Comrades, I've come across a free source of pallets and scrap wood and the mutual aid homeless encampment project in my city is accepting them. My current efforts are to ferry the supplies to the camp weekly so that someone there can add on to the current structures.
Since I wanna get involved in building some shelters but I have very little construction or design experience here's my question for chapo: Are there any good pallet shelter designs specifically for sleeping in and using as a tiny home? Most of the things I've found online are just imagines of finished pallet livestock shelters, but I want to find something that details the process a bit more.
I don't think pallets themselves are good for shelters because they're full of gaps, so the best thing would be to disassemble them and use the lumber to build something more sturdy. That being said, you could make small structures and wrap them in tarp to seal them up, but that's not much better than a tent.
Probably the easiest thing to build would be a lean-to. Its basically a three sided structure with a sloped roof. Because it's so simplistic in its design it can be scaled up or down in size to fit just one person or a dozen, and it requires a minimal amount of materials, basically just wood and screws, which means you can build more of them with the materials you have. The three sides do a good job of reflecting warmth, the sloped ceiling takes care of rain and snow while not trapping smoke from cooking, and they are usually on a raised platform which helps with rodents and heat loss. You can also hang sheets/plastic across the front for privacy without using up more wood.
That depends on the region you're building in, year-round weather conditions, the amount of space you're allowed to build in, amenities you want to fit in, and resources at your disposal to build with.
Like for example if you're in a winter zone, you'd need to deconstruct the pallets and use the boards to build more air-tight walls and either cover the exterior with or build an interior wall to fill with heat-retaining material, in addition to constructing a more angled roof to prevent roof collapses from snow/ice weight, with even the possibility of building a slightly elevated floor surface insulated against the frozen ground to allow for a more warm interior.
There's lots to concider so do take your time coordinating with skilled people to make good shelters for your area.
Search Terms Used: Pallet Shelter Diagram
Gives a general text outline and a wire diagram that you're going to have to stare at for a minute and think through if you are lacking in experience. There is no roof diagram though. Also, always have pallets on the ground to use as a floor. Cold and water are bad for sleeping and people's belongings.
From looking at the diagram that shows the walls, the pallets should be easy to identify. They are on the outside represented with the pair of long and thin rectangles connected by three small rectangles with "X"s inside. The "top" of the pallets should be the outside wall of the structure. Replace broken parts of the pallet tops whenever possible, this is the surface you'll be nailing things in to to keep wind/rain out. Painting any parts on/near the ground will help them last longer.
The circles represent the support structure, round posts/pipes/T-posts/4x4 post. (They may not be apply for your situation and might need to be omitted.) They should be sunk into the ground around a foot to give a decent amount of stability. The pallets are attached to the supports where the pallets meet with tied wire/rope/twine if the supports are metal and possible nails if the supports are wood.
The outside looks to be covered in a tarp, but you could use regular roofing shingles (every layer overlaps the layer below by 50%, watch a video if that doesn't make sense), painted cardboard sheets could also be tacked up (won't last a very long time but will last longer than unpainted cardboard). Plywood might be easier to find as salvage from construction dumpsters, paint them to protect from water damage.
If you can manage to keep the pallets off the ground somewhere around .5~1 inch that will slow the rot from water/humidity to the parts of the pallets nearest to the ground. Rocks, bits of concrete, formed concrete, galvanized pipe cut into thin slices with a hacksaw, or chunks of wood that are deemed expendable (and will be replaced as needed.)
The space "inside" of the pallets can be filled with paper, cloth, straw, plastic/glass bottles and un-crushed aluminum cans(with their openings covered in some way) to work as makeshift insulation. Be mindful of fire hazards! Another sheet
Here is a site with 10 designs, some of the diagrams are pretty decent and easy to understand some of them are like the diagram that from the first link. The site has links to the other sites that their designs are pulled from so there's a little bit more information. Also, some of these designs are for actual houses, not temporary shelters but they might help give you an idea of what to do.
Don't make it a fucking hexagon or pentagon. Just make it a rectangle, it's the easiest most efficient shape to build.
