around here! I stack my 10 cords of fire wood on them, make compost piles with them (I wire the front pallet on for easy removal) , landings (like you), bonfire wood, etc. I get a brand new one every year with my skid of pellets for my pellet stove and I always find uses for them…..
Enjoy reading your whole blog in the last 4 days. Great progress. Good work. I live West of Edmonton. I am always reading about self-sustainability ect. I came accross this YouTube video on super easy solar power set up. I don’t know that much about solar panel set up but this is all in one system ( batteries and inverters inside solar panel etc). Check it out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hy9wT7Vvkdw&feature=player_detailpage
Maybe I have missed something from your blogposts, but have you already written any details about what kind of insulation material you are using ?
How are you adding the insulation, e.g. with an extra wall of sandbags filled with isolation material in addition to the load bearing wall of earthbags ?
Do you have any pictures of the work with the insulation ?
How much energy are you expecting to consume per year to keep the house warm ?
No, I haven’t written about insulation (or lack thereof) that I recall. I’m (again) behind on my blogging. We are berming in place of direct insulation. It is working in those sections that have been bermed but there’s a lot more to do and we’re now having to wait out winter to get back to it. Still, the rooms warm up relatively quickly with the mass heater and the wood stove, but we’re not out there often enough to sustain the temperature.
Kind of difficult to estimate the amount of wood we’ll use. The mass heater takes a fair amount but very small pieces of wood, so is quite efficient that way. The wood stove takes larger wood but doesn’t require regular feeding. It’s really hard to say until we’re in there…
Ok so now I’m sad because I’m done. It has been a most amazing ride to read these blogs in order. Though I understand to a certain extent the work involved, it feels so surreal to read it all in a couple of days. That being said, Whoo Weee what a trip this must have been for you guys and wow what a beautiful home. So now a question. You had mentioned making papercrete bricks a while back for insulation. Did you use them anywhere else other than around the RMH?
I will be interested in finding out how warm your environ is. I have been at a tug of war with myself over insulation versus thermal mass. I had thought that the only way to do this in the colder climes was to use a volcanic rock or other some such insulator in the bags as Kelly Hart had done. We have perlite available her in Maine. There are, of course, pros and cons to both thought patterns. While working with perlite, or some such, would be faster because of it’s lightness it is cost prohibitive. The cost of the perlite is one problem but also the cost of the rebar, additional tools, and the challange of stability. While working with native soil as a bulk is cheaper it is considerably more work and I have a feeling I will be on this project alone.
Did you papercrete the outside at all or just plaster it?
I know that you sometimes get down on yourself for not blogging enough but I have to say thank you for doing what you have. I have learned as much here as I have on Owen’s and Kelly’s sites. I can’t wait for your next installment.
We didn’t use the papercrete anywhere else. Moisture was a concern for us (I understand papercrete can attract mold). As for temperature- it is cold out there right now. But we haven’t been living in it (so not heating it regularly) and we never did finish berming. I will say that where the building has been bermed, there is a definite temperature difference. The plan is to pretty much berm 3/4 of the way of the north, east and west sides of the building come spring. I think this will do as much (if not more) than we could have using perlite. Fingers crossed!
how’s the temperature inside?
I’m not sure if someone has asked this before but… how did you get around the whole building permits/ building inspector thing? or is it more don’t ask don’t tell… dam the man
The temperature is not chilly, but we haven’t been living in it yet. I think the berming (scheduled for spring) will go a long way, and regularly heating the building. As for the permit, we went with the latter approach.
Wooden pallets are very strong and rigid platform that are cheaper than any other pallets. It is used for various purposes such as making of furniture, fence to the garden and other creative work.