# The scrounger's $50 woodshed



## Badfish740 (Sep 19, 2010)

If there's one phrase that brings a smile to a scrounger's face its "free pallets."  My usual supplier had an unusually large load of them this past week so naturally my mind turned to things other than burning them.  Surprisingly it can be kind of hard to find a number of pallets that are the exact same size, which of course makes building with them a bit of a challenge.  However, I did manage to cobble together eight that were the same length and relatively close in width-the rest will be cut up for those quick and hot morning warmup fires.  Coupled with 2x4s I saved from demo work around the house, deck screws that I bought long ago for a project I can't remember, some stone left over from some planting beds I did this spring, concrete rubble, cinderblocks, and other masonry items I had laying around, I was able to make a 7' x 17' platform upon which I should be able to stack about three cords provided I make the roof high enough.  That part remains to be seen because right now I'm exhausted, sipping a cold Yeungling and, out of free materials   Consider this an ongoing project.  Perhaps if I have enough scratch laying around I'll face it off with some T-111 and some proper trim so that it looks like one 'o those purdy woodsheds you boys up in New England build-the kind that inspire Robert Frost type poetry every time you go out to grab a split.  In the meantime I'll try to think of more uses for pallets.  If it weren't for building codes around here I'm pretty darn sure I could make a nice mini-barn out of them...


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## wood spliter (Sep 19, 2010)

Nice work. keep the pictures coming as it evolves.


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## firefighterjake (Sep 20, 2010)

Believe it or not there is a house in my hometown (well where I grew up . . . Thorndike) that was made out of pallets. You would never know it looking at the place from the outside as it looks like most stick built homes, but my father said he actually helped the original owner build the place and it was built out of pallets.


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## billb3 (Sep 20, 2010)

The 'sub-floor' on my house is  made of doors.
The z-straps are still on them. Visible from the basement.
Some day I'll rip up the carpet and see the other side of the doors if there is no plywood on top of them.
From what little  repairing I've done, the tale of this place once having been a small barn may be true.


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## Adios Pantalones (Sep 20, 2010)

I have seen building construction from pallets.  (also- straw bales, cordwood, recycled bottles, and all sorts of stuff).

However- your project seems appropriate for pallets, where some others were just cheap-ass novelty.


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## Badfish740 (Sep 21, 2010)

So I changed the title of the post to the $30 woodshed because once again the Lowes Gods smiled upon me.  You really can't beat their "culled wood" deals-piles of discounted lumber that gets picked over for warping, cracks, etc...  The missus and I went down to the new Sonic because we had a buy one get one coupon for milkshakes and Lowes is practically right next door.  I went in to pick up some screws and saw the pile outside-4x4s, 2x4s, 2x6s, etc...from 8' to 16' in length-two sheets of plywood too.  My "free" woodshed isn't free anymore, but it'll look a hell of lot a nicer for under $50


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## Badfish740 (Sep 25, 2010)

A little progress today:











As you can see I'm working with warped wood, but it's nothing a lot of nails and little come-a-long couldn't fix.  The posts are about 6' high-it will be a simple lean-to roof.


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## JustWood (Sep 25, 2010)

I'm not tryin' 2 rain on yur woodshed (parade),,,, buuuut,,,,, Yur gonna need alot more blocks under that if you dohnt want those 2x4's turning into toothpicks.Hope you got some in the center 2.
3 cords is gonna be 6-8 ton.


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## BrotherBart (Sep 25, 2010)

A man after my own heart. I bought three of these industrial shelving units at a bankruptcy auction for $15 and bolted them together in the spring. Three pieces of plywood and a EDPM rubber roofing scrap later and I have a 7" deep, eight feet high, twelve foot wide woodshed that holds right at four cords and we usually use three cord and change a season.

And after digging out to the woodpile in the mud six times last winter this sucker is sitting behind the garage right by the entrance to the breezeway with a brick sidewalk courtesy of the landfill.


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## wood spliter (Sep 26, 2010)

I love it.  Keep the pictures coming.


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## Badfish740 (Sep 26, 2010)

nonconformingLEE said:
			
		

> I'm not tryin' 2 rain on yur woodshed (parade),,,, buuuut,,,,, Yur gonna need alot more blocks under that if you dohnt want those 2x4's turning into toothpicks.Hope you got some in the center 2.
> 3 cords is gonna be 6-8 ton.



I did add more supports around the outer edge, but there are a lot in the center already.  Essentially, each pallet is supported on each corner, so that should be good.


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## tickbitty (Sep 26, 2010)

BrotherBart said:
			
		

> A man after my own heart. I bought three of these industrial shelving units at a bankruptcy auction for $15 and bolted them together in the spring. Three pieces of plywood and a EDPM rubber roofing scrap later and I have a 7" deep, eight feet high, twelve foot wide woodshed that holds right at four cords and we usually use three cord and change a season.
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> And after digging out to the woodpile in the mud six times last winter this sucker is sitting behind the garage right by the entrance to the breezeway with a brick sidewalk courtesy of the landfill.



Love to see a picture of THAT!


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## BrotherBart (Sep 26, 2010)

tickbitty said:
			
		

> BrotherBart said:
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Yeah I went to take one the other day and the batteries in the camera were dead. I'll take a couple. Essentially it is just a big square open sided steel box. I built a 12 X 24 wood shed twenty five years ago. The only thing I have ever built in my life. Now it is not only too far from the house but it is full of junk. And listing a tad.  :red:


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## Badfish740 (Sep 26, 2010)

Hey is anyone else not seeing my pics?  All I'm seeing now is the the filename-not even the url.  Were they too big?  If so I can resize them.


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## BrotherBart (Sep 26, 2010)

Badfish740 said:
			
		

> Hey is anyone else not seeing my pics?  All I'm seeing now is the the filename-not even the url.  Were they too big?  If so I can resize them.



I see them fine.


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## PapaDave (Sep 26, 2010)

I see 'em too, they're a little warped, but I see 'em.  ;-P


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## PapaDave (Sep 26, 2010)

I see 'em too, they're a little warped, but I see 'em.  ;-P 
Nice shed, and very resourceful.


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## cptoneleg (Sep 30, 2010)

Badfish740 said:
			
		

> Hey is anyone else not seeing my pics?  All I'm seeing now is the the filename-not even the url.  Were they too big?  If so I can resize them.


 
  Pictures are great keep up the good work.


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## Badfish740 (Sep 30, 2010)

cptoneleg said:
			
		

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I'm not sure what happened-just a blip in my internet service I guess.  I'm kind of glad I didn't get the roof up last weekend-we're supposed to be getting 40-50 MPH gusts tonight.  I'd hate to see what those winds could do to an empty woodshed   Hopefully more progress this weekend provided the backyard isn't too much of a swamp.


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## Badfish740 (Oct 3, 2010)

In the interest of truth in reporting I revised the title yet again-I had to go to Lowes today in order to get some nails, a couple of 2x4s, and some screws.  It's basically done at this point-I just need to fill it with wood and do some tweaking here and there.  My father-in-law gave me some ice shield to use as roofing material, so I need to get that on too.  All in all, not bad for $50:


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## wood spliter (Oct 4, 2010)

It looks great!


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## firefighterjake (Oct 4, 2010)

Cheap is good . . . but I do have a question . . . are you leaving the "trap door" in the floor of the shed for a reason or are you going to leave it there as a burglar deterrent (i.e. thief sneaks into your woodshed late at night to pilfer some pine, doesn't know about the hole in the floor and voila -- you end up with a thief with a badly sprained ankle?  )


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## Badfish740 (Oct 4, 2010)

firefighterjake said:
			
		

> Cheap is good . . . but I do have a question . . . are you leaving the "trap door" in the floor of the shed for a reason or are you going to leave it there as a burglar deterrent (i.e. thief sneaks into your woodshed late at night to pilfer some pine, doesn't know about the hole in the floor and voila -- you end up with a thief with a badly sprained ankle?  )



Hehe...that was just me getting desperate.  It's harder than you think to find a number of pallets of uniform size when you're scrounging for them.  I ended up using that one because it was the right length/width despite the damage.  Luckily I have no shortage of other pallets to cannibalize from.  I'm going to start filling it up this week-roofing material will go on over the weekend.  Maybe at some point during the winter if I get bored and have a few extra $$$ laying around I'll pick up some of that OSB that's faced on one side with a T-111 pattern-it even comes primed.  The shed doesn't look half bad now, but the siding might even make it look I bought it   Thanks for all of the comments-here's to a stress free year of going outside and grabbing a nice dry split-no wrestling with snow covered plastic required


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## firefighterjake (Oct 4, 2010)

Badfish740 said:
			
		

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Kinda figured you would get that fixed before you stepped in it yourself . . . and yeah . . . nothing beats a good woodshed (well maybe a good, cheap woodshed) . . . I can't tell you how much joy it brings me to see a fully-loaded woodshed and knowing that I will be able to pull out dry wood in middle of a raging snow storm or late Fall rain and not have to deal with blue tarps or get snow covered or soaking wet in the process.


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## blowell (Oct 7, 2010)

I like it - nice size.


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