In article , lalaw44
@hotmail.com says...

In article ,
Chris Hogg wrote:

Ten standard sized pallets plus some posts, arranged to give you three
bays, gives you three good sized compost heaps: one for filling, one
for maturing and one for emptying/using*. End result looks a bit like
your No.3 but three of them in a row. Much cheaper than the £126+p&p
that you'll pay for three of those, and just as good. You'd need to
knock a few holes through the concrete for the posts though, unless
you hold the pallets together some other way, with galvanised wire
perhaps.

I agree with Chris's advice, except that imho you don't need to knock
holes through the concrete: four pallets screwed together at the corners
will keep each other up, and square. Old carpet on top.

At first I thought the OP (earthstick) might be one of those people who
likes everything pristine and polished, and hence is prepared, and able,
to buy posh manufactured bins like those he/she linked to. But perhaps
not -- that would be £300 pounds for the bins required - for a compost
heap!

You can get 4 foot (or metre) square pallets for a quid at various
places, or sometimes free (I get mine at a local garden centre). If you
spray them roughly with fence preservative they look very acceptable.
Carpet is a stout and flexible cover. The sides provide aeration.

Earthstick also has two *glorious luxuries* in situ: loads of space, and
a concrete base (which will keep the area cleaner, easier).

We use (free) large pallets standing on bare earth; if they are gappy
pallets Virgo takes off the slats and repositions them with a regular
small gap for aeration. Which also means that the front wall looks
smarter (we don't see the other three.) Ours is a two-bay compost heap
divided by a single pallet, but a three bay would be even better.

All the connecting corners of ours are held together with nothing but
industrial-strength plastic cable ties threaded through drilled holes in
the wood. This makes a very solid cube and its very easy to take the
front pallet off to empty a bin then fix it bak on; or any very old
pallets that have rotted, can easily be replaced. (They last 8 or 10
years in our wet climate). The outside is painted in a black wood
preservative. The roofs, currently, are made with left-over metal roof
sheets cut to size and nailed on a strong frame. TBH this is over-
engineering as they are so heavy to lift. However, they keep the
contents dry and airy. There's a large rainwater tub beside the bins so
I can regulate the compost moisture (according to new additions, heat in
the heap, and progress of decomposition). The additional air at the top
of the heap seems to encourage faster decomposition than plastic and
carpets did.

Janet.