Pallet Floorboards
People make many things out of pallets, there are entire websites and Facebook groups dedicated to the re-purposing of this abundant material. Can it be used for flooring? Sort of,
Beautiful grain and contrast only achievable by leaving a pallet in the elements for several months.
- The Problem>
A kitchen floor so disgusting that even mops refuse to touch it, cheap vinyl layered atop asbestos tiles.
- The Plan>
Remediate the asbestos and find a flooring material within my budget of $20.
- Solution>
The quality of the original slab soft lime cement was so poor that no amount of polishing or painting would ever produce a sustainable solution and after searching the streets all afternoon in the hope of finding some tiles or linoleum being disposed of to no success - I decided to take the path less traveled and replace the floor with timber to match the rest of the house. The problem being that timber is expensive. . . But pallets are free!
- Implementation>
Cut, stagger and sand some pallets, remembering that I do not own this property, the lengths of wood are simply cut to shape and glued to themselves to allow "hopefully" easy removal in the need that the landlord is not please with my efforts.
Result: Whilst lacking polish and definitely requiring more work, the improvement is great, there are no longer massive holes, gaps or trenches in which to collect dropped food and the slightly elevated height of the floor makes reaching the top of shelves slightly easier for the vertically challenged.
