Tried to build a raised garden bed using free pallets and it went sideways fast

Found a bunch of pallets behind the grocery store last month and thought I was being smart saving money on lumber. Spent a whole Saturday breaking them down and pulling nails with a pry bar, took me like 6 hours just to get the wood ready. Then I found out half the pallets had this chemical treatment stamp on them, so I couldn't use them for veggies anyway lol. Ended up tossing the whole pile and just buying cedar from the hardware store for $85. Has anyone else fallen for the 'free pallet' trap or just me?

3 comments

3 Comments

ryan_gibson847d ago

I get what you're saying but I gotta push back a little on this one. In my experience pallets are a mixed bag but not a total trap if you know what to look for. The chemical treatment stamps you mentioned are a real issue for sure, but there's a quick way to filter them out before you even take them home. Ones stamped with HT (heat treated) are safe for gardens, so if you stick to those you're good. Breaking them down is still a pain though, I'll give you that, it takes me about half a day too and I've done it a dozen times. Your mileage may vary but I've built three beds from HT pallets over the past couple years and they've held up fine, saved me probably $200 total. Just my two cents but maybe try again with the right stamps before writing them off completely.

owens.cameron7d ago

Whoa hold on, you built three beds from those things and they actually held up over a couple years? That's wild, I figured the wood would start rotting out way faster than that!

dylanmurray6d agoMost Upvoted

Fair enough but I've had HT pallets rot out in under a year.