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| Food vending booth we built and ran as a group at the route 66 event center |
I have seen many stories lately pertaining the use of pallets in building projects and it has compelled me to write about some of the creative things we have done with pallets.
In the summer of 2012 a group of us, 28 in number, known as the HoldingEarth group or Living Off The Grid group embarked on a journey to create an off grid sustainable community.
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Living Off The Grid, (HoldingEarth) Group Photo.
We had bare land and needed some shelter in a hurry before the winter winds came. Living in tents and army trucks wasn't gonna work in winter, so we made the decision to build some temporary shelters using pallets. Drew, one of the members of our group, had already built a pallet structure back home in his back yard and he built it in a way that it could be moved in panels on a trailer and we assembled it on the land. This gave us a head start on how to build. We gathered up hundreds of pallets.
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| stacks of pallets |
We learned very quickly while gathering up pallets that with little effort you can get all the pallets you could ever want for free other then the cost of fuel to bring them home. We also learned very quickly that pallets come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and can be made of just about any type of wood.
With our stacks of pallets we started building and not just building shelters but building all sorts of things. We were able make a deal with a place to get all their excess pallets. They were made from 2x10s and 2x6s and we had a huge supply. We built shelters, tables, benches, menu board, bike rack, wood storage. you name it we built it all from free pallets.
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Dave installing our pallet mailbox
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We cooked on an outdoor wood stove. This pallet structure kept our firewood dry. built by Tyler.
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| Bike rack built by Dylan |
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menu board built by Dave
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| Pallet bench built by Dave and Amy. |
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| Janie's temporary pallet house. Built by the group. |
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| Temporary pallet shelter built by Drew in his back yard and assembled by the group on the land. |
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Pallet Kitchen / Pantry built by the group and benches and tables built by Dave and Amy
We built this kitchen with all reclaimed material for $200.00. |
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3 room temporary home for the Tubbs family of 7 built by the group.
As you can see from the photos of the summer we spent building with pallets the things you can do are limitless. Just use your imagination
by Everyday Joe
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