Fastest way to make pallet shingles and siding

Over the last 12 years I have made a LOT of pallet shingles for the roofs of my out-buildings (workshop, woodshed...etc).

My latest GAHT greenhouse needed hundreds of shingles, and so I finally settled on this way of making the shingles and siding.

When using them for shingles, how do you treat them after putting the shingles down?  I would love to do this with my new chicken coop, assuming I can find a few hundred pallets somewhere :)

You know I've never gotten around to treating any of them. But I think linseed oil would do the trick.

Larry Fletcher wrote:You know I've never gotten around to treating any of them. But I think linseed oil would do the trick.

How long do they hold up without treatment.  I don't mind doing the work to cut and place them all, but I'd like to do it once

Really enjoyed the video by the way.  Seems like a real time saver doing it that way.

Trace Oswald wrote:

How long do they hold up without treatment.

Really enjoyed the video by the way.  Seems like a real time saver doing it that way.

It's been about ten years so far on the first one that I did (and I did that one all wrong). I think I can expect much longer from the rest. I do use a lot of nails, to make sure they stay put!

Why dont they just rot from exposure?

In Texas you can occasionally find dilapidated old structures from the days of the cattle drives.  Not anything usable that I have ever seen around here, but in dry conditions the wood lasts a long time.  In this kind of use only part of the board is exposed to rain.  It's thicker than a typical shingle so between being positioned to shed water before it soaks in and the thickness, I am not surprised it lasts.  I had never considered pallet wood for shingles, but now I have to consider it for an upcoming project.

John C Daley wrote:Why dont they just rot from exposure?

So much depends on the intersection of temperature and rainfall.

My friend lives in Nova Scotia, and despite fairly high rainfall, shingled buildings seem to last amazingly well. I think the trick is that it's cold enough in the winter that things don't rot as quickly.

I identify as being on the "north WET coast" but the key difference is that November is our wettest month, and once we're wet, we just don't dry out until late spring. However, our temperatures are generally above freezing, so everything wooden rots. Everything that isn't stainless steel, rusts! As much as pallet shingles would be a great upcycling project, they likely won't be my first choice.

In the right location, it is a good use for pallets. There are so many places where they're either burned or land-filled.

You use the pallet shingles that are the same thickness?  I read wood shingles need to be tapered. Do you have any trouble using the same thickness shingles?

Wood shingles would be more graceful and possibly fit better if tapered, but it is not essential. Tapering also reduces material usage with new wood stock, especially at the (dry) upper end where there is little exposure to weathering or damp.