Budget shed

[Keninmaine]

Stacking on pallets. Would like to put a 3 sided roof enclosure. Pricing lumber still gives me heartburn. Might need 2 smaller seeds the way my yard is laid out.
I can get decent solid pallets for $8 each. So got the idea of trying to use them for some of the side walls. It might look junky, hard to say. Anyone tried this? Have pics? Ventilation differences?

 

[KDubU]

Sure you can try this. I am going to do something similar for this winter and in the spring/summer build a proper woodshed. I saw a pic of sort of what you’re describing in the solar kiln thread. Let me see if I can find that pic. Also on pallet pricing, 8$ per pallet? Are you buying new pallets as I have seen pricing like that for some here in Maine but I like to grab freebies (it’s the Scot in me).

Edited to add pic from the solar kiln thread:



Note how he supported the ends and has it up off the ground. Pallets underneath will work but will eventually rot in time compared to the above.

 

[Keninmaine]

Guy near has piles of them. Solid pick your type. I can scavenge, but there are regulars that hit these like seagulls.

 

[Gearhead660]

I have seen where people have made garages out of pallets. Stack them and run a 2x4 through them to hold them together.

 

[Garbanzo62]

Picked up 4 pallets for free this wknd. Local Yard equipment dealer gets most of their deliveries on pallets. will be stacking wood on some at lunchtime. Check around at local businesses. Some recycle some discard. Might need to do slight repairs but that is better than paying for them.

 

[crickert]

Stacking on pallets. Would like to put a 3 sided roof enclosure. Pricing lumber still gives me heartburn. Might need 2 smaller seeds the way my yard is laid out.
I can get decent solid pallets for $8 each. So got the idea of trying to use them for some of the side walls. It might look junky, hard to say. Anyone tried this? Have pics? Ventilation differences?

I recently used old fence panels to make a post and beam style shed on top of a floating deck platform. Old deck lumber was used for the base/floor while the walls were built from the fence posts/rails, and siding was the boards. A fair amount of effort but it kept costs down significantly.

Turns out, people throw out old wood really often, and it still has lots of life left if a roof keeps the elements away.

 

[cahaak]

I built what I would consider a budget wood shed. It is built on a modular 8' x8' plan with pressure treated 4 x 4 posts at each corner that hold up the roof. My shed is 8' x 24', so I have eight roof posts. It has an ag metal roof on regular 2 x 4 purlins. I'm in MN, so my posts are 42" in the ground on a compacted gravel base. There is some upper post bracing to keep them spaced correctly. I stack on pallets, which you should be able to get for free.

For the three sides I used 6' tall welded wire fencing. I use a couple of external boards to span the ends that bear any stacking pressure. The fencing is cheap and gas great air circulation. On the entrance and stacking side I leave it open except in the winter where I close it off with vinyl sign material that rolls up that I got for free. My metal roof overhangs enough so that I rarely get any rain on the stacks.

Only thing somewhat costly was the metal roof. I built it in about 2015 and sadly prices are a lot higher now than then. I stack to about 7' high in each bay, or 3.5 cords a bay which is about what I burn in a year. It will be there long after I'm dead.

 

[madeyeson]

Stacking on pallets. Would like to put a 3 sided roof enclosure. Pricing lumber still gives me heartburn. Might need 2 smaller seeds the way my yard is laid out.
I can get decent solid pallets for $8 each. So got the idea of trying to use them for some of the side walls. It might look junky, hard to say. Anyone tried this? Have pics? Ventilation differences?

Plumbing wholesalers are always looking to get rid of pallets. Some even pay to have them removed. If you are looking for building wood for your enclosure the plumbing wholesaler have lots of that also.
All my firewood goes on pallets with hinged rebar uprights and removable X rebar crossover on top for bracing. The pallets are brought in, with forks on the Bobcat, to a 50' x 12' sunroom on the south side of the metal building my old trailer house is in. In the sunroom, the temperature can get as high as 80 degrees on a sunny day in January. The 10 to 12 pallets of firewood do serve some as a heat sink. The lowest nighttime temperatures have been around 20 degrees so far this year. The room has six 3' x 7' horizontal thermo-pane windows. The driest wood is used first. Green wood brought in in the fall will be sun dried in the sunroom by late winter.
On dry/wet wood and creosote: All creosote buildup is caused by the steam, tars and soot coming out of wet wood. The type of wood does not matter. For 20 years I have burned 90% balsam because it is what I have, 20 acres of it, that is now dead or dying from the spruce bud worm. I heat with a large Voglezang in the front room of my old 12 x 55 trailer house, inside the 100'x50' unheated pole building. The stove is 10' from my computer desk where I spend half my day as a historian for the North Shore of Lake Superior. Because of that proximity it is easy to refuel the stove. Every evening I fill a Northern Tool cart with wood in the sunroom and park it near the stove. I have studied the fire and types of wood for years and it is actually quite simple. Wet wood of any kind will build up tars on the door glass. You can often see the steam coming out the end of the wood and condensing on the glass leaving black tars behind. Burning dry wood of any kind will actually remove tars from the glass. In 20 years the metalbestos chimney has never needed cleaning except for the first year when the very top 2" of the top rim, which is uninsulated, tarred up. Just at that top, the coal like creosote had shut down to a 3" hole in a 6" chimney which made for back pressure and a lot of smoke when adding wood. No smoke problems for over 20 years now with addition of a cap with an insulated lower rim.
More wood wisdom from the old man later. (82 yoa, still cutting and splitting all my wood.)