The DIY movement has been around long enough for people outside of the shipping industry to know that there is an endless number of ways to repurpose wood pallets. From gardening to furniture design, there’s no shortage of projects for you to do with your excess pallets. Many people love the raw and industrial look of the humble pallet as a design feature in their furniture pieces. Other people use our pallets as hidden structural support, such as beneath beds. But some people have even taken it further with these interesting and often unusual uses for our products:

Chicken Coop

If you have the right tools to disassemble and cut the pieces of wood pallets, you have a chicken coop just waiting to be built! You will need a few extra supplies to finish the hen house, but the bulk of what you need can be found on your wood pallet.

A note about chicken houses: If you live in Canada, be sure to lift the coop off the ground and to insulate it; otherwise, your chickens will freeze in winter. Of course, to prevent your chickens from meeting an untimely demise with a neighbourhood fox or weasel, reinforce the pallet from the bottom so nothing can get in while they’re sleeping.

DIY Bat House

With just a couple of pallets, you can make a few homes for an entire colony of bats. Just like your chicken coop, you’ll need to cut and reassemble pieces from your original heat-treated pallet to make a house that’s narrow, dark, and cool.

For the best results, mount your bat house high in a tree away from your home (to prevent bat droppings), and avoid staining the wood, as this can make resident bats sick.

Humanure and Composting

Wood pallets make simple, effective, and tidy-looking compost piles. All you need to do is screw four pallets together and hey presto! You’ve got yourself a clean, airy location in which to start collecting kitchen scraps, dried leaves, and grass clippings. To keep the critters out, we recommend adding a fifth pallet on the bottom and lining the compost with chicken wire.

Speaking of compost, wood pallets also provide a great receptacle for an entirely different type of pile: humanure. If you live in the country and use a composting toilet, a wood pallet bin side-by-side with your other compost is a great way to organize your waste. If you decide to go this sustainable route, be sure to cover your humanure with plenty of medium—i.e. straw or sawdust—to eliminate any smell.

Wood pallets are useful to humanure piles, as it allows air to circulate throughout to enable the composting process, thus eliminating the smell entirely. Even so, we recommend putting your compost tucked a bit away from your home to discourage pests from coming too close.

There are so many uses for wooden pallets. For more information about our products, request a quote or contact us today!