how to get wood planks closer on pallets

Amber
by Amber
i am making a deck out of my collected pallets but the planks are too far apart. i was actually going to pull a couple up and put them closer but i could pull them up. so now i am thinking about going to BUY plywood to screw down. i really wanted to just do it all on my own but now im being shot down.... any ideas?
  4 answers
  • Janice Davis Janice Davis on Sep 16, 2012
    I saw a post that suggested you pull all the planks off and just renail/or screw them back on, making a very nice walkway or whatever....
  • Warren G. Warren G. on Sep 16, 2012
    Try adding small pieces of wood in between the slates of the pallets. This will allow you to control the width of the gap for drainage and you would not have to pull any wood. If the pallets are typical the pieces would be about 1" wide to 1 1/12 " wide depending on the pallets and how big of a gap you wanted to have for drainage.
  • Amber Amber on Sep 17, 2012
    i ended up finding some free pieces of wood so im just putting them in like a puzzle and cutting any pallet pieces for odd spots. im going to paint it and cover with an area rug anyway.
  • You need to be careful using pallets for that type of surface. The wood used is fairly weak and can crack under the pressure of someone walking on it. As far as using plywood, it will decay both from the sun and wet weather. Also pallets set on the ground become a great food source for insects and create a great hiding place for snakes between all the boards. The wood should be treated and properly sealed around the outside edges to prevent critters getting under and nesting.