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Setting up a temporary shelter in a backyard?


Thr

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Hello,

 

I live up north where the winters are quite harsh, and in order to keep working through the winter, I've been looking to make an improvised shelter out of wooden pallets for now, eventually working towards a better setup later on.

What would I need to consider, if working with only pallet wood? I plan to dig small holes in the ground to bury beams for support, nailing wooden pallets to a basic frame.

 

Thanks.

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As ThomasPowers likes to say, "There's nothing half so permanent as a temporary solution." Your plan to attach the pallets to a solid frame is a good one; just make the frame as solid as possible. 

You'll find a lot of resources online for building sheds with pallets. This article in particular seems (at first glance, at least) like it was written by someone who had half a brain, so that could be a good place to start: How to build a pallet shed - recycled building at it's finest! (Note that this specific design does not require attaching the pallets to a solid deck, so you can leave the floor as bare dirt for fire safety.)

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I agree with John that a bare dirt floor is preferable to a wooden deck or floor.  However there is the question of how you attach the building to the ground so that it is secure enough to resist weather.  You can either set vertical beams or uprights in holes in the ground, with or without concrete footers (in your climate a concrete footer will last much longer) or attach the structure to some sort of base, similar to a portable garden shed or chicken coop.  You may want to consider realistically how long you think you will be using the structure.  If it is a year or two before you upgrade to something larger or more permanent practically any old shack will suffice.  If, again, realistically, you think you will be using it for some years I suggest that you put more effort and thought into the initial construction.  You may, eventually, want to insulate it and add a heat source other than your forge.

Also, you may want to check local building codes to insure there are no problems with the local authorities.  In the county where I used to be County Attorney you did not need a building permit for anything of 100 square feet or smaller.  Other places may have different trigger points.  Also, it may make a difference if the structure is permanently attached to the ground or is on skids and theoretically portable.  Where you locate it may be significant on whether you get on the local government's radar or stay under it.  If it is clearly visible from the street or road or if some neighbor can see it and might consider it an eyesore you are more likely to need official approval.  If it is in an obscure location and under anyone's radar you are less likely to have issues.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

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I built a shed, at the insistence of the BOSS!, After I finished my friend bought a metal car port. I realized that I should have done the same. His  carport is big enough for 2 cars and he paid a couple of hundred dollars more for it than what i aid for the lumber. That also included putting it up. He scrounged up some old stockade fence and closed in the sides.

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The “snow load” car ports have 2x2 uprights on 4’ centers. The same size as 100’ roles of R13 metal building insulation. The other ones are on 5’ or 5’6” centers. Their is an insurance office here me build out of one with bricked in ends. 
law to pallets. Get matching ones, cut some in half (across the 2x4) so you lay them down two whole ones and one 1/2 2x4’s end to end. The next row gets layed out so the 1/2 is on the other end. Now nail, screw or glue the 2x4”s together. Keep going until the wall is as long as you want and set up your wall and repeat for the other 3. The roof can be done the same way except only work two rows at a time. A stringer to prevent roof pitch from flattening and the walls pushing out is needed every section is needed. 

if you go with a 12x12 pitch you can go with shorter walls

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  • 8 months later...

Apologies for disappearing for the better part of a year. Craziness in life and back pain kept me from doing much for quite a while, but I'm setting up something slightly more permanent now.

 

20230814_154422.jpg

 

I'm going to nail/screw these together and create two roughly square frames, with an extra set of connecting beams across the top. Then, I'll add in some extra supports, and leave the two sides on the short ends partly open, to eventually be filled in with some kind of hinged door (The overall area is 6' x 8') and I'll put together a basic roof, sloped at 45 degrees, with the actual roof covering being a simple sheet metal, and the walls will be made of pallet wood nailed on.

 

Is there anything else I should consider?

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There are myriads of ways to build out the shop; however, I would suggest not leaving the dirt floor recessed as in the picture.  For starters, I suggest getting a load of gravel, say 3/4" to 1" size and fill it in.  If you get a lot of precip, the dirt floor will become muddy.  The gravel will be more "comfortable".

Happy forging!:)

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Even for something 6' x 8' I'd highly recommend you build it using proper frame carpentry, techniques if not new materials.

If you're going to build post and beam then do it THAT way. If you're going to go frame wall then do it THAT way. Mixing and matching when you're not already accomplished is rarely good for more than costing extra money and time IF it works.

Yeah, ditto making a proper floor and foundation, Mud sucks for either.

Frosty The Lucky.

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I'm planning to put in a layer of gravel, actually, possibly with a few tiles on top within.

 

The frame itself is made of new wood rather than old pallet wood... I can't really do much in the realm of good carpentry due to having nothing more than a few hand tools and basically no workspace or proper workbench, I'm doing this on an extreme shoestring budget. I've looked around a few places for building techniques, but would you know where I could find some resources on it?

Edited by Mod30
Excessive quoting
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Shade tree carpentry, WOO HOO! Heck you might even find a website with those as terms. Being as your shop is only 8' long you only need about 10' of flat surface. You'll be building long wood so buy an inexpensive hand drill, screw driver and a box of 2 1/2" wood screws, Phillips drive better than flat slot screws. Measure the parts of the pallets you are going to use for structural, studs, footers, headers, trusses, etc. Just make sure the screws don't poke all the way through with the heads buried. It's less fun than a person might think to run a body part across the pointy end of a screw.

Now to "scab" it into long enough "lumber." There are two  simple ways, first is with screw plates which can be purchased, Simpson Strong Ties being the one I'm most familiar with. These are galvanized steel bent, punched for different jobs. A scab would be a flat plate long enough to span several inches on each side of the splice I"ve seen "saddles" for the same purpose. You simply butt the lumber together on a FLAT SURFACE like your garage floor, driveway, patio, or the street out front if traffic and the neighbors allow. You can use plywood for stiffeners too just remember to take into account the thickness and do both sides of the butt joints.

The other method I like for floor joists is to arrange the salvaged lumber side by side alternating the butt joints. AGAIN on a flat surface and use a sap line to get it straight too. Screw the lumber together. Go ahead and squirt some glue between the two before screwing them together to be sure. The name that is waving it's hand in my memory is "Instant Nails" construction adhesive. It comes in a tube like calking and can be used in a calking gun. Check pawn shops or garage sales you see them all the time. Don't squirt it under a Simpson Strong Tie, it actually reduces the strength of the joint.

Of course if you wish to stack the wood edge to edge for wider rather than thicker structural wood you'll need to scab it together edge to edge, Plywood, instant nails and lots of 1.5"+/- wood screws is your "Huckleberry."

How are you taking your pallets apart?  One of these works a treat and they're easy to make, some guys make them out of pipe fittings and nipples! No idea how they get those to not twist in use. Check out pallet busters.  Pictured below is just one of a whole raft of different "Pallet Breaking Bars". I made mine in about 20 minutes using some heavy leaf spring (road kill) a little pipe and angle iron. I just copied pics I found online.

Frosty The Lucky.

Top 10 Picks Best Pallet Breaker Bar For 2022

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Frosty, you do not mean "Liquid Nails" do you? 

For "scrap" lumber check the local machine shops. We get stock on pallets sometimes and those pallets are 8'-10' long and with two 4"x4"s. We also get stock in boxes that are 10'-20' long, the boards are 1" thick and anywhere from 3"-12" wide. When we have a few in a pile we move them out next to the road for people to take as they please. I am building an "office" in my barn and the walls will be made from those stock boxes and pallets. 

I brought home 1 stock box that was made from 12' 2"x12"s, it was enough lumber to build a pretty nice work bench with. 

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A lot of those stock boxes they are just pine boards but  with a bit of sanding and some stain they do make nice shelves and stuff like that. 

I have also got access to a whole bunch of 55 gal. drums. I am going to take 2 of them and make me a wood burning stove for my barn hopefully this fall. My plan is to use a lot of those boxes and pallets as fuel for that stove as well. 

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I have a double drum stove in my shop but I screwed up making it. I put the barrel jacks in line on the top drum instead of at opposite ends so the hot smoke just passes straight up and hardly warms the stack robber drum.  If I want to correct it I'll either have to move the roof penetration for the stack or take the top drum apart and put baffles in to redirect the smoke to the front of the top drum then back. 

At this time it's more hassle than it's worth, the stove takes the chill off if it isn't too cold out so I'm letting it ride. <sigh>

Frosty The Lucky.

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Thanks for all the info!

I've been using a trick I saw elsewhere to disassemble pallets, by using one plank on the ground to rest the pallet on to angle part of it just off the ground, and another to bash the lower planks from the top side so they're forced out.

 

While I'll be using screws for the actual frame, would regular nails be strong enough to hold planks onto the frame itself to form walls and possibly a roof?

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This is exactly the method I used for gathering all of the pallets I collected! Pallets won't fit in my car so I had to tear them apart in order to take them home. I kept a a pair of gloves, a small sledge (machinists hammer?) and two 4-ft 2x4s in my trunk. Whenever I saw a pallet either driving around or on FB Marketplace, I'd be ready to tear it down and throw into my car! I hammered/pulled all the nails out at home. I got pretty quick at the teardown part, lol

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Thr, yes nails will work. They would be fine for the entire structure. After all that was the norm when building houses and other buildings for hundreds of years. 

It has been many years since i have done a metal roof, but iirc we used screws to hold that down with. The screws, again iirc, had little rubber "gaskets" under the head. This was to prevent rain water from leaking under the screw rotting out the wood. 

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  • 3 months later...

After many months and recovering from a bunch of unrelated injuries later... I finally have this. It isn't perfect, but it'll keep the elements off of my equipment for the winter and let me actually use a belt grinder without too much issue.

 

20231201_155410.thumb.jpg.66115b496fc1176fb9a5bb3ce938bd59.jpg

20231201_155424.jpg

20231201_155435.jpg

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