Pallets in the basement: wood or plastic?

[drivingaround]

My only suggestion is to make sure you can legitimately take the plastic pallets.  I long ago worked in a Pepsi bottling plant where two workers were fired for taking plastic pallets.  They honestly didn't realize a) the cost of them or b) that the company reused them but nevertheless Pepsi considered it stealing.  A very honest mistake so it wouldn't hurt to verify your store doesn't pay a fee or have to return them to your vendors/distributors.

[Deleted]

www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/category_material-handling+pallets-pallet-handling?

TheHaitian. Here is a website for the pallets. There is also a store locator on the site. 

[Deleted]

I run two dehumidifiers and empty them daily. Sometimes, like today when it was going to rain, I have to empty them twice in one day.   Yet I've never had moisture on the floor itself except once when water seeped in through the back patio.

The moisture isn't on the floor; it is in the AIR. So it isn't going to matter what you put stuff on unless you think your basement floods. 

Is your wife going to go to the basement daily to empty the dehumidifier, or are you setting it up to drain outside somewhere? It is something of a pain to do by hand . . . the buckets are a little (not a lot) heavy and slosh if you aren't really careful. But you have to be religious about it.

[TheHaitian]

Sept 6, 2014 20:05:16 GMT -5 @southernsusana said:

I run two dehumidifiers and empty them daily. Sometimes, like today when it was going to rain, I have to empty them twice in one day.   Yet I've never had moisture on the floor itself except once when water seeped in through the back patio.

The moisture isn't on the floor; it is in the AIR. So it isn't going to matter what you put stuff on unless you think your basement floods. 

Is your wife going to go to the basement daily to empty the dehumidifier, or are you setting it up to drain outside somewhere? It is something of a pain to do by hand . . . the buckets are a little (not a lot) heavy and slosh if you aren't really careful. But you have to be religious about it.

The basement is already pre-plumbed for a bathroom, I was told I can just use a hose to connect the dehumidifier to one of the two. Some dehumidifiers I saw online already comes with the hose...

[ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ]

I think the wooden pallets might be better if humidity is an issue, only because some of it might be absorbed into the wood and they are open versus the plastic ones

If there's a humidity or moisture issue, the wooden ones will also absorb that humidity and develop algae, fungus or rot.

[toomuchreality]

Pallets are good to put stuff on, for other reasons too. Not just water.

I live on the 3rd floor, but I keep my garbage can, as well as everything else I can, from sitting directly on the floor. 

You know those metal and plastic shelving units that the weight of the shelf holds it in place? I had one of those I wasn't using. The size of the shelves were perfect for what I needed. So I use the shelves, like you would pallets.
It works for me!

[Opti]

Sept 6, 2014 23:29:06 GMT -5 ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ said:

I think the wooden pallets might be better if humidity is an issue, only because some of it might be absorbed into the wood and they are open versus the plastic ones

If there's a humidity or moisture issue, the wooden ones will also absorb that humidity and develop algae, fungus or rot.

True. Then they can be thrown out. Algae or fungus growing in plastic is just as

gross but at least the wood will decompose in a landfill before Carl dies.

[Tiny]

I use pressure treated 2*4's to keep my stuff off the floor of my basement. I no longer have a water back up problem(paid a lot to have a check valve installed to cut my house off from the city sewer system when the water gets too high) so I don't need a lot of height for my storage. Seepage is a potential problem - but that's just a trickle of water.

The 2*4's give me flexibility - I can cut them/ arrange them any way I want and change them up as needed.

I also have several shelving units (metal ones) - the floor's not even so I had to anchor them to the walls to keep them stable.

Do you risk the chance of bringing home 'pests' with the pallets? Are the pallets a convenient size for the stuff you want to store on top of them? Will the stuff on them be easy to get to? If you have dampness or water - will the pallets soak up the water - thus your stuff still gets wet?

[Deleted]

Sept 6, 2014 20:21:43 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

Sept 6, 2014 20:05:16 GMT -5 @southernsusana said:

I run two dehumidifiers and empty them daily. Sometimes, like today when it was going to rain, I have to empty them twice in one day.   Yet I've never had moisture on the floor itself except once when water seeped in through the back patio.

The moisture isn't on the floor; it is in the AIR. So it isn't going to matter what you put stuff on unless you think your basement floods. 

Is your wife going to go to the basement daily to empty the dehumidifier, or are you setting it up to drain outside somewhere? It is something of a pain to do by hand . . . the buckets are a little (not a lot) heavy and slosh if you aren't really careful. But you have to be religious about it.

The basement is already pre-plumbed for a bathroom, I was told I can just use a hose to connect the dehumidifier to one of the two. Some dehumidifiers I saw online already comes with the hose...

Mine came with drainage hoses, but they are short.  They store in the lid to the drainage bucket if that tells you how short.  I have a LG and a Lowe's version.

[TheHaitian]

Sept 7, 2014 1:03:55 GMT -5 Tiny said:

I use pressure treated 2*4's to keep my stuff off the floor of my basement. I no longer have a water back up problem(paid a lot to have a check valve installed to cut my house off from the city sewer system when the water gets too high) so I don't need a lot of height for my storage. Seepage is a potential problem - but that's just a trickle of water.

The 2*4's give me flexibility - I can cut them/ arrange them any way I want and change them up as needed.

I also have several shelving units (metal ones) - the floor's not even so I had to anchor them to the walls to keep them stable.

Do you risk the chance of bringing home 'pests' with the pallets? Are the pallets a convenient size for the stuff you want to store on top of them? Will the stuff on them be easy to get to? If you have dampness or water - will the pallets soak up the water - thus your stuff still gets wet?

I will wash/disinfect the pallets before bringing them to the basement.

For now I think they will do just done, eventually I might want to get some storage racks.

No, I don't believe the pallets will soak up the water. Also we don't have a water issue but a humidity one. *knock on wood*

[TheHaitian]

Sept 7, 2014 8:54:19 GMT -5 @southernsusana said:

Sept 6, 2014 20:21:43 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

The basement is already pre-plumbed for a bathroom, I was told I can just use a hose to connect the dehumidifier to one of the two. Some dehumidifiers I saw online already comes with the hose...

Mine came with drainage hoses, but they are short.  They store in the lid to the drainage bucket if that tells you how short.  I have a LG and a Lowe's version.

I was told I could purchase another hose to connect to the hose that come with the dehumidifier to make it reach.

Do you think you could do that with yours?

[Deleted]

Sept 7, 2014 8:59:04 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

Sept 7, 2014 8:54:19 GMT -5 @southernsusana said:

Mine came with drainage hoses, but they are short.  They store in the lid to the drainage bucket if that tells you how short.  I have a LG and a Lowe's version.

I was told I could purchase another hose to connect to the hose that come with the dehumidifier to make it reach.

Do you think you could do that with yours?

Definitely.  

[TheHaitian]

Sept 7, 2014 9:17:59 GMT -5 @southernsusana said:

Sept 7, 2014 8:59:04 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

I was told I could purchase another hose to connect to the hose that come with the dehumidifier to make it reach.

Do you think you could do that with yours?

Definitely.  

Thank you!

[sesfw]

I told my wife we are starting to develop a bad habit where anything/box we don't want to deal with, we just throw in the basement.

DHs DW#1 did that and when we married and I moved in I called the basement 'never, never land'.  She was the type that would buy 3 of anything on sale.  One for the house, 2 others just in case in the basement.  Put things in the basement and you 'never, never' see it again.

This home doesn't have a basement and downsizing from 3K ft with a 3K ft basement to 2K ft without a basement is quite a trick.  We feel so much lighter.  LOL

IMHO ....... don't let MIL store her stuff in your basement.  It will be there forever.  Time to weed out and get rid of.

[Deleted]

Carl, I really, really agree with sesfw. It's much easier to control what goes into the basement than to get rid of it once it's there. Plus, it sounds like your MIL will be with you for quite a few years to come. So I'd encourage her not to store all her stuff, maybe integrate some things that she loves into her living space, and then promise to help her refurnish her own place when the time comes. 

[Value Buy]

Ah, Haitian, the pallets in your store's backroom are not free.

The plain wood ones are not free

Chep pallets are definitely not free.

Same for the plastic ones.

When your store receives a load, doesn't the receiver sign for the correct number of pallets on the load?

Anyway, I would go the plastic pallet route.

Wood ones will absorb the moisture, even in a semi-dry basement.

[TheHaitian]

Sept 8, 2014 22:36:07 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

Ah, Haitian, the pallets in your store's backroom are not free.

The plain wood ones are not free

Chep pallets are definitely not free.

Same for the plastic ones.

When your store receives a load, doesn't the receiver sign for the correct number of pallets on the load?

Anyway, I would go the plastic pallet route.

Wood ones will absorb the moisture, even in a semi-dry basement.

I already asked my District Manager if I could take them, he said yes. 
I was never going to risk my 80k/year+bonus job for a few pallets I can order online for a few hundred dollars..


And no receiver does not sign for pallets.

[TheHaitian]

OK, how are some people are immune?

[toomuchreality]

Sept 9, 2014 1:10:10 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

OK, how are some people are immune?

Started a new game. 

[zibazinski]

Suck it up and do a box a night. Stop moving crap from one place to the other.

[Deleted]

Sept 7, 2014 8:57:51 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

Sept 7, 2014 1:03:55 GMT -5 Tiny said:

I use pressure treated 2*4's to keep my stuff off the floor of my basement. I no longer have a water back up problem(paid a lot to have a check valve installed to cut my house off from the city sewer system when the water gets too high) so I don't need a lot of height for my storage. Seepage is a potential problem - but that's just a trickle of water.

The 2*4's give me flexibility - I can cut them/ arrange them any way I want and change them up as needed.

I also have several shelving units (metal ones) - the floor's not even so I had to anchor them to the walls to keep them stable.

Do you risk the chance of bringing home 'pests' with the pallets? Are the pallets a convenient size for the stuff you want to store on top of them? Will the stuff on them be easy to get to? If you have dampness or water - will the pallets soak up the water - thus your stuff still gets wet?

I will wash/disinfect the pallets before bringing them to the basement.

For now I think they will do just done, eventually I might want to get some storage racks.

No, I don't believe the pallets will soak up the water. Also we don't have a water issue but a humidity one. *knock on wood*

I can't help myself with this but you do know the cause of humidity problems IS water, right? I don't have water draining all over my basement but I do have a seep issue and that is caused by water and that is causing the annoying humidity issue in my basement.

Use plastic. DH got a bunch of plastic racks with wheels from his store and I use them in the basement. Need the storage after I had to rip all the wood shelving out due to previous water damage that the previous owners did a really crappy job of mitigating. Only 2 wood workbenches left and those are probably going out too eventually as they have rot on the lower ends. My bar is up on wheels for now until I decide whether to rebuild it or toss it.

[Deleted]

Sept 9, 2014 8:24:46 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

Suck it up and do a box a night. Stop moving crap from one place to the other.

depends what's in the boxes.  if it's holiday decorations or something like that they want to keep, then they still need to store it.

[zibazinski]

Yes but take it from someone who mipoved boxes all over the country. I finally opened the last of them. More than half the stuff I threw out.