Project library · Garden and salvage · Adult mode
Build a potting bench from pallets
You have two or three pallets against the shed and a spot by the back door that wants a bench for potting up.
Standing height matters more than looks: a work surface at 900 mm, a shelf underneath, and boards that will not rot through in one winter.
Before you start
Read the stamp on the pallet before you cut it. HT means heat treated and is fine. MB means methyl bromide, a fumigant — leave those pallets alone.
Zero Cost
Two pallets broken down, nails pulled and straightened, nothing bought.
$0 · Half a day
You have it
- Claw hammer
- Pry bar or crowbar
- Handsaw
- Tape measure
- Square or straight offcut
You need it
- Nothing — 2 pallets and their own nails
- 1
Pick 2 pallets stamped HT. Skip anything oil-stained, painted or crumbling at the blocks.
- 2
Break down the first pallet. Lever from underneath against the stringer, not from the board face.
- 3
Keep the 3 stringers whole. They are your 4 legs and 2 top rails — the strongest wood in the pallet.
- 4
Build a rectangle 1200 mm by 500 mm from stringer wood. Nail the legs inside the corners so weight sits on wood, not on nails.
- 5
Deck the top with the widest deck boards, gaps of 5 mm so soil and water fall through.
- 6
Nail a second rectangle 300 mm off the ground and deck it as the lower shelf. Brace one back corner diagonally with a scrap.
Minimal Effort
One pallet stays whole as the frame. You screw instead of dismantle.
About $18 for a box of 65 mm exterior screws · 2 hours
You have it
- Cordless drill or driver
- Handsaw
- Tape measure
You need it
- 65 mm exterior screws
- 2 pallets, 1 of them intact
- 1
Stand the intact pallet on its long edge as the back panel. Its slats become the tool wall.
- 2
Cut 4 legs 880 mm from the second pallet stringers. Screw 2 of them to the back panel.
- 3
Screw the front 2 legs to a rail so the top sits level at 900 mm. Check with a spirit level or a marble.
- 4
Screw deck boards across the rails for the top. 2 screws per board per rail, no glue.
- 5
Screw one diagonal scrap across the back. Without it the bench racks the first time you lean on it.
Polished Finish
Planed wood, glued and screwed joints, a zinc top and feet that stay dry.
About $120 · A weekend, plus a day for oil to dry
You have it
- Drill
- Saw
- Sander or plane
- Square
- Spirit level
You need it
- Exterior wood glue
- 75 mm stainless screws
- Sheet of zinc or galvanised steel, 1200 by 500 mm
- Exterior oil or decking stain
- 2 concrete pavers or gravel board offcuts for feet
- 1
Plane or sand every face. Pallet wood is rough sawn and holds water in the fibres.
- 2
Cut all 4 legs at once against a stop block so they match to the millimetre.
- 3
Glue and screw every joint. Clamp until the glue grabs, then move on.
- 4
Fold or fix the zinc sheet over the top with a 20 mm lip. Soil sweeps off it and it will not rot.
- 5
Oil all 6 faces of every part, especially the leg ends. End grain drinks water.
- 6
Stand the finished legs on pavers so wood never touches wet ground.
The step that bites
Breaking down the first pallet
Levering a deck board from the top face splits it every time, and a split board is firewood. Work from underneath with the bar against the stringer, or cut the nails with a reciprocating blade and pull the shanks after. Expect to lose 1 board in 5 anyway — plan for 2 pallets when you need 1.
Further reading
Other people have filmed and written this job well. Their work, their names, their links.
- Simple Potting Bench From Pallets
Instructables
- How to Build a DIY Wood Pallet Potting Bench
Lovely Greens
- How To Build a Potting Bench
This Old House
Your job is not this job
Your room, your pile of offcuts, your budget, whoever is holding the other end. Describe it in your own words and we write the plan for that, three ways.
Write my plan