Are you looking for an idea on how to make a cold frame from a pallet? Check out how we put ours together and what materials we used to make this cold frame from a pallet.
We had some pallets leftover from deliveries and I’ve really got into my gardening over the past couple of years, so I need a little cold frame for growing my seeds. It’s such a cheap way to grow more flowers in the garden, and I find it very satisfying. Maybe that means enough flowers for wreaths for spring now, who knows!
I saw the Aldi cold frame, and love the shape of this one. It was a good shape to fit in my garden, and fit nicely where I needed it. Put as we had these pallets in our garden. better to put them to good use!
So I documented the process of making a cold frame from pallets, so I can share with you how to build a cold frame from a pallet and find a cheap way to have your own cold frame, without the high costs of a brand new cold frame.
Video Of How To Build A Cold Frame From A Pallet
We Used Two Pallets
Start off by pulling apart the pallets, now this was a lot trickier than I thought it would be! They’ve been built pretty well!!!!
We used certain parts from each one, so didn’t end up using all of the pieces of both.
Remove the nails from them
Left With The Pieces You Need
You need to look at planning the height of your cold frame that suits the space your putting it in. Get your height of the back and find 2 pieces that are this height, or cut them to the height you want. We just used the largest pieces for the height.
Then get 4 more pieces that are the height of the front of the cold frame. You will need these to be lower than the back ones to create a slope on the lid.
Here is a PDF with the measurements our cold frame ended up being, these are rough measurements as we used the pallet wood and the sheet as a guide for the sizing, and made it up as we went along.
- 4 long pieces for the height of your pallet at the back
- 4 long pieces that are the height at the front
- 4 pieces for the bottom and to make it stable
- 2 lengths for the tops, which will support the lid so need to be longer than the width
- 8 more lengths for the door and top
- Lengths for the shelves
Other Materials and Tools You Need
Start Painting All Of The Pieces You’re Going To Use
I didn’t paint all the pieces before starting, but I recommend you do! It means all sections will be painted and you don’t need to worry about covering over pieces of bare wood with the plastic sides, and then not being able to get to them.
Start Building The Cold Frame From A Pallet
We used a pocket hole jig to attach the pieces together securely, this has been really useful with carpentry jobs around the house, but you could screw them together without this.
Join and clamp the two lengths together to create an L shape, this will be the supports at the back, then do it again for the shorter lengths at the front.
We used a polycarbonate sheet as our depth guideline to make this cold frame and decide on how deep and wide it should be.
Add in one of the width pieces at the bottom.
Then use your longer top length and place it at an angle matching the top height and bottom height together.
Screw the bottom piece into the edges, and through the polycarbonate sheet so you attach them all together.
Drill some small pilot holes, with a small drill bit.
Then you can screw through properly, to keep them all secure and in place.
Build The Sides Together
Now start to put the sides together, get your two large sides
Attach your top bar and bottom bar to each side, this will give its stability.
Creating The Cold Frame Lid
This is when you can cut at an angle, the top section. Cutting off the polycarbonate sheet excess, and any edges of the wood to make it smooth and the correct angle for the lid to sit nicely onto.
Finished Frame Work Of The Cold Frame From A Pallet
This is the framework finished now. Like I said before you should paint it all before you start putting the polycarbonate sheet on and covering over pieces of wood. Makes a neater finish than I have created.
How To Make Cold Frame Doors and Lid
Get your pieces of wood that you’ve put aside for your doors, use two long pieces of the edges, and shorter edges for the top and bottom. Place these into the door frame so you know the exact size you need. Allow a bit of room around the edges so you can open and close it well.
Screw them all together and place the polycarbonate sheet on the backside of the doors.
Screw through from the back and make sure your screw ends aren’t too long and go through the front.
Attaching To The Cold Frame
We clamped them to the frame, and got some small hinges to attach the door to the frame.
Use small screws and attach the hinges to the inside frame, and the inside of the door. Do this in a open door mode.
Do The Same To Make The Cold Frame Lid
Add Shelving Into The Cold Frame
Add another bar across the width of the cold frame on either side, in the place that you want your shelves. I measured out the height of some of my pots with plants in them to see what fitted. I like to store the trays of seedlings on the top shelf with the day light coming in on them.
Add your shelving by resting planks of wood wide ways with gaps for the water to run through
Make A Lock
You need a little bar of wood to make a lock to stop the front door of the cold frame from swinging open.
We used a couple of washers, screws, and a small bar of wood and just attach these to the front framework, so it can swing around onto the front of the door.
Attach Some Plastic Feet
You can purchase little plastic feet on nails that just hammer into the base, this is good for raising off the floor slightly.
There, A Finished Cold Frame From Pallets
Before Painting
Before I painted, I made sure I filled all the gaps and holes with wood filler.
Finished Painted Cold Frame
I was really pleased with it once it was all painted up, it looks really good and perfect for housing my tender plants and seedlings. I grew many little seedlings in it last year, and it’s currently looking after some small little plants ready for Spring 2022!
You can see I also added bar support to hold open the lid. I would recommend you add another one on the other side too so there isn’t any stress on the lid and it’s kept supported both sides.
Here it is all painted up, shelves painted and empty, and you can see the shelves I have in here.
The main one is the top one where the seedlings go, as they can then sit on the top with the sunshine on them. I then close up the lid at night to keep the cold off them. 
I am really pleased with how we managed to build a cold frame from a pallet, it’s a great place for my little seedlings to live, cutting from other plants or not very hardy plants to live. I hope this helps you find out how to build a cold frame from a pallet, and see you can do this really cheaply, and much cheaper than buying brand new.
Other Items We’ve Made From Pallets
Pallet Bug House is a perfect home to allow small insects and bugs to live in this pallet bug house
Pallet Herb Garden can be made as big or small as you won’t by adding some pots of herbs screwed on
4 Comments
Hi there,
Just wanted to say thank you for this blog – it’s been really useful. I have followed this piece and built my own coldframe from pallets.
I still need to paint it and buy the plastic for the windows, but otherwise it’s there.
Ah brilliant, thanks for letting me know! Make sure you paint it before the plastic for the windows, as I didn’t and there some parts that aren’t painted as the plastic was in the way!
WOW this is impressive! Very creative and looks really good in the garden too, as well as actually being of use x
Looking forward to filling it with lots of beautiful little flowers in the coming months!