Pallets at their summer cottage

Wooden pallets or pallets are an excellent consumable for various buildings, structures and crafts at their summer cottage.

And they become so due to their low price, the ability to independently assemble them from improvised materials or find them ownerless. For pallets in a summer cottage, you can find a large number of applications.

A pallet consists of several boards fastened into one structure. Usually used as a stand. The boards are made of wood, this determines the performance of the pallet.

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Where can pallets be used?

Products from pallets at their summer cottage can be divided into two large groups: practical and decorative. The first will include various crafts that are useful in everyday life. For example, a bench made of wooden pallets, which can accommodate several people.

The second group includes products that serve as decoration for a country house or plot. For example, a fence for a flower garden. Such a product will not perform protective functions, but will serve as an unusual decoration.

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Assembling a wooden pallet at their summer cottage

Assembling a pallet in a summer cottage is quite simple. This will require a certain number of boards, beams, planes, sandpaper, saw, nails, hammer, nail puller or pliers.

The standard dimensions of a pallet according to GOST are 120x80x14.4 cm. But for manual creation, this is not so important, they can move up or down. The main thing is that the whole structure is even, there are no protruding boards.

For country design of a pallet, you will need 11 boards. Eight of them should be 120x14 cm in size. The rest of the boards should be 80 cm long and 14 cm wide. The thickness should be at least a centimeter, it is desirable that it be the same for everyone. In addition to the boards, you will need nine bars 14x14x10 cm.

All boards and beams should be adjusted to the desired size, get rid of chips and irregularities, if necessary, paint in advance. After that, you can start assembling the pallet.

Now you need to take one of the smaller boards and place five notches on it. So that they divide it into equal segments. In these places, you should hammer the ends of five long boards end-to-end with nails. They will become the front side of the pallet. Two more small boards should be nailed to the other end and the middle of the long ones. Remove all protruding nails with a hammer inside the structure.

The next step is to attach the wooden bars. They should be placed evenly on small boards, in the corners and in the middle. And at the end, nail three small boards from the bottom of the bars, parallel to the top three. On this homemade wooden pallet at their summer cottage will be ready.Now you can use it for its intended purpose, as a stand or create a product from it.

Wooden pallets may be needed at the very moment when they are not available on the site. Instead of buying them, you can create them with your own hands from improvised materials. This is done quite simply due to the lightweight design of the pallet. A few measurements, cuts, nails and a hammer are enough. Manual labor to create pallets will save a certain amount of money.

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Create a product from pallets

The creation process itself is divided into three stages: idea, preparation of pallets and assembly.

At the first stage, it is necessary to decide what the product will be used for, to think over its design and appearance, in some cases also to make the necessary measurements and calculations.

At the second stage, it is necessary to prepare pallets for subsequent assembly. First of all, they need to be rid of various defects, thereby securing the pallets. Next, you need to give them the desired shape. If necessary, additionally paint, varnish or decorate in any other way.

The saw cuts on the pallet should be smooth so that they cannot get an extra splinter on them.

The final stage includes the assembly of pallets into a solid structure and their fastening. Everything will depend on the shape of the future product.

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Unusual ideas for using pallets in a summer cottage

It is worth considering a few examples of the use of pallets in a summer cottage, both practical and decorative.

Country lounger

One of the simplest and most useful products from pallets at their summer cottage is a low deck chair. It will take three pallets to make it.

First of all, they need to be processed, painted and varnished. Next, fold in a row so that the width of the structure is as large as possible. Now fasten them together so that the pallets do not spread. For this purpose, nails, screws or other types of connections are suitable. This bed is finished.

A fourth pallet can be added to the design, adding an angle of inclination to it for greater convenience. Or make comfortable armrests.

After the sunbed, it remains only to cover and use it.

Coffee table

A simple but practical product made from wooden pallets will be a small table for the living room. To make it, you will need two pallets, four legs and a table top. As well as a small number of tools.

First you need to clean the pallets, remove excess nails from there, treat scratches and small chips with sandpaper. Next comes their painting and varnishing. Since part of one pallet will not be visible, it should only change color at the side surfaces. The second should be left unpainted only the bottom.

Heavy plywood, glass or something similar is suitable as a countertop. In size, it should slightly exceed the dimensions of the pallet. The legs can be made from small bars. Or you can just put lining under the makeshift table so that the pallets do not scratch the floor of the room.

It makes no sense to connect wooden pallets with each other, so the design will turn out to be easier to disassemble. It is enough to attach the prepared legs to the bottom of the legs or put linings. Then one pallet is installed on another.

If the countertop is glass, then double-sided tape, special glue or liquid nails can attach it to the tree. If it is massive plywood, then it is enough to fasten it with screws.

The result is a neat coffee table that will decorate the living room of a country house.

Fencing for a flower garden

A striking example of the use of pallets as a decorative decoration would be a small flower garden fence. It will not carry any practical use, but it will look decent.

The construction will require a certain number of pallets, which will depend on the future size of the fence. The plan will be for dimensions 360x360x30 cm. The length of each fence will be three pallets.

9 wooden pallets of standard dimensions should be prepared. Saw off 20 cm elements from the width of each. Lay one side of the fence face down so that the smaller sides are in contact with each other.

They should be fastened together with the help of residues from pallets, two large one smaller. Bolts or self-tapping screws are suitable here, it is absolutely unimportant, the fastening points will not be visible, since they will be on the wrong side. Carry out a similar operation with three other parties.

Now you can start fencing the flower garden. Each side should be half (30 cm) buried underground for greater strength. Mutually, their ends should be in contact with each other.

Between themselves, the sides are best fixed with metal corners with grooves installed at the junction. But, if they are not there, then you can take a small bar, install it in the corner of the fence, and then drive several nails into it from the front side of each side. Do this with each of the four joints.

As a result, a decorative fence for a flower garden with dimensions of 360x360x30 cm will appear on the summer cottage. It can be made larger both in height and in width with the help of additional pallets. But, if the fence is planned to be large-scale, then it is worth making a through hole in it for the entrance, and it will also be possible to install a gate or door there.

Above are examples of the execution of products from pallets at their summer cottage. They can be taken as the basis for future crafts from improvised materials.

In the process of creation, it is necessary to be based on a clear product plan. Otherwise, something crooked and unreliable may turn out. And the most important thing is that the product meets safety requirements. Interaction with it should not cause any injury to children and adults. Compliance with these requirements, as well as knowledge of the general principle of the production of such products, will allow you to perform almost any practical or decorative idea from pallets in your summer cottage.

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Features of the use of pallets

At its core, pallets are made of wood. Therefore, their positive and negative sides will be the same as those of ordinary boards.

Basically, this is very good, since wood is a fairly high-quality material that is used in many areas of construction. It has proven to be a combination of low price with a wide range of applications.

Advantages

It is worth highlighting several clear advantages. It is thanks to them that wooden pallets will serve as a good building material for products in the country.

• The first is the already mentioned availability and low price. Pallets in a summer cottage can sometimes be found unused, or you can independently assemble them from extra boards, and then apply them. And they cost less than five hundred rubles per unit. This makes them a very accessible material.

• Art carvings, paint and varnish are easily applied to pallets. And to change their shape, it will be enough to use an ordinary saw, which can always be found in a summer cottage.Therefore, pallets are easy to decorate and process.

• For wooden pallets in the country, you can find many uses. It will turn out to be made of them as a practical craft or structure, or just some kind of decoration element in which there is no practical purpose.

• Any pallet product is a rather unusual solution. Thanks to this, it will be pleasantly received by the owners, as well as guests of the summer cottage.

Flaws

There are not very many key shortcomings, but they are quite significant.

• Low weather resistance. Untreated wood under the influence of rain begins to rot, which spoils the pallets and their structures. They can also be chewed on by various insects.

• In the case of outdoor use of wooden pallets in a summer cottage, there is a need for additional treatment with a waterproof solution.
• Extra care required. To increase the service life, varnishing and painting should be renewed at least once a season.

• Insufficient strength. The standard designed pallet is designed for a load capacity of up to 22 kg. With a slight excess, it will become unusable much faster. And large weights will simply break the pallet.

The main disadvantages of wooden pallets practically exclude their use as the main material for the construction of residential premises. They are best suited as an element of decor or as a functional product. But pretreatment gets rid of most of the shortcomings, including early decay and vulnerability to parasites.

Pallets at their summer cottage are a multifunctional material. It can be found unowned, built on your own, or purchased at a low price. You can find a huge variety of applications for pallets in the country, from creating banal coasters to building entire structures.

Structures from them can be placed both outside the site and inside the dwelling. Possibilities in changing the shape, color, various kinds of decoration and varnishing will give the crafts or wooden pallet construction a unique look that will fit into the interior or exterior of the cottage.

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