Pallet bench - practical garden furniture made from scrap materials

A pallet bench is an option for inexpensive garden furniture. Making it yourself is quite simple. Since the pallets are made of wood, they can be painted or varnished. From our article today, you will learn how to make a pallet bench, and which design will be the most practical.

Content

1 Bench options
2 Video "Bench from pallets with your own hands"
3 DIY assembly

Bench options

Conventionally, the following options for garden benches from pallets can be distinguished:

Single. In fact, these are small ottomans, boards, timber or obapol trimmings are attached to them on top. It turns out inexpensively, but if you make 4–5 such benches, you can easily accommodate even a large company.
Double. More like a sofa, but without upholstery. It is better to place such benches directly under the house, with an emphasis on the wall, which will act as a backrest.
With a back. A universal version of the bench, suitable for both an open attic and a gazebo. There are several options for attaching the backrest. It is such a shop that will be the best choice for a summer residence or a gazebo.
Corner. Such benches are better suited for rectangular gazebos, take up quite a lot of space, but also allow you to accommodate a large number of people.

Video "Bench from pallets with your own hands"

In this video, you will learn how to make a practical bench from wooden pallets with your own hands.

DIY assembly

The main question is how to fasten those pallets together so that each pallet is held securely and does not slip. The best option is metal profiles. They are easy to cut into small paths and can be bent at any angle. But since they are quite thin, each pallet should be fastened with self-tapping screws for wood at 4-6 points.

The backrest, if necessary, is attached in the same way. And with the help of small blocks, placing them under the upper edge of the pallet, you can adjust the required inclination of that very back. To perform such an assembly, you will need:

screwdriver;
hand or circular saw;
building level;
pencil, corner.

And one more nuance: the pallets should be painted or varnished in advance. When assembled, the furniture will be much more difficult to paint.

Training

Preparing pallets for assembly involves the following steps:

Garbage removal.
Drying in the sun. Ultraviolet light kills mold and mildew and prevents the spread of their spores, if any.
Grinding. The most convenient way to do this is to completely disassemble the pallet, and then go through each board, bar with a grinder. Both tape and disk will do.
Pest control. For this, specialized deep-penetrating primers for wood with an antiseptic are used. Processing should be done in 2-3 layers.
Treatment for moisture protection. The ideal option is linseed oil or drying oil. It is applied in a very thin layer, the remains are wiped off with a soft sponge. After applying drying oil, the wood is allowed to dry for a day.
Final painting or varnishing.

Assembly

The assembly of the garden bench is performed in the following order:

Lay out the bottom layer of the pallets, fix them along the adjoining edge using 3-4 metal profile mounting strips.
Lay out the top layer of pallets. Connect together in the same way. Then fasten the top and bottom layers around the perimeter.
Attach side panels that will act as armrests.They are also attached using mounting strips, but only from below and from the sides (in front and behind the bench itself).
If you plan to install a backrest, then immediately attach the bars to the top of the pallets. In principle, a board 3-4 cm thick is enough for this. Do not make too large an angle - it will be inconvenient to sit on such a bench for a long time. Fastening the backrest evenly, that is, without an obtuse angle, is not the best option. It will not be very comfortable to sit behind such a bench either.

It is also advisable to close the seat itself with plywood, a board made of boards, or at least a QSB plate. Otherwise, the upper pallets will bend under a load of 40–50 kg. With plywood, the load will be distributed over the entire area of the structure, so no deformations will occur.

Decor options

The best decor options for such a craft are painting.

It will be more preferable to cover with varnish, since in this case the wood pattern itself is preserved.

Textiles should be used in the event that it is planned to also fasten the foam rubber sheathing. But such furniture will have to be protected from moisture, frost and snow. And the fabric itself quickly loses its shade when exposed to sunlight.

In principle, the decor is optional if the wood has already been treated with drying oil, since it acts as a varnish, slightly darkens the tone of the wood. When properly processed, the finished product will look very attractive.