Lumber storage ideas?

[twistsol]

So as the new shop is getting much closer to completion, I closed out my storage unit and have about 500 board feet of lumber in my trailer. Mostly Birch, poplar, maple and white oak. In my old shop and in the storage unit, I used heavy duty rubbermaid shelving attached to the wall with 4" #10 screws into the 2x6 walls of the shop and had np problems no matter how much they were loaded up. You can see my sheet goods storage that shows the lumber racks above. These went to the ceiling so about 6' of shelves vertically and 16 feet long.



Lumber storage is going to be in the utility room of the house which has hollow cinder block walls, but I've never had cinder block walls in a basement before. Assuming I stay with the same method for lumber storage, what is the best way to attach something to cinder blocks that is going to need to hold some serious weight?

Otherwise I'm open to any ideas for lumber storage. Below is the area I have to work with and SWMBO is under the impression that she may be getting part of this space for storage as well. Ceilings are 8' not 12' like in my last shop.

[capncarl]

I like epoxy anchor for concrete, but vertical cmu anchoring presents a different problem. Hilti makes a mesh sleeve that you squirt their version of epoxy in. That would be my #1 choice. #2 would be toggle bolts. Is your cmu basement wall cells poured?

[woodturner]

Lumber storage is going to be in the utility room of the house which has hollow cinder block walls, but I've never had cinder block walls in a basement before. Assuming I stay with the same method for lumber storage, what is the best way to attach something to cinder blocks that is going to need to hold some serious weight?

Otherwise I'm open to any ideas for lumber storage. Below is the area I have to work with and SWMBO is under the impression that she may be getting part of this space for storage as well. Ceilings are 8' not 12' like in my last shop.

I suspect you mean concrete block rather than cinder block. Cinder block is much weaker than concrete block and is rarely used anymore. It was only really used in places with steel mills, it was primarily a way to reuse the huge volumes of cinders created by steel mills.

I'm not a big fan of wall-mounted lumber storage, due to the weight involved. The issue is that wall mounted shelves form a moment arm the wall and can cause failure of the wall. The weight of the lumber wants to bow the wall in, which is already the weaker direction since it is unsupported by soil. It's only the joists that keep the wall from bowing in, and they are not designed or rated for the additional load of wall mounted shelves.

As an engineer, I would not do it. As a practical matter, the safety margin on residential building specifications is at least 2 times, so you are unlikely to actually cause the wall to collapse.

The primary purpose of mortar for concrete blocks is to level them, it provides essentially no adhesive strength, it is the mass of the blocks that provides the strength. Are the cores of the blocks filled with concrete? If so, that significantly increases the strength of the wall.

I prefer free-standing lumber racks, I built mine based on plans from a magazine years ago. It is three 2x6 supports in the form of a block "A" and then stringers to tie it together. The front has a lip to hold sheet goods vertically at a slight slope. It has held up well and works well. I looked a bit online, this one is similar to at least give the idea.

[LCHIEN]

What Woodturner said makes a lot of sense. Cantilevering a heavy load from the side of concrete blocks whose only vertical strength comes from mortar does not sound like a good idea to me.
The load would be pulling the blocks away from the supporting ground in a direction in which they were not intended to take.

[capncarl]

I understand the engineering in respect to the concrete walls. I can’t count the thousands of times that we did installations such as this on the CMU walls at my previous employer. Some of the walls had their cells poured with concrete, and none of the courses of CMU were staggered. (Staggering the courses adds strength to the wall). There was a full staff of mechanical and structural engineers and a resident architect that had to sign off on everything attached to the wall, so I feel confident that hanging a stack of boards off 18” shelf hangers won’t bring the wall down. You are more likely to pull the fasteners out of the wall.

Photo of

[woodturner]

In your photo, the racks are lightly loaded and distributed along the wall vertically. The lower ones will apply less force to the wall, more high translates to greater force due to longer moment arm.

Commercial buildings are built to different standards, and it is likely the block was larger than the 8" block common in residential use. It may have also been a different type of block, if the joints were not staggered. Some CMUs have interlocking features that greatly increase strength of the wall, particularly those approved for straight joints. (Regular "concrete block" must have staggered joints to meet code requirements.)

Fasteners pulling out is also a concern, but the load on the fastener can be calculated and compared to the fastener specification. Assuming the fastener is installed correctly, it should work up to rated pullout load, but it's good to use them at half the rated load for safety margin.

The best way I have found to attached that type of lumber support to concrete block walls is to drill completely through the block and use all-thread with a 12" x 12" x 1/4" steel plate on the outside and nuts and washers on the inside and outside to sandwich the wall between the nuts. This is very solid and secure as long as the nuts are not over-tightened and the strain limit on the all-thread is not exceeded.

[twistsol]

I was mostly concerned about the fasteners pulling out, but now I think I'm just going to need to come up with (plagiarize) a free standing lumber rack. The cores of the concrete blocks are all filled. In my last garage, they filled 1 out of every 4.

[capncarl]

Concrete filled cells hold epoxy anchors well. Epoxy anchors require a smaller hole to be drilled than installing toggle bolts.... which won’t work in poured block walls. I would bet that your cells have rebar in them and have ladder wire on each course. They are also connected to your house floor framing, so they are not going to bow.
This is the lumber rack I have 2 attached to a non load bearing wall in my shop.
https://highlandwoodworking.lt.aceml...208A244A1A9034

[woodturner]

"Epoxy anchors require a smaller hole to be drilled than installing toggle bolts"

Not sure what you mean by this - epoxy anchors need a larger hole that the fastener to allow room for the epoxy to flow around the sides. For example, for a 3/8" bolt, epoxy anchors specify a 5/8" hole, a toggle bolt specifies a 7/16" hole, and a sleeve or wedge anchor needs a 3/8" hole.

Filling the cores can increase strength in concrete block walls, IF it is done properly, which is unfortunately rare in residential construction. To meet design spec, the cores should be cleaned and, have two #2 rebar bonded to the footer that run the full height of the core and the core should be filled in 12" lifts with vibration of each lift. Unfortunately the more common way to do it in residential construction is to fill the core with concrete and maybe jam in a loose piece of rebar. This approach increases wall strength only 10% to 20%.

Ladder wire is often not used in regular concrete block since it serves no real purpose and does not increase strength in that application.

"They are also connected to your house floor framing, so they are not going to bow."

The floor framing is the primary support to keep the basement walls from bowing in, but it is designed for the normal house construction and loads. As noted previously, the addition force and leverage of adding a significant load such as with the lumber shelf supports may to bow and break the wall in time. The common result is that the wall starts to bow, and if not addressed before it bows in sixth inches or so, the wall collapses. This failure mode is common enough in areas where concrete block is used for basements that the municipal building departments often post warnings to inform the public.

[dbhost]

No pic because honestly it is a disaster at the moment, but my lumber storage has remained unchanged for the last decade plus. I have a series of heavy duty commercial wall standards and brackets mounted to the studs, and I simply loaded up my regular lumber. All sheet goods are stored on end below that rack. The HD standards and brackets were closeouts from Lowes when they were changing their inventory up so I got it for a song...