Last weekend the trailer came in! This was quite a pleasant surprise, considering I was expecting it to take 4 weeks. For a trailer it looks like a decent size, but seems quite small when you imagine it being a house. Now that it’s in, titled and registered, dad and I are going to find a nice spot for it in the grass and level it this coming weekend. As this all happened so soon, I’m not prepared with lumber for framing! Time to scramble.
Other weekend happenings focused on deconstructing pallets. In theory, it seems easy enough to just flip them over and take a hammer to the pieces you want to knock off. Here’s what happens with this method:
🙁
Plus, in order to hammer out the front pieces, you have remove the back ones. It’s just a general mess that way and I didn’t want to waste time cracking perfectly usable wood. After a few attempts, the best way was to saw through the nails. Dad held the pallets at first, but it really needs to be a one-person job so we used clamps to secure the pallet to a work bench:
The first one took me about an hour to dismantle. I managed to get the process down to a science by the fourth one which took only 20 minutes. The sixth one took longer because my wimpy arms just gave out on me! I’ll build up some endurance eventually. I have a lot of pallets to go through…
A NOTE ON PALLETS: Only choose HT (heat-treated) pallets to use in, on, or around your home. Chemically-treated pallets are covered in all kinds of nasty stuff that will off-gas or absorb into things and could cause some health damage.
Thanks for the warning on the pallet dismantling! I’ll be sure to allow extra time when I finally get to building Lidia’s relax shack.
Silly question but what are the disassembled pallets to be used for? The framing?
Not a silly question. I’m playing with options for siding (interior) and shelving out of pallets. At firstI thought about doing the exterior siding out of the pieces, but because it’s pine and has holes in it, it just wouldn’t last as long as I’d like.
Nice weblog over here! I’ll subscribe roulette when it’s possible for me.
Have you made sure the pallets aren’t treated with preservatives or pesticides or that previous use makes them unsuitable for building?
Sorry for the delay, it hasn’t been letting me reply to any of your comments! Here’s what I followed:
You followed what?
Sorry! http://www.ehow.com/how_10025800_pallet-treated.html