Unistrut Shelving Project

[A**holes Garage]

I couldn't find heavy enough shelving for residential use to support my steel inventory that I plan on hanging on the wall. So, I decided to fabricate my own using Unistrut.

Unistrut is heavy duty C Channel used in commercial construction and offers full shelf adjust ability, easy to add on accessories, plenty of attachments. if I can't find one, I simply weld to the strut itself.

I'm doing a complete garage remodel in November/December and having the walls repainted, floor epoxied etc.

I had a few hours over the weekend to pre-drill the holes for the Unistrut shelving so once everything is done, it should be a quick and easy install.

I also modified a few of the support brackets to 18" long for more steel storage space and added shelf stops.

A few pics;

 

[930dreamer]

I have a pallet of Unistrut hardware, do you need anything?

 

[A**holes Garage]

I have a pallet of Unistrut hardware, do you need anything?

I think I have everything I need for now, thank you for the offer though!

 

[Zick]

Cool, can't wait to see it all finished.

 

[SuperSocket]

Why did you weld on mounting bracket ends that I assume will attached to the strut on the wall? They make Unistrut brackets for that exact thing (T'ing off another strut channel).

 

[A**holes Garage]

Why did you weld on mounting bracket ends that I assume will attached to the strut on the wall? They make Unistrut brackets for that exact thing (T'ing off another strut channel).

Yup that's the way I bought them as 12" brackets with the strut welded to the flat mounting plates with holes.

I wanted the longer 16" brackets at the time. So, I decided to cut 6" pieces off some leftover strut and welded them to the 12" struts to extend them to 18" long. I then welded the flat stock keepers on the end to capture whatever I use for shelving material and to capture my steel from sliding off.

 

[jeffmoss26]

That is really neat! Good job!

 

[dittle fart around]

Can't beat Unistrut. It's great stuff. Seen at all the locations I've worked at as a high voltage electrician. We had 2 ft wide brackets hanging off the wall supporting 3 layers of lead shielded wire and the wire raceway.

 

[A**holes Garage]

Can't beat Unistrut. It's great stuff. Seen at all the locations I've worked at as a high voltage electrician. We had 2 ft wide brackets hanging off the wall supporting 3 layers of lead shielded wire and the wire raceway.

I've seen it around for 25-30 years or more. I go to a lot of industrial plants and I see it used in electrical race ways, instrumentation mounting, equipment mounts, false ceilings, etc. They make a ton of accessory brackets for it.

I've seen some pretty creative stand offs, mounts with the stuff. One place I go has an electric winch suspended to a frame and swivel post made entirely of Unistrut.

Because of its strength and versatility, is why I decided to use in my garage re-model. I guess I'll see how practical it is.

 

[sberry]

I store a bit of steel too. Its heavy and I like to share the weight to the floor. Another thing,,, and this is not necessarily the case here but as a general thing,,, I collect it. I have seen steel racks of all types and when in the design stage its easy to envision these 20 ft pieces but as soon as you cut it off it becomes a different storage issue,,, all the way down to little drops especially in hobby shop where the supply is not never ending and the cost is higher, higher in material and procurement effort.
I got some stuff for longs, some for half's (very common to get stuff cut in half especially with pickup or van transport) and I find myself with shorts, lots of them and useful to the home fabricator.
I could stand to sort again, the stuff accumulates beside or under these nice racks unless a guy has provisions. I got a couple more racks in there but you really cant see,, as well as the wall between to lean sheets up.
The bit rack in the 3rd pic is beefed up, heaviest on bottom and stabilized against the wall. I save all kinds of bits and pieces, angles with holes, all kinds of things I can spot, maybe is configured, needs light or minimal modification.
I don't know what kind of shop this will be but if a guy is busy he will find the shorts growing and the longs disappearing. I have seen some nice ones outside the building with weather sheets, etc, I cut it up and file used material the best I can.

 

[sberry]

BTW, the workmanship is great here. Nicely painted.

 

[A**holes Garage]

I store a bit of steel too. Its heavy and I like to share the weight to the floor. Another thing,,, and this is not necessarily the case here but as a general thing,,, I collect it. I have seen steel racks of all types and when in the design stage its easy to envision these 20 ft pieces but as soon as you cut it off it becomes a different storage issue,,, all the way down to little drops especially in hobby shop where the supply is not never ending and the cost is higher, higher in material and procurement effort.
I got some stuff for longs, some for half's (very common to get stuff cut in half especially with pickup or van transport) and I find myself with shorts, lots of them and useful to the home fabricator.
I could stand to sort again, the stuff accumulates beside or under these nice racks unless a guy has provisions. I got a couple more racks in there but you really cant see,, as well as the wall between to lean sheets up.
The bit rack in the 3rd pic is beefed up, heaviest on bottom and stabilized against the wall. I save all kinds of bits and pieces, angles with holes, all kinds of things I can spot, maybe is configured, needs light or minimal modification.
I don't know what kind of shop this will be but if a guy is busy he will find the shorts growing and the longs disappearing. I have seen some nice ones outside the building with weather sheets, etc, I cut it up and file used material the best I can.

I wish I had the room for racks like those!

 

[sberry]

Great thing about all this is that it can be changed, similar to electric or air hydrants. If you accumulate a lot of material or need more space some fairly simple design additions could easily double or triple the space and weight capacity. I keep adding brackets,, ha and one of these days when I clean and organize I am going to take the torch and welder to mine for an hour or 2 and add about a third more in the same space for near free.

 

[sberry]

Re: Instruct Shelving Project

I wish I had the room for racks like those!

I was busy and writing as you posted,,, but as I said,, things got a way of turning out different than the original grand vision, if you are a busy guy you can trust me on this. Some guys can get it right the first time or accumulate only so much stuff, you do have the opportunity to modify this to gain lots of usable space. I saw a nice rack on one of these forums, the general concept was beautiful, needed a couple design changes to really utilize to the best of its potential.
You haven't lost anything here and I mean this kindly,,, it might benefit from some design change in the future should you require it.

 

[sberry]

This is where I should learn sketch so I could be of some help.

 

[A**holes Garage]

Re: Instruct Shelving Project

I was busy and writing as you posted,,, but as I said,, things got a way of turning out different than the original grand vision, if you are a busy guy you can trust me on this. Some guys can get it right the first time or accumulate only so much stuff, you do have the opportunity to modify this to gain lots of usable space. I saw a nice rack on one of these forums, the general concept was beautiful, needed a couple design changes to really utilize to the best of its potential.
You haven't lost anything here and I mean this kindly,,, it might benefit from some design change in the future should you require it.

yeah, a new house with a detached garage...

 

[sberry]

As they say,,, you gotta run what you brung, sometimes you have to make the best of it,, ha Looks great.

 

[A**holes Garage]

As they say,,, you gotta run what you brung, sometimes you have to make the best of it,, ha Looks great.

I live in a city, and hobby work out of my garage, *****.

But, I do have access to a real shop, Miller welder, Thermal Dynamics plasma, etc. Those are for my bigger jobs....

 

[akdiesel]

Unistrut is great stuff. Just make sure you get the 12 gauge material. Lowes and Home Depot sell knock off brands of it but it appears to be good stuff.
I built a multi-level snowmachine storage lift out of Unistrut.
The shelving wall bracket looks great so far. The only week link on it will be the wall studs.

 

[A**holes Garage]

Unistrut is great stuff. Just make sure you get the 12 gauge material. Lowes and Home Depot sell knock off brands of it but it appears to be good stuff.
I built a multi-level snowmachine storage lift out of Unistrut.
The shelving wall bracket looks great so far. The only week link on it will be the wall studs.

I bought the 12 ga stuff at a construction supplier that I've been buying from for years,

Yes, I'm using 2 1/2" x 3/8 lags. I'm not going to load it down that much.

 

[SuperSocket]

Yup that's the way I bought them as 12" brackets with the strut welded to the flat mounting plates with holes.

I wanted the longer 16" brackets at the time. So, I decided to cut 6" pieces off some leftover strut and welded them to the 12" struts to extend them to 18" long. I then welded the flat stock keepers on the end to capture whatever I use for shelving material and to capture my steel from sliding off.

Oh ok. I thought you welded the brackets yourself.


The brackets I am talking about is actually separate but you just bolt them on, I have never really seen brackets already welded on.

Looks good.

 

[formek]

Looking foward to see the final Photos

 

[A**holes Garage]

Oh ok. I thought you welded the brackets yourself.


The brackets I am talking about is actually separate but you just bolt them on, I have never really seen brackets already welded on.

Looks good.

Here's a link to what I bought for the brackets;

http://www.unistrut.us/index.php?WP=cat_detail&S=S05&P=P2944

 

[White 99]

I too look forward to seeing the finish project.

A while ago someone posted some overhead shelving using ss wire mesh held up with a plate bolted to the wall studs, a bar welded to it coming off at a 90 and a bracket coming back to the wall on a 45 angle. It would look like a right hand triangle. On this the wire mesh was mounted. I sure liked the idea but I don’t weld.

Does the unistrut have a premade way of reinforcing with a 45 coming back to the wall? Maybe I could do it something similar without welding.

Thanks

 

[A**holes Garage]

Does the unistrut have a premade way of reinforcing with a 45 coming back to the wall? Maybe I could do it something similar without welding.

Thanks

Here is a page of brackets.

http://www.unistrut.us/index.php?WP=show&GRP=Bracket

I didn't go with the brackets that have the support 45's because I have limited shelving space and the 45 would take up valuable spacing between the shelves.

 

[bhclark]

I use to work in remodeling for a large chain store. I could shoot myself for how much unistrut we threw away over the years....most of it powdercoated white.
Corporate used to send us 20-30 pieces for each remodel and we were always able to reuse what was already in the ceiling.
dumb, dumb, dumb!!!!

 

[formek]

I use to work in remodeling for a large chain store. I could shoot myself for how much unistrut we threw away over the years....most of it powdercoated white.
Corporate used to send us 20-30 pieces for each remodel and we were always able to reuse what was already in the ceiling.
dumb, dumb, dumb!!!!

I thought that stuff was expensive.

 

[motorcycle79]

Unistrut is great stuff. Just make sure you get the 12 gauge material. Lowes and Home Depot sell knock off brands of it but it appears to be good stuff.
I built a multi-level snowmachine storage lift out of Unistrut.
The shelving wall bracket looks great so far. The only week link on it will be the wall studs.

i want to see lift pics please sounds sweet

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Unistrut is great stuff. Just make sure you get the 12 gauge material. Lowes and Home Depot sell knock off brands of it but it appears to be good stuff.

The "knockoff" is Superstrut, made by the Thomas & Betts Company. The original Uni-Strut is made by Unistrut Inc, which is owned by Atkore International (never heard of them). The design patents ran out long ago, and the T&B stuff is probably more popular now than the genuine Unistrut because of T&B's large presence in the electrical field.

Download the catalogs, the variety of channel designs types of holes in the channels, fittings, attachments, etc, is mind boggling.

Charles

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Use the channel nuts that have the plastic cone on the front to retain them in place. Don't get the ones with the spring on the back, dang thing won't slide and hangs up on the holes in the channel.

I've used a modest amount of it mounting conduit and hanging lights in my shop. I wanted the lights in exactly the right place, spacing wise, and that meant I wasn't mounting them right on the purlins, so every light hangs from a section of unistrut spanning two purlins.

Charles

Charles

 

[akdiesel]

Charles,
Their web site is great. I used it for engineering my lift and the usage as you mentioned the application and attachments seem endless.

motorcycle79,
I stated a thread about two years ago on it.
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34840
There are some minor changes I have done from some others comments like the change in the eye bolts. But for the most part it is still operational with no problems.
I just recently turned it to allow for the snowmachine approach straight in easier.
The snowmachines are down and the lawn tractor and summer items are on it now.
On a side note I noticed Snowmachine is not a recognized word. down in the 48's it is called Snowmobile.

 

[A**holes Garage]

Charles,
Their web site is great. I used it for engineering my lift and the usage as you mentioned the application and attachments seem endless.

motorcycle79,
I stated a thread about two years ago on it.
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34840
There are some minor changes I have done from some others comments like the change in the eye bolts. But for the most part it is still operational with no problems.
I just recently turned it to allow for the snowmachine approach straight in easier.
The snowmachines are down and the lawn tractor and summer items are on it now.
On a side note I noticed Snowmachine is not a recognized word. down in the 48's it is called Snowmobile.

Nice!

My nephew just bought a new home and has a similar need for high storage in his garage. I may have to use some of your design ideas.

 

[bhclark]

I thought that stuff was expensive.

It's not cheap...but the stores didn't want to store supplies like that due to space restrictions and the shipping was outrageous to send it back. (12 foot long pallets aren't cheap to ship!)

I could only store so much stuff at my house.......

 

[A**holes Garage]

I thought that stuff was expensive.

I know this Unistrut shelving idea isn't for everybody, but I'm known to go overboard on basic projects.

Anyway, here are the costs of the Unistrut:
50' (5) 10' sticks of 1 15/8" x 1 5/8" 12 gauge = $76.00
50: Spring Nuts $36.00
20: 12" Single Channel Brackets = $325.00
50: 1/2" x 3/8" x 1 1/4" cap screws = $19.00

Total: $456.00

I looked at Gladiator and Rubbermaid products and I liked some of their accessories but they are weak when it comes to weight capacity. If I wasn't placing steel on a few shelves, I may have purchased one of those systems.

The advantage to the Unistrut for me;
1. Unlimited vertical adjustments.
2. About 250 lbs. max capacity per bracket.
3. You can bolt on add attachments, weld your own attachments, etc.. I was thinking about adding a piece of Unistrut to some of the shelf bracket ends and mount the garden tool Gladiator mounting plates to it for my yard tools, etc.

 

[valiant100SM]

Fantastic project! This may be exactly what I'm hoping to do in part of my new garage space - the "workshop" area that needs to double as overflow parking for a car on skates. I want to keep some good longer-term storage in the area, but don't want to eat up floor space. Keeping the first shelf above the hood or trunk level will be perfect!

Thanks for the inspiration and info!

Clair

 

[W-Cummins]

Anyway, here are the costs of the Unistrut:
50' (5) 10' sticks of 1 15/8" x 1 5/8" 12 gauge = $76.00

20: 12" Single Channel Brackets = $325.00

They turned out nice!
One question though.. seeing that you messed with every one of the brackets ( welded extensions to 8 of them and your stock retention straps to them all) Why didn't you just make them?? $325 for them is a little steep if your going to remake/mod them anyway. There is only $30 in the strut for the 20 of them (stock length) and the 1/4x2 flat bar maybe cost $5.00 for all of them. Also after you had to weld the extensions on, then grind and dress them clean, you could have made your own faster out of a 18" piece of strut. That's a $290 savings

William...

 

[A**holes Garage]

They turned out nice!
One question though.. seeing that you messed with every one of the brackets ( welded extensions to 8 of them and your stock retention straps to them all) Why didn't you just make them?? $325 for them is a little steep if your going to remake/mod them anyway. There is only $30 in the strut for the 20 of them (stock length) and the 1/4x2 flat bar maybe cost $5.00 for all of them. Also after you had to weld the extensions on, then grind and dress them clean, you could have made your own faster out of a 18" piece of strut. That's a $290 savings

William...

I could have easily have fabricated the brackets if I had the time. I'm in the middle of a garage move, major clean out, other fab projects, honey-do's, entertaining guests, etc. and I just didn't have the time. It's all I could do to hang the strut, modify the brackets and paint everything in a weekend. So I bit the bullet and just bought them. I don't think $20.00 a piece was bad, especially when you compare the quality and cost to some of the light weight wire shelves and thin brackets that are out there for residential use.

I wasn't planning on extending the brackets to 18" but when I saw how much steel I'll be placing on them, and the width of other items that need stored, I went ahead and did that since my supplier was out of the 18" brackets.

 

[csp]

So are these done?

 

[A**holes Garage]

So are these done?

Done with fabrication and paint, but not installed.

Garage is getting epoxy, paint, etc.

Probably will install the Unistrut shelving the 2nd week of December.

 

[valiant100SM]

Question - are the Superstrut products sold by Lowes / Home Depot interchangable with the Unistrut products? There really don't seem to be any parts in stock at either that would lend themselves to shelving, and the folks behind the counter don't seem to know much about the products at all. Before I run down a rabbit hole of trying to get L/HD to special-order anything, I thought I'd at least ask if the bits and pieces would swap back and forth.

Thanks!

Clair