Thread: Building with Pallets

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Three years ago, we built a castle facade out of pallets covered with 1/2" Styrofoam sheets (painted with a 4' x 8' stencil). Actually, we made two walls - an inner one and an outer one. We built them flat on the ground in sections, with 2x4's between them for support, and raised them. Let me tell you, that was a major pain! Them suckers are heavy! One section was four-high (only two-wide, thankfully) with 16' 2x4's, and I really didn't think we were going to be able to get it raised. However, once raised, they were easy to strap and brace, very solid, and looked very creepy behind clear plastic.

Two years ago, we used pallets again for the boardwalk in front of our old-west ghost town. Again, very easy to use.

This year, since the HH maze is extending out of the garage and down into the driveway, we have a lot of wall surface that needs to be covered. I was dreading telling my wife how much all of that plywood was going to cost, with lumber prices being so high this year. Yeah, no. Not with our budget, she said. How about pallets covered with cardboard?

I guess I should mention that, since that first year, the local pallet company lets me "borrow" pallets for free. Not even a deposit.

So, I went back and redesigned the whole thing with pallets instead of 2x4's and plywood. Friday, I picked up 45 standard pallets (the most they would let me carry in a single load in my pickup truck) and Saturday morning, we started building.

This time, however, we did it a little differently, and what a difference it made! Instead of building flat on the ground and raising, we built it upright as we went, one pallet at a time. Here's how.

We laid down and anchored a 2x4 "sill" in the exact location needed. We then screwed metal framing track to the top (open side up). The first stud (upright 10' 2x4) went at the end of the track and was attached at the base with 2 screws, one on each side, through the metal track, and was temporarily braced. We placed a short scrap of 2x4 in the track and set the first pallet in place, balanced on the scrap. The scrap also keeps the pallet from bending the track. Once plumb, we screwed the pallet to stud #1 with a pair of 3" screws (with pilot holes - pallet wood is very dense). The second pallet went up next (above the first) and, once aligned with the lower pallet, was screwed to stud #1. We then set stud #2 in the track, next to the 2 pallets, and repeated the entire process. Once complete, we ran a 2x4 "beam" across the tops of the studs and screwed down into them.

Even though the studs are 10' high, we are only going 2-high on the pallets (or about 8'). The top 2' will be covered with ripped plywood.

A huge benefit of pallets is that they are SOLID! With the method described above, I climbed up and sat on the top of the wall, and it didn't budge. They can also get hit pretty hard by ToTs and not move.

Here are some pics:

From 2008:




From 2009:


This year:
coming soon

Wow! That's a pretty impressive and ambitious fascade. How long did that take to put together?

From this year:



It may not look like much from this angle, but there are 31 pallets there... with 11 in the front wall alone (14 today).

Originally Posted by Terror Tom

Wow! That's a pretty impressive and ambitious fascade. How long did that take to put together?

That much of the castle only took a couple of days (once we got started). We made a 4' x 8' stencil to paint "castle bricks" on an entire sheet of Styrofoam at one time, so we spent another day painting and attaching these:

Here is another angle:

wow i would never be able to do that, it looks awesome.

im just... wow.... lol