Last week I talked about how to live simply and decrease your carbon footprint living in a tiny house. Even better than buying a tiny house is making your own, and Michael Janzen is blazing a trail with his free tiny pallet house. Not only is his house made out of recycled shipping pallets, it isn’t costing him anything to build. And lucky for us, he’s sharing his plans so you too can build your own tiny free house.
You can save money, sharpen your DIY skills, and further decrease your environmental impact by following Janzen’s example of building a free pallet house.
Keep pallets out of landfills
Here are some disturbing statistics about shipping pallets:
- Approximately 40% of all hardwood harvested in the U.S. is for making shipping pallets
- About two-thirds of pallets are used only once before being thrown out
- 1/4 of all wood in landfills is from used pallets
You can help prevent deforestation and keep pallets out of landfills by finding creative alternative uses for them, like building a house. Pallets can be found everywhere. Once you start looking for them, you’ll see them scattered all over your town or city.
Contact a local warehouse, supermarket, or any business that receives large shipments, and get permission to pick up their used pallets. Most companies are happy to give their pallets away.
Plans for a free pallet house
Janzen has made plans for building a free pallet house available on his website. These plans are a guide for building what he calls a disaster preparedness and emergency shelter. Janzen says:
As hurricane Gustav plowed across Cuba headed for the gulf coast of the United States memories of Katrina and the potential displacement of thousands got me thinking. I wanted to do something to help. It occurred to me that someone else might find what I now about building with shipping pallets useful in the coming weeks and months.
With some creativity, you may find that shipping pallets can be reappropriated in other ways to build your own free tiny house. For example, I have a friend that has disassembled shipping pallets and used the wood to build roof trusses for his straw bale building.
Ultimately, you can help prevent deforestation and keep pallets out of landfills by using them to build creative housing.
Think tiny and free!
(Image credit: flickr via KGBKitchen)
I think this is really interesting and innovative!
The only problem is that it looks really light and could probably be blown away by a strong gust of wind.. But I guess that problem could easily be solved by tying down weights.
This kid is really amazing!
Put this kid in charge of CitiBank!
Put this kid in charge of CitiBank!
observical? LOL…I think you mean observant
This is incredibly awesome, he is so smart ^^
He’ll probably get foreclosed on anyway.
observical? LOL…I think you mean observant
This is incredibly awesome, he is so smart ^^
He’ll probably get foreclosed on anyway.
I think this is great and practical use for trash. We need to stop trashing our planet.
I wonder if Max will be giving his 10k to the homeless since he doesn’t care about the money, along with the shelter he designed for them I’m sure they would be forever grateful.
I think this is great and practical use for trash. We need to stop trashing our planet.
I wonder if Max will be giving his 10k to the homeless since he doesn’t care about the money, along with the shelter he designed for them I’m sure they would be forever grateful.
Pretty lame. You can make something out of cardboard with less work and less material. With better results.
Wow this kid is Brilliant..Can you think of a way for Homes to be made afforable too??..LoL
Pretty lame. You can make something out of cardboard with less work and less material. With better results.
What a wonderfully compassionate heart for a very young man. God bless you Max and keep up the good work!
What a wonderfully compassionate heart for a very young man. God bless you Max and keep up the good work!
this is gay and stupid anyone could have done it
how is a homeless person going to find all that wire and packing peanuts and the bags to build that i think it is cool but no homeless person can go out and just build this
this is gay and stupid anyone could have done it
Congrats, Max!
I used to do this kind of stuff too. Went into Physics. Don’t let “grown up life” get in the way of your amazing creativity as you get older.
You already were born with your best gift… creativity and intelligence.
That thing is useless, because there are clearly gaping holes in the roof that would leak all over the person inside if it rained. Even if we pretended it was useful, little max only invented the prototype dome he threw in the beginning. But the end product was created with the team of engineers in the video and basically only took the dome idea from the kid. ALSO the thing isn’t made of trash, it’s made of plastic and packing peanuts, two things which are notorious for wasting space in dumps and landfills so the only green part of this invention is that it COULD be made with recyclable materials. Complete bs. Good for Max, bad for gullible grownups.
Congrats, Max!
I used to do this kind of stuff too. Went into Physics. Don’t let “grown up life” get in the way of your amazing creativity as you get older.
You already were born with your best gift… creativity and intelligence.
max i think what you are doing for these homeless people and anyone in need of some type of shelter is remarkable,all it take is 3 items and some time to build your shelter and priceworthy im sure….good job…. I hope if it takes effect the price is fair for those that cant’t actually get one,it will come handy in the winter and your an angel from up above to be so young and yet have a heart of gold ..god bless ya and keep up the good work
That thing is useless, because there are clearly gaping holes in the roof that would leak all over the person inside if it rained. Even if we pretended it was useful, little max only invented the prototype dome he threw in the beginning. But the end product was created with the team of engineers in the video and basically only took the dome idea from the kid. ALSO the thing isn’t made of trash, it’s made of plastic and packing peanuts, two things which are notorious for wasting space in dumps and landfills so the only green part of this invention is that it COULD be made with recyclable materials. Complete bs. Good for Max, bad for gullible grownups.
this is an amzing trash house especially by a twelve year old like me
this is an amzing trash house especially by a twelve year old like me
Hahaha… What bunch of BS… Where is a person who is living in the street going to find the tools to use to built his so called shelter for the homeless? What a bunch of BS… Show me something amazing that is built from street trash that homeless people can use to built their homeless shelters. Maybe then he deserves $10k. You people are stupid for giving money away for no reason. That invention is not new. Only stupid people think it is cute because he built something he may have seen on a movie. Domes are not that difficult to create. Silly people. Go give that money to the homeless kid. They will be more appreciative.
Hahaha… What bunch of BS… Where is a person who is living in the street going to find the tools to use to built his so called shelter for the homeless? What a bunch of BS… Show me something amazing that is built from street trash that homeless people can use to built their homeless shelters. Maybe then he deserves $10k. You people are stupid for giving money away for no reason. That invention is not new. Only stupid people think it is cute because he built something he may have seen on a movie. Domes are not that difficult to create. Silly people. Go give that money to the homeless kid. They will be more appreciative.
he didn’t really do anything. He made the design with the peanuts and stuff, but to win 10,000 dollars for his prototype is pretty amazing, because it was literally and figuratively trash.
Awesome idea Max, but they need something for when it’s very hot as well. I’m glad someone found a good way of using all those horrible packing peanuts.
he didn’t really do anything. He made the design with the peanuts and stuff, but to win 10,000 dollars for his prototype is pretty amazing, because it was literally and figuratively trash.
Awesome idea Max, but they need something for when it’s very hot as well. I’m glad someone found a good way of using all those horrible packing peanuts.
That is very impressive!
That is very impressive!
It’s not my intention to put it down but isn’t it essentially just a cheap tent? This article should include info like, how big is it? Is it completly waterproof. Does it keep heat in? It looks like any slight wind would blow it away – is there a way to tie it down? The answers to these little questions would make it more impressive. We all built forts when we were a kid, my only regret is that I did not build it from trash and submit it in a contest and wrap it up with a selfless mission statement.
That’s so awesome! Great to see our youth being so inventive an resourceful! On the other hand he’s making us older guys look bad! Haha, way to go mate!
Wow, this is pretty good for a twelve year old. It looks like a turtle shell inside. Its very creative!
It’s not my intention to put it down but isn’t it essentially just a cheap tent? This article should include info like, how big is it? Is it completly waterproof. Does it keep heat in? It looks like any slight wind would blow it away – is there a way to tie it down? The answers to these little questions would make it more impressive. We all built forts when we were a kid, my only regret is that I did not build it from trash and submit it in a contest and wrap it up with a selfless mission statement.
That’s so awesome! Great to see our youth being so inventive an resourceful! On the other hand he’s making us older guys look bad! Haha, way to go mate!
Wow, this is pretty good for a twelve year old. It looks like a turtle shell inside. Its very creative!
I think that his invention is absolutey genius. It’s sad that we have to think of ways to keep the homeless warm and dry instead of finding housing, but I think it’s a start. It looks as if it would not be too expensive, maybe if it’s marketed people could donate one.
I think that his invention is absolutey genius. It’s sad that we have to think of ways to keep the homeless warm and dry instead of finding housing, but I think it’s a start. It looks as if it would not be too expensive, maybe if it’s marketed people could donate one.
until you suffocate underneath the plastic
until you suffocate underneath the plastic
<<”Trash to Treasure contest with his “Home Dome.” <<The contest asked kids to repurpose trash into <<practical inventions. ”
Wow he invented a tent made of plastic.
<<”Trash to Treasure contest with his “Home Dome.” <<The contest asked kids to repurpose trash into <<practical inventions. ”
Wow he invented a tent made of plastic.
thats cool this kid is smart
diz iz pretty cool….butt can b disgusting livin in/on trash!! diz iz ztill cool….alzo it iz off da chang!!!!