Plastic pallets for firewood storage - Pros and Cons

I have an opportunity to pick up a generous supply of plastic pallets at a reasonable price. What are the pros and cons of using plastic pallets? Anyone with a few years experience here? Does sunlight deteriorate the plastic? Thanks

 

In my limited experience, yes, the sun deteriorates them somewhat, and depending on design, some are stronger than others...also, some are downright slippery when wet (or even worse, snowy!) but overall, most are an improvement over wood pallets for the firewood stacks

 

Sag rather easily if elavated and if on a slope the wood may slide off. Slippery when wet so be mind full when stepping on them.

They dont rot. Not enough experience about the sun issue. The few i have are under a very shaded stack.

 

I have had some wood stacked on plastic pallets since 2017 and they are holding up quite well.



The Black pallets are the ones you want as they seem to be UV stabilised, I have had some blue pallets that degraded after about a year.

The pallets I have shown here have stood the test of time in the harsh Australian sun.

 

I like em. They never rot.
I’ve had around 20 for probably 5 years and have been kicking myself for not getting more when I had the chance. Was always on the lookout for more, until last month. I found a store closing/changing companies and got 54 (i think was the final number). I should be pretty good for quite awhile now.
I haven’t had time to put any of the new ones in service yet, and they are a different style than what I had. The newer ones have a smooth top but I don’t think that’ll be an issue with my situation.

 

I've had em for several years too. Only negative I can give you would be cost. I scored almost all mine for free but most times I see $6-8ea. I do have several types and I find this type is more fragile.


I store rounds and noodled chunks on pallets until all wood is home, then split. If you drop any weight on those, they can crack. This type is much better in that situation.

If you're just stacking splits on them, there's no issues with the first type and I prefer those.
I did buy several exactly like this from Farmer Steve and they are very thick and heavy.

 

You talking about buZZsaw BRAD's ex-girlfriend again??

 

The few I own have solid tops and are heavy. Yes they can be slippery when wet but they just don’t rot. Mine almost never see sunlight because they always have wood on top of them.

 

the block style plastic pallets are the better ones, the pallets with the the feet pockets need holes drilled in the feet to keep water drained out. the bottom holes fill with dirt over time.
They also sink more than the block style but that is dependent on the soil you stack on.

 

They are harder to dispose of. Other than that, plastic is highly preferred.

 

Thanks all for your comments. I have several plastic pallets as well and you were all spot-on with what I have experienced. Agreed, they can be slippery when snow covered. My use is strictly long term storage (3-4 years max) and at my remote processing woodlot where stepping on the pallets doesn't occur. I found the block pallets to be the most rigid and the pallets with feet a good substitute. My biggest concern of course was the sunlight. Once covered with wood, there shouldn't be a problem and my stack of extra pallets will be tarped. I checked the weight ratings on many plastic pallets and most seem sufficient. It is visually obvious what pallets will not hold the weight of wood storage. Yesterday I purchased 50 of the pallets pictured for $4.00 per unit. They measure 43x43 inches and appear well ventilated. A better price for future orders was discussed. I laid out four pallets this morning and set a 2500 lbs. skidsteer mower on it and then set my grapple and bucket on top of the mower with no pallet failure (well over 4000 lbs). I'm sure firewood weight will be much less. I'm convinced plastic pallets are the way to go, if they can purchased for a reasonable price.

 

What if you put wood pallets on top of the plastic ones? I think T.Jeff Veal did that recently.

 

What if you build a wood shed with plastic pallets ???

 

Anything is possible and the air flow would be improved. My goal is to move away from nails, rotting and flimsy wood pallets. At one time I had pallets on top of cement blocks. It worked well, but then I ran out of cement blocks and gained more groundhogs. I was scrounging only the heavy duty wood pallets, but they are getting harder to find. The heavy duty wood pallets are pretty heavy to work with and since my bride loves to work the wood by herself, I think she will better appreciate the plastic. (Yes, I realize what I wrote. That's for us pervs. Let the jokes fly.)

 

Ive built frames out of reclaimed 2x6, 2x8 etc PT lumber and set the pallets on them. Elevates the stack, saves the pallet too. Ive also set the frames on reclaimed 4x4 PT as well

 

For any NE OH hawdahs...

 

Thanks for the info here. I’ve seen some locally for about $5 each. May have to grab some to test out.

 

I have been looking for some, but they are far enough away that the gas it cost to get them ruins the deal! Thanks for the NEOH tip though!