Going to make a deck... On the cheap.

G'day everyone.

I have made up my mind about making a deck out the back and was going to do it on the cheap with pallets on some pavers to keep them off the ground and then use more pallet wood set down on top of the pallets as the decking.

That would then be sanded and stained.

However... It's a struggle to get pallets in this region. I'm in a small town in Northern Vic and places like Bunnings are a minimum of an hour to 90 minutes one way and on the rare occasion I go, there are no pallets.

Just wondering if people had suggestions on a cheap wood to use as decking on top of the pallets that I do have ready to go?

Decking timber is the ideal way to go, but I have such a small budget to work with and hoped someone had a cheap suggestion.

Thanks everyone.

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Comments

MartyH

@Aussie-Garden

Would you consider Merbau instead?

https://www.bunnings.com.au/specrite-90-x-19mm-kd-select-grade-merbau-decking-linear-metre_p0062735

Bundaboy

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/6310#Comment_6310

Well, although that is a great choice for decking, it is hardly cheap, and some. like me, would regard it as expensive, but maybe worth it.

A cheaper alternative, and the cheapest I know of, is, of course, treated pine, which can, with the right decking stain, be made to look like Merbau, (or anything else) but will obviously not last as long.

The sad thing is, there is very little available in Australia that you could describe as cheap (although I prefer the term inexpensive, as there are plenty of expensive items available that are cheap in quality). Pallet wood would be the cheapest (potentially free) but it definitely wouldn't last long, then again "long" is very subjective.

The best I can offer is that pallets are fairly ubiquitous if you are prepared to scour the area, and broaden your search area, but there is obviously the law of diminishing returns against you. If you have access to a truck or Ute it makes things easier as you can do it in bulk even if you have to travel, if not you have to break them up in situ, which is not easy, I eventually built a pallet breaker, but not everyone has the means to do so.

It's not easy being cheap, but is morally very satisfying. Good luck!

ProjectPete

@Aussie-Garden Your next best bet is to be patient and persistent in finding cheap/free recycled timbers on Gumtree or a local Facebook buy/swap/sell group. There's bound to be someone at some point that has second hand timber available for you.

Aussie-Garden

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/6319#Comment_6319

At this stage, I'm going to wait and hope for some pallets to appear somewhere. I love where we live, but it can have its disadvantages when you are a bit of a drive from things.
My wife tried 2 Bunnings 90 minutes away today when she was down south, but there was nothing there. All good.
Keeping an eye out for timber in garage sales/Gumtree etc too.
Going to try to put money aside for decking timber too, so I can at least cut costs with pallets and pavers as the base eventually.

Plenty of other projects for the garden/yard that I am keen to do as well.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

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