Specification sheet

Grade A 48×40 GMA, specified down to the nail.

This is the internal document our sort deck grades against, published in full. If a load you receive from us does not meet it, that is a replacement, not a discussion.

Recycling yard with a steel bin full of broken pallet wood, a grinder conveyor, stacks of pallets and a forklift beyond — The last four per centEverything the sort deck rejected, on its way to the grinder. It leaves as mulch, bedding and boiler fibre — not as landfill.

Order to this specification

Quote 'Grade A spec sheet' in the message and the order will be graded against exactly this document.

Written quotes, usually inside one business day
Loads from 100 pallets to full 53' trailers
We buy as readily as we sell — tell us which way it flows

First name *

Last name *

Email *

We reply by email, so this needs to be a working address.

Phone *

US or Canadian 10-digit number. Formats itself as you type.

Company

City

State / Province

Two-letter code or full name.

Postal code *

US ZIP (43217) or Canadian postal code (K1A 0B1).

Select service *

Product type *

Quantity *

Whole units, digits only.

Grade

Message

No phone number required from us — we quote by email so you have the numbers in writing.

Outdoor pallet yard with mixed used pallets in natural, blue and red, stacked beside a warehouse under a cloudy sky

Intake

Mixed cores straight off a collection run. Every one of these gets a grader's four-way decision before it goes anywhere.

Dimensions and members

The build.

Measured with a calibrated pin meter at three points on the top deck, taken cold.
Element	Specification	Tolerance	Reject if
Overall footprint	48″ × 40″	± ½″	More than ½″ under on either axis
Overall height	5½″ nominal	± ¼″	Over 5¾″ — jams automated handling
Top deck boards	7, full length, 3½″ – 5½″ wide	—	Any board short, split or replaced with a splice
Top deck thickness	9/16″ nominal hardwood	± 1/16″	Under ½″ on any board
Bottom deck boards	3, full length	—	Missing or split through
Stringers	3, 1⅜″ × 3½″ × 48″ hardwood	—	Any crack, plug or repair
Fork openings	Four-way notched, 9″ × 1½″ notch	± ¼″	Notch broken through to the bottom deck
Squareness	Diagonals equal	± ¼″	Out of square by more than ¼″
Fasteners	Helically threaded or stiff-stock nails	—	Protruding above deck surface
Moisture content	Under 19%	—	Reading above 19% at any of three points

Performance

What it will actually carry.

Load ratings are indicative for a uniformly distributed load on a sound unit. They are not a substitute for testing your own product on your own racking.

6,000 lb

Static load

Sitting on a flat floor, evenly distributed.

3,000 lb

Dynamic load

Being moved by a forklift or jack.

2,100 lb

Racked load

Unsupported across the rack beams, edge-supported.

45–55 lb

Unit weight

Mixed hardwood, at dispatch moisture.

Species group

Predominantly mixed northern hardwood — oak, maple, poplar, gum and ash. We do not sort by species within the hardwood group, and a Grade A unit will typically contain three or four different species across its members. Where a specification requires a single species group we will say up front that we cannot supply it from recycled stock.

What Grade A does not mean

It does not mean the pallet looks new. Grade A stock carries staining, colour variation, nail holes from previous decks and the marks of forklift contact. Those are cosmetic. What Grade A guarantees is structural: full members, sound stringers, correct footprint, dry wood. If appearance matters — retail display, for instance — say so and we will sort to it, or point you at new stock.

Rejection

What we pull off the line.

Any repair to a stringer

A companion stringer is a legitimate repair and produces a perfectly serviceable pallet — but not a Grade A one. Companion- repaired units grade B. This is stricter than much of the industry and it is deliberate: racked loads are where stringer repairs get tested.

Spliced or short deck boards

A deck board shorter than the full 40 inches, or two boards butted to make up a run, fails Grade A regardless of how tidily it was done. See repair standards.

Moisture above 19%

Damp wood loses stiffness, gains weight, and will grow mould under wrap within days. Units above 19% are held for drying or regraded, never shipped as A.

Odour, staining or residue

Chemical smell, oil staining, or visible residue takes a unit out of the food and pharmaceutical stream entirely and usually out of Grade A. See food and beverage handling.

Protruding fasteners

Any nail standing proud of the deck surface. It is a product damage claim waiting to happen and it takes ten seconds to fix at the cleaning station.

Grade A 48×40 GMA, specified down to the nail.

Order to this specification

The build.

What it will actually carry.

What we pull off the line.

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