building with pallets

[forgeblast]

Hi all, a friend of mine is helping an elderly neighbor clean his yard. Seems he has about 100 pallets to which I may be getting 20-30. I figure I can build something for the kiddo out of the pallets. I was thinking about???
1. best way to attach the pallets together screws, nails, bolts?
2. if stacking them to form walls (with the top of the pallet facing out) would a 2x4 be needed to secure them together (the 2x4 running inside the pallet). (like rebar in straw bale construction).
3. anyone ever make a tree house using them or a castle?
4. I figure if i put it in the right spot, it would make a cozy deer stand too.
I just want to make sure they are strong enough, and tought I would run it past you all.
thanks

 

[bcp]

If you do a Google image search for "pallet fence" you will see lots of ideas.

Bruce

 

[forgeblast]

Ty, seeing how they tie everything together was great, i also got lost looking at some of the shed projects and the wooden bridges that they linked too. I have a couple of ideas now. apprecaite the info.

 

[Western]

I used some for a deer blind once as the frame, then covered in some old tin roofing. Worked great in a pinch.

 

[hawkeye08]

We used pallets for kids playhouses, sidewalks, fort, etc when we were building our house. Since we were putting all our money into the house, pallets were cheap way to handle some needs. We fastened them together with whatever we had, nails, screws, wire, t-post, etc.

 

[Pete Judd]

Check out the wood that they were made from, some times you will find oak and other nice hardwoods in the mix. As a wood worker, I always check them out for other projects.

Yes you have to cut around the nail holes, but sometimes it's worth the trouble for small stuff.

 

[YesDeere]

We made pallet piers for our duck blinds. Makes walking on the marsh nice

 

[slowzuki]

We use them for fire wood huts, one bottom, 2 sides, 3 boards from a pallet on top, the 2x4 on edge in the middle, sheet of tin bent over the 2x4 to make a peaked roof.

 

[Bird]

The first time I used pallets for building anything was in the early '70s and the pallets were well seasoned oak, extremely hard. I had to drill pilot holes even for nails.

 

[forgeblast]

Thank you all, apprecaite the info. I will go over the pallet pretty good, most of the oak ones around here are used for stacking stone, I dont know if that is what they were being used for. I will keep in mind the predrilling too, just so i am not splitting anything/cracking.
I now just have to figure out where I can put it so that we can watch her when she is playing, on top of having a shot at a deer from it. The deer are all over our yard, have a couple groups of 6 running through at all time. Most the the doe dropped twins this year.
I know I do want it up in the air a bit to cut down on mice, snakes, groundhogs living under it, but i have some 6x6's that I can use for that.