What's on your walls? Neat storage ideas!

[Bob Heine]

Excuse my ignorance - what chemicals can a HDPE plastic hold up to? How long have you held those chemicals in those particular bottles? The seller doesn't offer any info on that subject.

I'm not an expert so I can't recommend using these bottles for all chemicals. I've had these HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) bottles filled with the following chemicals for two years and have had no sign of deterioration in any of them:

• Acetone
• Degreaser
• Denatured Alcohol
• Distilled Water
• Lacquer Thinner
• Mineral Spirits
• Solvent-based Wax & Grease Remover
• Water-based Wax & Grease Remover
• Urethane Reducer

When I was researching this plastic I noticed most of the insecticides, herbicides and other garden chemicals at Home Depot and Lowe's are sold in HDPE bottles. The pool acid and chlorine jugs I've been using for 40 years are also plastic but I'm not sure what kind. The chlorine jugs don't have HDPE labels and I don't have any acid jugs at the moment.

With that being said, I'm not a fan of PETE (Polyethylene terephthalate) bottles. I don't buy or drink bottled water (I prefer garden hose water) but my wife bought an 8-pack dated January 2009 in preparation for the hurricane season. They have been sitting in a cabinet in the garage for six years and here's what they look like:

Not sure how the water left the bottles and I can't help wondering what has gotten into the bottles through the same process. Needless to say, you need to be careful when selecting bottles to store dangerous chemicals. One of the reasons I have an HDPE bottle with distilled water is to verify it's better than being in a PETE bottle.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Toss that. PETE water bottles are for short term storage. Chemicals from the plastic leech into the water over time. I dont drink ANY plastic bottle water.

Tommy

 

[Willy81]

Here's a useful site that lists the chemical compatibility of materials. It looks like HDPE has excellent resistance to just about everything!

http://www.coleparmer.com/Chemical-Resistance

 

[Xauterus]

The issue with the water bottles is the bacteria that can come from in the cap. Hence the use by date on them.

 

[GMG]

GMG,about the air tool storage,did you drill and cut it? It's on my list to make and I like how its covered too,care to share the details? thanks,

Greenbikemike

Square tubing,
1) layout lines using soap stone, scribe and punch.
2) Believe I used 2 inch spacing between holes. Depends on tool sizes really.
2) I drilled all holes first. Side holes large enough (3/8") to insert couplings.
3) After drilling smaller bottom holes, I scribed lines from outside diameter of bottom holes around tubing corner up to larger 3/8 holes and carefully cut along lines.
Cool part about this is I can store more than one tool per slot. The bottom slots are 1 1/2" long.

 

[whitedogone]

Here's my petty addition. Wasted space above my garage window. A 1x6 with a door stop added around it, added a couple of brackets, and nailed it to top of window casing. It holds a ton of stuff.

 

[whitedogone]

It even doubles as a cooling rack for deer salami after it comes out of the smoker. Here it is with 60#'s hanging off it.

 

[gearhead1]

finished the rack up

Great idea!

 

[jeffgbook]

Here is my trailer lift and shelf above the garage doors...

That's the coolest thing ever.

What do you carry on the trailer? I'm looking for an aluminum trailer to haul 2 adult and 2 kid atvs.

 

[fstbusa]

That's the coolest thing ever.

What do you carry on the trailer? I'm looking for an aluminum trailer to haul 2 adult and 2 kid atvs.

Dirtbikes, mower, aerator, you name it... I use it mainly for my dirtbikes because I like having all my gear,tools, and spares in the toolbox on the front and I just throw the bike on it and go rather than trying to line up all my tools, gear, and whatnot to put in the truck. Plus it gives me room to haul more luggage or whatnot in the covered box on the truck.

Incase you didn't see it here is the link for it in operation right after I finished it.

 

[Kevin54]

For more than 50 years I have opened gallon cans of chemicals (acetone, mineral spirits, etc.) to splash a little on a rag. It recently occurred to me that this practice means spilled and/or contaminated chemicals. I solved the problem with some HDPE plastic sample bottles from US Plastics:
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=23604&catid=530

The bottles work great but I kept knocking them over so I made a 16-inch rack to hold seven 8-ounce squeeze bottles and attached it to the tool cart I use for paint and bodywork.

The rack is made from 2-1/4” exhaust pipe and some flat stock.

I cut the pipe into equal length pieces and welded them together and then welded some strap to the back and bottom of the pipe.

The rack on the cart worked so well I made another like it for the wall above the workbench. This rack holds 16-ounce squeeze bottles and holds ten bottles (it’s about 28-inches long).

Because these bottles are 2.4-inches in diameter, 2-1/2” OD exhaust pipe is too small. Instead, I used five 2-1/2” ID pipe connectors. (Walker 41957). Cut each connector in half and then welded them together with the straps.

You can't beat that site for bottles for the garage for various uses. I've but a bunch of these in the past and keep them at the mills, drills, and lathes to keep oil in. They are ideal for drilling because you can dispense just a drop or two if oil at the tip of the drill bit and hole instead of slopping a lot on, where it is slinging oil all over everything. I never thought about the larger ones for thinners ond other lubes too, plus labeling them. great idea.

 

[jeffgbook]

Dirtbikes, mower, aerator, you name it... I use it mainly for my dirtbikes because I like having all my gear,tools, and spares in the toolbox on the front and I just throw the bike on it and go rather than trying to line up all my tools, gear, and whatnot to put in the truck. Plus it gives me room to haul more luggage or whatnot in the covered box on the truck.

Incase you didn't see it here is the link for it in operation right after I finished it.

I did see that. It's nice to see someone else is as OCD as I am. I will be doing something like this for the family of bicycles we have. To get them out of the way when we're not using them. Again nice job!

 

[rartuin270]

Snagged this at work the other day. Brand new out of our service truck. They replaced it with drawer cabinets. Boss was going to put it on the scrap pile but I told him I would give him $25 for it.<br />
<br />

 

[jeffgbook]

Snagged this at work the other day. Brand new out of our service truck. They replaced it with drawer cabinets. Boss was going to put it on the scrap pile but I told him I would give him $25 for it.<br />
<br />

I've got one just like it. A buddy GAVE it to me along with a huge super heavy set of shelves that I gave to my neighbor and one of those drawer sets in the background of your picture there. His job was doing the same thing. He actually dug them out of the dumpster! These companies waste so much

I'd love to get mine off the ground and put some kind of door on the front.

Post pics of where it ends up!

 

[dittle fart around]

I've got one just like it. A buddy GAVE it to me along with a huge super heavy set of shelves that I gave to my neighbor and one of those drawer sets in the background of your picture there. His job was doing the same thing. He actually dug them out of the dumpster! These companies waste so much

I'd love to get mine off the ground and put some kind of door on the front.

Post pics of where it ends up!

42" tall doors are available at Shopstoragecabinets.com
24" tall doors can be found here.

 

[jeffgbook]

42" tall doors are available at Shopstoragecabinets.com
24" tall doors can be found here.

Sweet they've got bases too. Might just build that tho. To get it a little taller. Thanks!

 

[The mean fish]

I recently build a big rack on one of my shop walls, I started a thread about it. I've been quickly filling it up with all sorts of stuff, I'm loving it.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=279519

 

[Kevin54]

Snagged this at work the other day. Brand new out of our service truck. They replaced it with drawer cabinets. Boss was going to put it on the scrap pile but I told him I would give him $25 for it.<br />
<br />

YOU ****!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jmarkwolf]

Snagged this at work the other day. Brand new out of our service truck. They replaced it with drawer cabinets. Boss was going to put it on the scrap pile but I told him I would give him $25 for it.<br />
<br />

Nice snag. You ****.

I wonder if those Harbor Freight plastic bins will fit the cubbies?

 

[Nodak7mm]

It even doubles as a cooling rack for deer salami after it comes out of the smoker. Here it is with 60#'s hanging off it.

Mmmmmhhhhh! Now there is a great looking shelf!....

Rod

 

[fattogatto]

While the products in the US Plastics catalogue are great and very reasonable, they are scoundrels when it comes to shipping charges. If you allow them to ship on their nickel, watch out. Less than $16.00 worth of product, UPS from Ohio to Memphis and they wanted almost $28.00 to ship.

The only way it is worthwhile is to have your own FEDEX/UPS account and use that.

 

[crewone]

Made my own base added a shelf on one side for qt bottles and the other has a parts draw bin under it. Best pictures I could find for now.

 

[YukonXL04]

I made custom adjustable shelving for my walls. Also gotta have a peg board!
Also in the first pic you'll see a painted on whiteboard on the left. Works great for drawing out diagrams or to do lists!

View media item 48293View media item 48294View media item 48295
I got all of the shelving and brackets for free! The wifes company was moving to another location and they let me take these. When I took them home they were 16' each and about 20 of them. Chopped them all up how I needed them and here is it lol.

 

[Oldbear]

Mmmmmhhhhh! Now there is a great looking shelf!....

Rod

I'd have trouble working rather than eating... bring those over to my place, I have a few beer that would go great with those.

 

[BradTx]

I like the PVC zip tie storage idea, but the only problem is the round end at the bottom. So I tweaked the idea a bit and used a spigot slip plug and a coupling. This allows them to stand near your work area if you're using a large quantity, then hang it up when you're done.

 

[larry4406]

I like the PVC zip tie storage idea, but the only problem is the round end at the bottom. So I tweaked the idea a bit and used a spigot slip plug and a coupling. This allows them to stand near your work area if you're using a large quantity, then hang it up when you're done.

You could also use the wafer thin test caps which are flat and nest inside the pvc pipe to create a flat surface to stand upright.

 

[Dennis Leigh Henry]

I recently build a big rack on one of my shop walls, I started a thread about it. I've been quickly filling it up with all sorts of stuff, I'm loving it.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=279519

*****REMOVED PICTURES***********

Very cleaver idea. I did something like this with our sports balls (foot, base, soccer, basket, tennis, soft, etc.). Dang....another project!

 

[demographic]

You could also use the wafer thin test caps which are flat and nest inside the pvc pipe to create a flat surface to stand upright.

I cut plywood discs to fit inside 100mm waste pipe (clean and never used for waste) and hold the discs in place in with three screws.
That's what holds my Thermos flask onto the bulkhead of my van, got a cutout for the handle and its screwed onto the bulkhead between the seats.

 

[2nrguy]

I would just like to say thanks to the person that started this thread, just spent over 2.5hrs going through ALL 60 pages and got nothing done i was supposed to do!! Now i have more ideas to eat up $$ LOL

 

[revamp]

I would just like to say thanks to the person that started this thread, just spent over 2.5hrs going through ALL 60 pages and got nothing done i was supposed to do!! Now i have more ideas to eat up $$ LOL

You're not the only one!

 

[DigitalFusion]

The best part, (or worst part, depending on how you look at it), is that this thread continues to live on for years, and everyone in a while you get a notice that someone has posted in it, and spend another 2+ hours reading through the entire thing all over again!

I may, or maynot have read the entire thread in one sitting more than 5 times over the years. I'd rather not admit to it.

 

[Modern Jess]

I've read through this entire thread about three times now, over the last couple years. Still one of my favorites.

 

[gahrajmahal]

It's so large now I just start at the last page and go backwards.

 

[Responder]

It's so large now I just start at the last page and go backwards.

^^^^^this

 

[Kevin54]

I'm not an expert so I can't recommend using these bottles for all chemicals. I've had these HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) bottles filled with the following chemicals for two years and have had no sign of deterioration in any of them:

• Acetone
• Degreaser
• Denatured Alcohol
• Distilled Water
• Lacquer Thinner
• Mineral Spirits
• Solvent-based Wax & Grease Remover
• Water-based Wax & Grease Remover
• Urethane Reducer

When I was researching this plastic I noticed most of the insecticides, herbicides and other garden chemicals at Home Depot and Lowe's are sold in HDPE bottles. The pool acid and chlorine jugs I've been using for 40 years are also plastic but I'm not sure what kind. The chlorine jugs don't have HDPE labels and I don't have any acid jugs at the moment.

With that being said, I'm not a fan of PETE (Polyethylene terephthalate) bottles. I don't buy or drink bottled water (I prefer garden hose water) but my wife bought an 8-pack dated January 2009 in preparation for the hurricane season. They have been sitting in a cabinet in the garage for six years and here's what they look like:

Not sure how the water left the bottles and I can't help wondering what has gotten into the bottles through the same process. Needless to say, you need to be careful when selecting bottles to store dangerous chemicals. One of the reasons I have an HDPE bottle with distilled water is to verify it's better than being in a PETE bottle.

Bob....I always respect your replies, and I just now saw this, but I have to disagree with this, for one reason, if you store clear chemicals in a water bottle, that is a recipe for an accident to happen to a grandchild, child, or even an adult.

And for others, please don't do this. All it would take is one swallow of something like lacquer thinner to harm or kill a small child.

Spent the money, get some proper bottles, and get a label maker.

 

[mdbeck1]

Bob....I always respect your replies, and I just now saw this, but I have to disagree with this, for one reason, if you store clear chemicals in a water bottle, that is a recipe for an accident to happen to a grandchild, child, or even an adult.

And for others, please don't do this. All it would take is one swallow of something like lacquer thinner to harm or kill a small child.

Spent the money, get some proper bottles, and get a label maker.

Got to agree with you on the label maker. If you don't have one at least get some duct tape and a sharpie.


The picture from Kevin's quote shows some bottles that have "collapsed". You can get them to do that all by themselves. Fill the bottles with WARM (not boiling) water and seal them. When they cool down they will collapse like that.

 

[LLave]

It even doubles as a cooling rack for deer salami after it comes out of the smoker. Here it is with 60#'s hanging off it.

That is.... beautiful. I have always wanted to make some home made salami.

 

[Bob Heine]

Bob....I always respect your replies, and I just now saw this, but I have to disagree with this, for one reason, if you store clear chemicals in a water bottle, that is a recipe for an accident to happen to a grandchild, child, or even an adult.

And for others, please don't do this. All it would take is one swallow of something like lacquer thinner to harm or kill a small child.

Spent the money, get some proper bottles, and get a label maker.

Got to agree with you on the label maker. If you don't have one at least get some duct tape and a sharpie.


The picture from Kevin's quote shows some bottles that have "collapsed". You can get them to do that all by themselves. Fill the bottles with WARM (not boiling) water and seal them. When they cool down they will collapse like that.

Guys, sorry for the misunderstanding.

In that post I was pointing out that HDPE (high-density polyethylene) bottles are impervious to most chemicals but PETE (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles are not even impervious to water. That pack of PETE water bottles has never been opened and the seals on the bottles have never been broken but about half the water has leeched or leaked out while inside a garage closet (never warmer than 82*F). I wasn't suggesting anyone put chemicals in the water bottles.

In the post that started that line of discussion I made a couple of bottle racks and ordered the bottles specifically for their chemical resistance. I also used a label machine to let me know what's in each one.

Even the youngest of my nine grand-kids is too smart to drink anything that doesn't come out of the refrigerator. I, on the other hand will more than likely die from consuming something that comes out of a bottle (even having given up drinking alcohol 12 years ago). I appreciate the sentiment and completely agree about not storing chemicals in unlabeled clear containers.

The original post that led to the water bottle post is 1152: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=4556172&postcount=1152

 

[timdp]

Have used mostly CL freebie ex-kitchen cabinets on my walls, but needed some "wall space" on the freestanding "island" area down the center of the two car garage, so I built two freestanding "tool cribs" that are basically workbenches that sit on other workbenches. Material is salvaged 2x6 redwood from an 800 sq ft deck we replaced. Adding 2x6 slats and shelves provides plenty of space for mounting tools on shelves hooks and magnetic tool holders. Hollow core doors on top of the tool cribs help keep dust off the tools and and provide overhead storage for light items.






Second one. Was still sorting fasteners in this pic so ignore the mess on the bench.






New air tool rack.

 

[Farmall 1066]

3" PVC pipe, Sawzall, and hole saw. Not the best looking thing, but I love the way it works!