Perry Mack
Words and photos by Perry and Cindy Mack
We recently needed to replace the 3 x 3 m (10 x 10 ft) wood deck at our family’s lakeside cabin after about 15 years of moisture and a flood had rotted it away. I asked for two quotes. One was for a composite deck and the other for a typical wood construction. After I heard the quotes, I had to sit down. They came to $2,800 for composite and an even more shocking $2,300 for wood.
Since the cabin has been in our family for about 60 years and we expect to have it for 60 more, we opted for composite construction. However, when it came time to build a less permanent deck for the RV, the current price of wood was way too high.
Like many folks, we have considered extended or full-time RVing for many years but the combination of time and money repeatedly put the dream on hold. Thanks to COVID-19, the dream is about to become a reality.
That’s right, the dream-crushing pandemic actually created the opportunity (read ‘forced us’) to become full-time RVers. Our existing house is sold but our new house won’t be ready for six to eight months after closing, courtesy of the pandemic-inspired housing and renovation boom. The majority of the contents of our home went into a Sea-Can while our essentials went into a new-to-us 2017 Montana High Country 305RL.
Perry Mack
For the next few months, we’ll be parked on a patch of the family farm poaching electricity, water, TV and internet. It’s a parent’s dream come true, right? Long after you think the kids are alright, they move home, again.
It’s not an RV pad, just a chunk of almost level ground, which means it will need some work to make it homey. You may find yourself in a similar situation if you’ve recently purchased an over-priced RV lot and are now short of cash or are one of the lucky few to obtain a seasonal rental. Seasonal rentals are often easily renewed but if yours is not renewed, any investment in upgrades like a deck is lost.
A deck is exceedingly important as a residential touch of ‘hominess.’ You can spread out the patio furniture and define a parcel of the outdoors as your own living space. Unfortunately, part of the pandemic building boom is the meteoric rise in the price of lumber. A few years ago, a meagre 3 x 3 m (10 x 10 ft) deck could be built for about $600. It’s now $2,300. A more useful 3 x 6 m (10 x 20) deck is double that. For many, that is a solid chunk of change that we have other uses for. As necessity is the mother of invention, we considered the possibility of turning wooden pallets into a deck. Pallets are free. Most businesses are happy if you take them away (always ask first), otherwise the business will have to pay to have them taken to a landfill.
This is how we made a 3 x 3.6 m (10 x 12 ft) deck with free wood. The first thing to know when picking pallets is that they are not all the same size. Although we live in a country that has wisely embraced metric, pallets are still sized in imperial units.
Perry Mack
The most common pallet size in North America is 48” long, 40” wide, 6.5” tall with deck boards that are 3.25” wide and .31” thick. You’ll come across many other sizes and you can refer to the following sidebar to see the industries that typically use them. The size you choose isn’t as important as how many of the same size you can get your hands on. We grabbed pallets from several locations in different industries resulting in our pallet-size education.
Our deck is three pallets x four pallets. Naturally, you can make yours larger, although we don’t suggest having it any smaller (given that the pallets are free and the fact that we may actually double its size). In addition to the 12 pallets making up the base, you may need 11 more pallets to fill the spaces for a total of 23. The top boards are the same thickness, making them perfect space-fillers but the bottom five boards are thicker. We recommend you pick up another two or three spares should any boards splinter during construction.
This won’t create your ‘forever deck’ but if you weatherproof the pallets, your new deck should last years. As pallets are very rough wood, we covered the deck with outdoor carpeting, which always adds an indoor ‘homey’ feel to your outdoor space.
Tools and Time Used:
- Hammer
- Cordless drill
- Skill saw
- 8 cm (3 in) deck screws
- 4 cm (1.5 in) galvanized nails
- 12 small patio stones
- 12 hours to create, not including the pallet collection.
The Assembly Using the 12-Pallet Configuration.
- Choose 12 of the best pallets you can find to make the base. Then carefully remove the deck boards from your remaining inventory using a hammer. You may need an extra pallet or two if some of the deck boards won’t come willingly.
- Rip any wide boards to the correct size then nail the deck boards in place using 4 cm (1.5 in) outdoor treated nails or screws.
- Layout the twelve pallets in your deck space choosing the most similar height pallets to be in the same rows.
- Line up your first row of three pallets and attach them using four 8 cm (3 in) outdoor deck screws. Be sure to line up the top surfaces as the pallets could have slight differences in overall height.
- If your pad surface is uneven or not level, like our grassy field, use a large carpenter’s level and some of your wood scraps to level the pallets. We put small patio stones on the ground at the corner of each pallet to help keep the pallets out of the rain and away from moisture. Allow your blocking to extend halfway to support the next row.
- Assemble the next two rows the same way, each time placing the row on the previous blocking.
- Now connect the rows together with the 8 cm (3 in) deck screws using a couple of leftover deck boards. We had some scrap wood that made a great finishing edge and securely connected the separate rows.
- Add boards to the open edges for a cleaner look, then weatherproof the wood (with either outdoor stain or paint) and cover the deck with outdoor carpet.
Where to Find your Pallets and the Sizes Available
Be picky, you’ll realize there will be many to choose from, allowing the chance to create your own outdoor space for your RV with a little time and effort.
