I'm with you on the dislike for pallets. I mainly use them for temporary storage of rounds/logs until I can CSS. I prefer my PT boards on cinder blocks for splits. Still, I do end up using them sometimes such as for my short & uglies bins and for some types of wood I keep separate from the main stacks (i.e., oak and softwoods).
I'd be broke if I had to pay for a way to keep my wood off the ground. 26 or more cord wouldn't be cheap to do. I'm getting better pallets....heavier, and reinforcing them with other pallet pieces for the thinner top layered ones. Once they're loaded and covered they shouldn't get too wet, and when they do, I'll replace them, also for free. This year, new stacks are getting under covered...plastic on the ground under the pallets. Hopefully that'll keep ground moisture from coming up. Sca
There’s miles and miles of RR iron laying around this part of the country. We tore some out at work this summer and scrapped it. Had to have a letter from RR approving it or they wouldn’t buy. HEAVY stuff. All the guardrail I’ve came across is in 26’ lengths. I had to cut in half to get home. Put some PT cut offs under them and I really like them.
It's funny you mention cost. Many times I think just of the cost and time people put in getting pallets or even PT lumber to stack on. If I had to do that I'd be stacking on the ground, which I have done many times in years past and made it work. Cost = $0.00 For many moons now I simply use what is available here at home. That will be some saplings, perhaps a few good branches or even some logs (like I have now, pine) under many stacks. It takes me very little time to get what is needed for stacking and then I can reuse those logs over and over many times. I have some now I've used for over 10 years. One other way, and I use this at times, is to just use the firewood to stack on. That can be either splits or rounds. Just lay out 2 rows then stack the wood on top. Later when you have burned that wood, you can simply use those 2 rows to stack on again or put them on top of another stack to further dry them as they have probably sunk into the ground a bit over time but the wood will still be good. Yes, I am cheap. So I like to use whatever is at hand whenever possible. I have also seen men get injured when trying to walk on pallets. They can be very tough on ankles. Have I ever mentioned that I don't like pallets?
Yes sir, we use pallets, wood and plastic. We build big and small sheds from pallets, build bins and small racks with plastic pallets. The biggest shed so far. The floor is 2 equipment skids and a few 2x6 boards. It is 11x15x8. Holds almost 10 cords This shed will hold 1.25 cords stacked to the top. We put 6 - 4"solid cap block on the ground, 2 - 4x4's on those, fasten pallets to 4x4's, boards on end and add roof. We scrounged some 20+' 3x4's. Made a 2+ cord shed with those. Pallets are 50x50. Found a 5x10 pallet at work. Used it for the floor and made a shed for small round limb wood. We built another big shed, it's 7x14x6 1/2. Holds 5 cords... Got a few plastic pallets from work. Use them to make bins for shorts and uglies. buZZsaw BRAD gave me a better idea on the bins. Stack the front with shorts, pile chunks in the back... We also use plastic pallets for the smaller amounts of specialty woods for BBQ, pecan and cherry...
I can get all the pallets I want for free at work. I use them as it costs me nothing. If they only last for the life of the stack that’s fine with me. Most times we put them out by the road for people to take saving room in the dumpster. Anybody wants some and can pick up in north central mass shoot me a pm.
Depends on the area of the country too. Termites are bad here, so wood or pallets on the ground get ate pretty quick.
Definitely wish I had more flexibility to be able to build some of the sheds similar to yours. Even though I am somewhat in the middle of nowhere, my town still has very strict ordinances about building anything. I would have to apply for a permit for each shed and every one of them would end up on my taxes. They even require permits and tax you for the canvas Rhino shelters. So much for our state's "Live Free or Die" motto.
Have not used pallats but I would if needed. I scrounge for old treated 2x4, 6 or 8s and make racks. I took the kids old wood play structure and made racks, you get the idea. I will pull decent wood long past its original use or what people just throw out. I repurpose a lot.
RR trackage would certainly work, but moving 8 and 10 foot sticks would require a few people or machinery. The number in the webbing/thinner part, is the number of pounds per yard. I THINK 86 is about the lightest...putting a 10 foot piece at just under 300#. Finding enough for 20+ cord would be a bit of work, never mind moving a row location one day, or the poor sap my estate sells my property to..... Pallets any day. Sca
I started out with pt 2x4’s and the plastic brackets. The plastic brackets couldn’t handle the pressure from the vertical 2x4’s, so I switched to the ironton metal brackets. The cost of boards and brackets became unsustainable as the hoarding increased, so I started picking up pallets at work.
That stinks. I wouldve never guessed that for NH. Even if you constructed a stack with a built in cover?
Neighbor had a landscaping business and gave me a bunch of pallets along with misc. brick pavers. Stacks stay like this photo for a couple years then they go into the woodshed.
Lots of variables. When they do the town's 5-year tax assessment, the assessors just look at any free-standing structure on the property as a 'shed' and it gets added to the taxes. If you know when they are coming and can remove the roof or explain to them it is just a temporary firewood rack, you might get away with it. The assessors are horrible up here. I have some property that is deeded as 'green land', which is NH lingo for wetlands. Every time there is a tax assessment, it ends up being labeled as a buildable lot, the taxes go up big time, and I have to fight with the town to change it back. Every five freaking years it's the same deal. Then there is the issue of small town politics. We have people on the town boards whose families go back a looooong time (one has land grants in the family dating back to the Civil War)...and they take care of their own, their friends, and everyone else gets screwed. They are definitely in the 'do as I say but not as I do' crowd. Finally, there are a lot of city folk moving up here who try to turn their properties into a Better Homes and Garden cover winner. They are the first ones to run to the town hall and cry about anything they don't like so if they see you building something, they rush down to see if you have a permit. There are only six homes on my private dirt road, but there are only two of us left that are actually from NH. The house next down the road from me sold at a cost of $185,000 over the tax assessment to a city slicker and the house at the end of the road right on the river is under contract for $875,000 and will be a second home for someone south of the NH border ($315,300 over the tax assessment). The town has completely gone over to catering to the wealthy out of staters and doesn't give a rat's a** about the locals anymore. Ok, rant over.
Beyond PO'd. Free country my tookis. Some parts of CT aren't much better. Towns taxing a lean-to (like for your propane canister on the side of your house) others flying aircraft and drones over peoples property to see what buildings they have, a couple towns, including mine, have a back door deal with home cheapo, that if you spend more than $2K at a wack, they can ask HD what you spent it on/HD has to fork over the records. Sca
Showing off another stack on pallets. No one else is going to appreciate the work put into building these walls.
