# Self Sufficiency/Living off the Land or Off the Grid > Gardening >  Pallet Compost bin construction

## hunter63

As this gardening season started with one of my two compost bins finally melting down after about 15 years, I started the quest to locate 4 pallets to build a new one.

In a previous life pallets were a fact of life and were there for the picking up and removing, with a good selection of sizes and types to chose from....Free.

So after some scrounging I did find three that were close to what I wanted.
Forth one was a "I'll give you a call....." type of thing so I dug thru the lumber pile, to see what  had.

Slight modifications to cut down to size on three "Freebies".

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Actually had to OMG....."Buy" some lumber, but I didn't what to use treated on anything that would touch the compost, and build the forth side.

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Gunner was "helping me" making tinder for the tinder bundle, in the shade, big help that boy.

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So after the construction part, moved into position, used 12 long galv. deck screws to hold the sides to the back, then 4 salvaged screen door hooks to fasten the door on the front, was back in business.

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To the right is the other older bin, gonna be looking for a few more pallets as this will need to be replaced soon.

If necessary I can build each side with about $12 bucks, so I figure about $50 bucks, I can manufacture then with "store bought material".

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## Winnie

I need another compost bin. The council where I used to live handed out free compost bins and I brought it with me. The trouble I find is that stuff takes forever to rot down as the air flow is so restricted. I'm going to give your design a go. I might actually get compost the same year I start the stuff off!

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## Rick

In other news....

Sadly, last night saw the end of the pallet compost bin when Hunter inadvertently set himself and the bin on fire. 

"It was bound to happen," said Fire Chief Willie Burnum. "It's gotten so bad the town council is going to park a tanker next door to Hunter and just have a couple of firemen hang around...just in case. Shame about the compost bin though."

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That really is a clever idea. I do like it. I like the fact you can open the front end of it. Mine is open on the front bottom. About a foot or so but it's not very convenient. That would be great for turning the compost. Good job and rep coming your way!!!

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## hunter63

My pile is mostly a "cold pile", and generally take at least 6 months.
Every spring, I empty one out, shifting the top partially composted, to the other pile.

When one is empty, I mix in saved bagged leaves, with grass clippings and the incomplete compost restarting the empty bin.

This gives me the bottom 2/3's of each bin totaling about a cubic yard and a half, twice a year.

Then its a matter of adding material all summer, (composts faster) and repeating the process in the fall, out put is much better in the fall, but then again, there is a lot more material to add in the fall.

Every once in a while I end up with a good mix and it gets "Hot", you can see it steaming for a while in the winter.

I really like the two bin system and it digests most every thing for the yard and garden.
The only thing I don't compost any longer are the tomato plants and vines from cukes , gourds and squash. Hoping to keep down the blight spores

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## hunter63

Thanks,
Rick, have a neighbor that's a fireman, so have my own personal fire squad, LOL.
The old one will end up getting fed into the wood stove, whats left of it.

Was much easier with the free pallets........But hey it works well.

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## Rick

I don't like to add the vine plants in my compost either. If everything works right any larvae that might still reside should be killed but it would be just my luck to toss in a condo of killer bugs into my garden freshly fattened up on compost.

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## hunter63

> That really is a clever idea. I do like it. I like the fact you can open the front end of it. Mine is open on the front bottom. About a foot or so but it's not very convenient. That would be great for turning the compost. Good job and rep coming your way!!!


I had a opening bottom panel on one of the first bins I built, really was kinda a PITA. 
Then went to a series of boards, sliding them into a kinda rack, remove as many as you want. 
That worked a little better, but was still hard to keep them in the track/rack.

This was the final mod and have stayed with it for a long time, and as I'm doing "batches" mostly works well.
Simple, cheap and works..............

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## sjhopkins

Love this compost bin idea. I've been looking for a way to make one with something I have on hand and I have pallets available. I think I'll do two of them and use one one year, while the other one seasons and the other the next year. Thanks for the details.

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## Chris

I had someone pick up 8 of my extra pallets today for this express purpose.

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## hunter63

Outstanding, looking like I gonna have to rebuild bin #2 soon, only been there 15 years or so....don't make them like they used to.

It is a simple and cheap way to creat a compost bin. 
But of course there are those that ask the question, (and I have been asked)"What is the purpose of a structure such as this?"

I just send then to the garden center with $300 bucks, go figure.

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## grrlscout

Looks good!

I scored a few pallets from up the street for this purpose. I couldn't find enough L brackets. So I used zipties as a temporary measure:

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Unfortunately, the landscapers decided to "help" by cutting the zipties and neatly stacking the pallets up against the wall.  :Flare:  They also blew away and raked up some herbs I had drying on the back patio. 

That kind of sucked the wind out of my sails. The pallets are still leaning there.  :Frown:

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## hunter63

I just screwed mine together with long deck screws, no "L" brackets needed.
The only hardware needed or that I used were the screen door hooks for the door.
Zip ties would work as well.

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## oldtrap59

As Hunter says, they just don't make those pallets like they used to. I have a regular route to pick up pallets once a week in the local area and have noticed especially the last couple years that I seldom get maany oak pallet anymore. Most of them are made of pine now days and just don't standup like oak. Good idea there Hunter.

Oldtrap

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## hunter63

been awhile for this thread, but i was just thinking about it as the guy that put up my tractor shed mentioned that he had a bunch of pallets at his place.
So I ask hime for a couple and he brought me 4 more.

Been toying with the idea of a palletized wood pile....put some sides on a pallet, fill it when splitting, storing on the pallet, then transporting the whole thing with the tractor when needed.....

Cabin pretty much shut down for the winter, but planning on giving this pallet thing a go next spring, when I clean up all the dead falls from winter.

More to follow

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## Rick

We have a local greenhouse that sells wood in the winter. They stack split wood on a pallet and then shrink wrap it. I don't know why a palletized wood pile wouldn't work well.

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## hunter63

Working with wood seems to be a exercise program, no matter what.

Laziness being the mother of invention, or in this case just useing the idea from the land scape places, (funny I never gave it a tought tioll just last week as I was hauling up the hil)...the pallets are ventalated on the bottom, and side be as well....seems like a natural.

I do like the bucket forks for brush and hay bales.....seem a good fit.

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## crashdive123

When I lived where I did heat with wood, I did stack all of the split wood on pallets.  It wasn't moving but did like to keep it up off the ground.

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## oldtrap59

Pallets are for sure a case of one man's trash is another man's treasure. I for one am not looking forward to the day when pallets are all made of plastic. However, plastic pallets might be good for compost bins.

Oldtrap

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## hunter63

Plastic pallets would be fine for compost bins, as the one that are sold are plastic...not sure is they would leach or not, I guessing not.
Might last a bit longer.

Scrounging has always been a hobby, I guess maybe even a life style...now I still re-purpose stuff.

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## Rick

I thought you might want to see this. I think this is sort of what you have in mind. 

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Just stacked on pallets

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Thought you might get a kick out of this, too. 

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## hunter63

Those are cool pic's and great ideas, Thanks....wood on pallets are a little tall but, yeah, that's the idea.

I did build a shed using tied together pallets(w 2 X 4's) for the floor, and bought my first Sawzall just to saw thru the nails, those serrated nails are impossible to get out.

My loading bench is build from pallets, and was a "potting bench" and a book shelf in it's previous life.

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## grrlscout

Saturday, I had some of that coffee I brought back from Honduras. Stuff was like CRACK! I could not sit still. So I grabbed the drill and some deck screw, and put that danged compost bin back together.

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Since the firewood was sitting on the future gate, I took all of it off, laid down some tree stakes, and restacked in on those. While I was at it, I used my handy dandy new garden cart to haul all that orange wood from the tree we cut down from the opposite side of the property, and add it to the wood pile.

This took me all of about 45 minutes.  :Ohmy: 

I still have to find some bailing wire or something to attach the gate. But, close enough.

Oh and we have an old vinyl kiddie pool I'm going to use to tarp the wood, once it dries out. It's been raining off and on here for days.

I should probably write on it "hojas aqui" too, so the yard guys know where the leaves go.

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## Rick

I thought HoJo's Aqua was the pool at the hotel. Go figure.

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## hunter63

LOL, Yards guys?....yard guys?...we don need no stinkin yard guys........

I have to agree though, that gardening isn't for those who need that instant gratification....build a compost bin, put the stuff in and stand there...."Well, are ya done yet?"

Plant your seeds, put down the fertilizer, get the hose out to water....and tell everyone close by to "Stand Back!"

Plant Waaaay to much stuff, try to keep up with it all, the can't wait to till up everything at te end of the season, to erace all your mistakes, and vow to not get carried away "next year".......

Then there is always...If I do this or that, maybe I can get MORE stuff in my little garden...... 
That, my friends is gardening.

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## grrlscout

We are both busy and lazy. So paying some guys to cut the lawn and blow some leaves around twice a month seems a better deal than buying a lawnmower and a leaf blower and sweatin' our booties off.

The downside is, sometimes they try a little too hard, as noted earlier in this thread. Trying  to "help", they took apart the compost bin the first time I built it, blew away the herbs I had drying, and gave the lavender bushes flat top hairdos!  :Frown:

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## hunter63

I can just see that....
"Jose, lookie the junk stacked up and all dese leafs stuff'?
"Oh, better get rif of dat, might not be Good stuff...ya know?"

Gone.

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