Pallets

If you can get Oak pallets and prop them up on blocks, logs, etc. where they don't contact the soil, they'll last for many years.

I used to use wood pallets directly on the ground for 3 years and the bottoms would be rotted but the stacks stayed off the ground. Now I use plastic pallets and I just started reusing pallets that had three year oak stacked on them. I like the plastic better because recycling the old wooden ones into fire pit or kindling is one less chore. I always end up with to much pit wood anyway because my cut offs and gnarly pieces end up in in that stack.

I would have done the blocks which is a good idea but I never had enough blocks for 24 pallets.

JoeyD said:

I used to use wood pallets directly on the ground for 3 years and the bottoms would be rotted but the stacks stayed off the ground.

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I'm going on 5 years with my wood pallets and direct contact with the ground and if I get bored later, I'll take the borescope out to check on the interior of the pallets. The exterior sides of the pallets are just like when I laid them down. I had a lot of rot on some other pallets but that stack wasn't covered and would get drenched in water which probably hastened the rot. Pallets around here are plentiful and free so I never felt the need to switch.

When I use pallets, not often, I put PT 2x4's under the pallets. I have had a few last many years and the pallets weaken eventually with age. Hard to find 100 percent oak pallets around here.

I don't have good luck with pallets. They tend to rot in about 3 years. I have a pile 20ft around and 7 feet high of rotten pallets now. I am going to have a hell of a bonfire one of these days.
I have moved on to stacking with cinder block and 2x4s. With cinder blocks the stacks are 8" off the ground and they never rot.

I have pulled pallets from piles stacked 3 and4 years and some of those pallets looked like day Iaid them down.
I have reused many and restacked new piles on them. We will see again in 3-4 more years.

I think the biggest factor is if they are covered or not. I have some pallets probably 10 or 12 yrs old as the base for a wood shed and they have held up pretty well til the last couple of years. Also pallets made with 1 inch boards far outlast pallets with the thin 1/2 inch boards