Garage storage shelves - opinions?

[cabinetman]

The plan is fine IMO, and using the materials you listed. Unless you're concerned about the look, the front edge doesn't have to be banded. That's an aesthetic thing. I would lay out the shelf(s) where you want them and figure out where your bracing will go so you can still access the studs without interference.

You might check out a local store fixture company, or a place that sells used store fixtures. There are many types of standards and brackets that need no triangulated support for the depths you want. Some of those can hold quite a bit of weight. Those would only require mounting a vertical member and then attaching a protruding arm. Then just lay on the plywood.

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[Pappy]

It looks like the triangular support brackets would handle anything you wanted to throw on the shelves. I would think you could even bring the shelves down and add a second shelf above it supported by a cleat along the wall and posts centered on the brackets.

Loring's suggestion of adding peg board between the brackets also makes it more versatile.

Might try it in the garden / storage shed I am building.

[JimD]

I have 12 foot ceilings in my upstairs garage (I have another garage which is my shop in the basement with 8.5 foot ceilings). I put a 4 foot wide shelf across the garage on the front wall above the tracks for the garage doors. It is secured to the side walls, the front wall, and on 4 foot intervals, the ceiling joists. My guest room is above this garage and the floor is supported by wood I-beams. I screwed 2x4s into these I beams which have flattened electrical conduit attached to them. The ends of the conduit are bolted to the 2x4 structure of the shelf. I only used electical conduit due to price. I look at it as a cheap source of steel.

My shelf came in real handy when my 28 year old son moved back in a couple years ago. 4 foot by 20 foot by 4 foot high held a lot of his "stuff". I have sat and walked on the shelf, it is sturdy. It is just 2x4s with 7/16 wafer on top.

Jim

[dbhost]

I did something similar with high shelves, but like others have mentioned, I just used some of the stamped metal shelf brackets from Home Depot. The ones with the diagonal brace, and screwed ply directly on top of that. I felt no need whatsoever to get fancy with these shelves, so un fancy they were, are, and shall stay... I am about to set up another long un-fancy shelf along the front wall to store my woodworking / auto repair / home improvement library. It seems the boxes of magazines and books in the home office annoy LOML... Oh well, gotta make her happy....

That "cabinet grade" ply is way more than enough to do the job. Not sure if there is a regional difference or what, but at my local Home Depots, the $25.00 imported Cabinet Grade ply is labelled as "Hardwood" ply.... Whatever that means in Home Depot lingo... I use it a lot for shop projects. Pick the stuff up, rack it for about 2 weeks to acclimate to your shop and make sure it doesn't turn into a potato chip, and then get busy with it...

[tohellwithuga]

Wow, lots of great responses here guys, really appreciate the feedback. Sorry for the slow response, the twins have been giving us all we can handle the past couple days (btw, I am the father of FOUR girls under age 9 now...).

Radhak - Thanks for sharing your version of this project. It's very helpful to see that someone has actually used this design. I still really like the way it looks, and the potential "modularity" of the system using the plywood apron.

But, as others have pointed out, it does seem to be a lot of (potentially) wasted material, and the triangle brackets would definitely limit what can be stored below (if I put a second row of shelves below it).

As leeljp mentioned, I need to think hard about what I will be storing on the shelves, and make sure that I don't end up with a lot of wasted space after spending $$ and time.

Thanks for the opinions to everyone on the alternative materials and design, too. I need to think about this a little more I think.

[jking]

Sorry for the slow response, the twins have been giving us all we can handle the past couple days (btw, I am the father of FOUR girls under age 9 now...).

I can only imagine what your house will be like in a few years.

Congratulations on the twins, btw.

[tohellwithuga]

I can only imagine what your house will be like in a few years.

Congratulations on the twins, btw.

Thanks.

Believe me, we're already feeling it. TNT doesn't know drama, WE know drama!

[tohellwithuga]

So, this is kind of like airing dirty laundry, but here's my garage (it's a bit of a disaster currently). I have things hanging in random places, and too many shelves along the walls. We are not even making very good use of the shelves, but I would like to bring some stuff up from storage in the basement (Christmas stuff, etc.), but get rid of the shelves on the floor.

If I put up the shelves at along the top, I would need to move the bike racks, probably:



Our water heater is in this corner, along with some storage already mounted on the wall.



I have a huge unused space above the garage door.



I just ran across these that I (think) I got on clearance at Lowe's a while back (twelve 12" braces), although 12" would be some really small shelves:

[LarryG]

I just ran across these that I (think) I got on clearance at Lowe's a while back (twelve 12" braces), although 12" would be some really small shelves

Those would obviously call for a completely different design than shown in your OP, but you could let the front of the shelf extend, say, 4" beyond the bracket. That'd give you a 16" shelf (three out of 48" wide sheet of plywood). Shelves like this could not be as heavily loaded as the design with the triangular brackets, of course, but they'd work fine for relatively lightweight stuff like Christmas decorations, empty luggage, toys, etc.

[JimD]

The space above the garage door in your illustration is what I was talking about. My shelf comes out 4 feet from the wall the garage door is in and runs the full width of the garage. It is just 2x4s, 7/16 waferboard (roof sheathing), nails and screws, and some conduit (to hang the front). It can be sturdy enough to hold a lot of weight, mine has held me up several times when I was loading it. You have to close the garage door to put things up and down but that is no big deal.

[tohellwithuga]

It looks like the triangular support brackets would handle anything you wanted to throw on the shelves. I would think you could even bring the shelves down and add a second shelf above it supported by a cleat along the wall and posts centered on the brackets.

Loring's suggestion of adding peg board between the brackets also makes it more versatile.

Might try it in the garden / storage shed I am building.

I missed this part of your post the first time I read it. That's actually not a bad idea. Gets around the problem of the brackets limiting the width of the items on the top shelf (assuming you put the post on or near the front of the top shelf). Could probably even double-up the wedge supports to be safe. Hmm...

[chopnhack]

That garage is actually tidy, considering you have twins... I dare not post a pic of mine.

[tohellwithuga]

I found a giant black widow spider in the garage yesterday. I HAVE to get this clutter off the floor...

So, I decided to head to Lowes and HD to look at materials again. I found these 16" brackets on clearance at HD for $2.98 (about 50% off - they only had 15). They have a screw towards the front for wooden shelves, and a clip at the rear for wire shelves:

http://www.amazon.com/Rubbermaid-5E2.../dp/B0009J5NXG



I also found these wall cabinet brackets on clearance for $3.46/each. I picked them up, but I'm not really sure if I will be able to use them or not. I'm not sure how I would do the bottom shelf if I used them:

http://milo.com/woodcrafters-wall-cabinet-bracket-white



So, now I have a bunch of brackets that I don't know if I am going to use, which are just taking up MORE space in my garage, lol.

[tohellwithuga]

Ok, so, I think I'm going back to something close to the original design, with a second level of shelves above supported by a 2x4 ledger in the back and 2x4 (?) posts in the front (somewhere over the angle supports).

Here is what I am currently thinking, hoping to get some feedback (specifically on the 2nd level support):

I'm thinking 1/2" or 5/8" ply is sufficient for the shelves (and apron, if I decide to do that), just as radhak used here. The supports would be from the 3/4" ply shown in the first post.

Also, as Pappy mentioned here, I am thinking about adding a second row of shelves above supported by posts at the front. I'm not sure of a couple things, though:

- Are 2x4's sufficient for the posts? If so, where should I place them (would like for them to be as far out as I can to give the most room, but it needs to be far enough back to have enough support from the triangular supports below)?

- Are single 3/4" ply supports every 4' going to be enough to hold up 2 sets of shelves? Should I double the supports (to make a 1.5" thick triangle)? Or maybe put them closer together?

I built up a mock-up using OSB and sheetrock just to test. The supports are 20"x20", and the shelves would be 24" deep (my sheetrock scraps were 25", I was too lazy to cut off an inch). Then I have 2x4's centered over the triangular supports, parallel to the front of the shelves (so I can attach them easier). (ignore the 2x2's in the back - there would be a 2x4 ledger instead)



Any thoughts / opinions / criticism are appreciated. Thanks.

[Pappy]

1. The way the brackets are designed 3/4" plywood is more than strong enough to support the shelves and just about any load you can imagine putting on them.

2. As to the support posts for the top shelf, think about the amount of weight the turned posts from the box stores can handle. While I have never had any luck finding decent wood in the box store 2x2's, I would feel confident getting some 'whitewood' 2x4's that are relatively clear with only small knots and ripping them to 2x2. At the most, I would use 2x6's ripped in half.