08 July 2023

Pallets as far as the eye can see

The work at Neuadd Ogwen, which started in 2021, is still ongoing. At the moment, the roof is being insulated. That requires a lot of material. And material tends to come on pallets. I saw some leaning against the wall, and ask the workmen what they intended to do with them. The answer was: nothing! So I immediately saw opportunities. 

I had come through half of the winter burning the original temporary steps they had demolished somewhere along the building works, and the second set of temporary steps had got away to my chagrin, but this was more unpainted wood I might get my hands on! So I asked if I could have them, and they said yes. And I put them in my garage. There were three of them; they pretty much filled up the place. These were not half-hearted pallets! They were more or less double the standard size; roughly 1.20 by 2.40 m. And the men said there would be more coming the day after.

The first sight of the pallets

The next day I found no fewer than five pallets that size. Five! I knew I couldn't store them in my garage as they were. I would have to demolish them there and then. I got my crowbars out.

More!

I managed to demolish one before I realised I would have to think of something else. This was a lot of work! No way I could do them all in one evening. So I put the demolished one in the garage, and decided to stack the rest against my conservatory. I could just one by one take these apart after work!

Emergency pallet storage

When I came home the next day I was wondering if I would find even more pallets. But I didn't! So I just demolished another one. And another one the day after. And another one the day after. My plan was working!

Along the way I also noticed that the neighbour’s cat was using them as a ladder to either just sit on top and then scowl at my cat through the bathroom window, or get onto the flat roof of the bedroom. Another reason to try to get rid of them as soon as I could!

As I write this, I still have a lot of space taken up in the garage by pallets. I hope I can get them out of the way soon. And then I can do a bit of reorganisation! And I should start to saw the planks into shorter bits, so I can stick them in my currently rather empty firewood racks. I look forward to a tidy but well-stocked garage again!

My garage after demolishing four of the pallets


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