Nothing heats your home like a wood-burning stove. But if you have one, or a fireplace or outdoor fire pit, you need to keep firewood on hand. The challenge is protecting your woodpile from rain and snow. By building a handy wood shed from pallets, though, it’s as easy as 1, 2, 6!

Steps for Building a Pallet Wood Shed

The standard size of a pallet is 48 by 40 inches. For this wood shed, we’re going to use nine pallets to create a structure that is 4 feet deep by 6.5 feet wide.

Step 1: Choose a Location

Choose a flat, level area of your yard or grade the area by removing soil with a shovel. Save any removed topsoil to use around your property or add to your compost.

Step 2: Assembling the pallets

  • Cut one of your 1-by-4-inch pieces of lumber into ten 1-foot-long pieces to use as joiners for your pallets.
  • Join two pallets along the 48-inch side to create your floor by screwing two of your joiner pieces where they meet.
  • When done, the floor will measure 48 by 80 inches.
  • Cut one of the pallets in half using your circular saw to create two halves measuring 24 by 40 inches.
  • Join these halves to two of the other pallets to create two wall pieces measuring 40 by 72 inches. These pieces will make the back wall.
  • Using your circular saw, cut a 32-inch section off two other pallets to create two pieces measuring 32 by 48 inches.
  • Join these pieces to two separate pallets along the 48-inch length. These will be your two end walls.

Step 3: Setting your posts

  • Before digging the holes for your posts, consult with your local utilities to make sure you aren’t going to dig into power, gas, or cable lines.
  • Lay your floor in the area you leveled out.
  • Mark the ground at the corners with brightly colored spray paint.
  • Remove the floor and dig post holes 9 inches in diameter with your post hole digger or an auger.
  • Set the 4-by-4-inch posts in the holes. Have someone hold the post upright while you check for plumb with a level.
  • To accommodate the pitch of the shed roof, set the two posts in the front 12 inches higher than the two posts in the back.
  • Brace each post with a 2x4 by nailing one end to the post and securing the other end with a stake in the ground.
  • Follow the manufacturer’s directions to mix fast-drying cement in a wheelbarrow.
  • Pour it into the holes around the posts to within an inch of the surface.
  • Resist filling it to the top as it expands as it dries. Work up any air bubbles as you pour using a shovel.
  • Allow 48 hours for it to cure.

Step 4: Attaching your walls

  • Once the concrete is set, remove the braces and lay the floor pallets back in place.
  • One by one, screw your wall pieces to the posts using the 3-inch deck screws.
  • Use one of your 1-by-4-inch pieces to join the two pieces of the back wall.
  • Create top sills by setting pressure-treated 2x4s, cut to length, on edge along the front and rear of the shed.
  • Screw to the posts.

Step 5: Install the rafters and purlins

  • Cut the remaining pressure-treated 2x4s to the correct length to use as rafters.
  • Using the galvanized roof ties, attach each rafter to the top sills 24 inches apart on center. The final one will be about 8 inches from the sidewall.
  • Screw the remaining pressure-treated 1x4 to the rafters perpendicular down the middle, dividing the rafters in half as a purlin.
  • If you live in an area with a lot of snow, add additional rafters.

Step 6: Install the roof

  • Use your metal snips to cut the sheet metal panels to length.
  • Lay the pieces on the rafters overlapping the edges by 2 inches.
  • Screw in place to the rafters and purlin using the roofing screws.
  • You’ll need to cut the final piece to fit the narrower space.

And you’re done!

While this shelter will definitely work to protect your firewood, you might also consider it as a viable place to store bicycles and lawn equipment, or as a run-in for small livestock.

Tools:

Materials:

  • Nine 48” x 40” pallets in good condition, stained to preserve the wood
  • Four 4” x 4” x 10’ pressure-treated posts
  • Six 2” x 4” x 8’ pressure-treated boards for rafters
  • Three 1” x 4” x10’ pressure-treated board for purlins and joiners
  • Four 2” x 4”x 8’ boards for bracing
  • Two 26” x 10’ sheets galvanized roofing metal
  • Six galvanized rafter ties
  • Box of 3-inch deck screws
  • Box of 1½-inch metal roofing screws
  • Four wooden stakes
  • Fast-drying concrete mix
  • A can of brightly colored spray paint

Tools & Materials

  • Tape measure
  • Step ladder
  • Posthole digger
  • Shovel
  • Wheelbarrow
  • Circular saw
  • Metal snips
  • Level
  • Drill
  • Hammer
  • Framing square