Reclaimed pallet wood from the Strathcona dump was a game changer

I spent last Saturday digging through the scrap pile behind the Strathcona waste transfer station and pulled out about 40 feet of solid pine pallets, totally free. After a quick pass with a metal detector and a sander, I built a raised garden bed frame for my backyard in one afternoon. Has anyone else had luck finding decent lumber there, or is there a better free source around Edmonton?

1 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

1 Comment

barbarab5622d ago

My uncle did the same thing over at the mill woods transfer station a couple years back and ended up with a nasty surprise. He pulled what looked like clean maple boards and built a whole workbench out of them before noticing the black mold creeping along one edge. Turns out that wood sat out in the rain for months and the spores got into his garage, which cost him way more to fix than any free lumber is worth. He still checks the pile every now and then but now he lets stuff dry out in the sun for a week first. A metal detector is smart but keep an eye out for rot and bugs too. Forty feet of free pine is a solid haul though, hope that garden bed holds up.

6