Lucky Strike
Well-known member
I am working in a 320 sq. ft. two car town home garage. So... space is at a premium. I have 16 inches total above the garage door, which I need to make use of. I previously re-purposed some wire shelves that I removed from a closet. They have proved to be quite sturdy. So I decided to use some cheap wire closet shelving for my loft. I also had to come up with a design that maximized the shelf space with no waste. So, I needed to support one end of the shelf with the wall, and the other end with the ceiling, this way no space below the shelf is wasted by supports.
Here is the space I needed to fill:
I got a six foot length of 16" deep wire shelving at a big box store:
*NOTE: Like all things, there are various grades of this type of wire shelving. What you see here is a Closet Maid product and it is their "close mesh" shelving. A standard pre-cut 6' length of the cheap stuff is $7 and change. A 6' length of this stuff is $17 and change. The difference is the wires running from the front to back of the shelf are spaced every 5/8ths of an inch instead of 1" spacing. Doesn't sound like much difference but it is much more sturdy.
My plan was to use clips to hold the back of the shelf to the wall. These are the clips I found:
And I planned to suspend the end of the shelf from above using all thread rod, washers and nuts:
I needed some brackets to attache the threaded rod to the ceiling joists, but could not find any. So I decided to make them, out of drilled flat plate steel, like this:
I used my vice and a ball peen hammer and a screwdriver to make the brackets, after cutting off lengths of the drilled plate with my rotary tool:
Cut the rod to length and attache the brackets:
Used washers and drywall screws to attach the brackets to the joists:
Spent some quality time hunting for the joists and studs. (my stud finder is a POS) Then attached everything:
Loaded it up:
The gas cans are empty. If you are unlucky enough to have been in Houston for Hurricane Rita you know why I have so many extra gas cans on hand....
I made three supports, but only needed to use two. Now I only have to make one to put another shelf on the other side of my garage door header.
Hope this gives ya'll some good ideas. Nice to get a few more things off the floor.
Here is the space I needed to fill:
I got a six foot length of 16" deep wire shelving at a big box store:
*NOTE: Like all things, there are various grades of this type of wire shelving. What you see here is a Closet Maid product and it is their "close mesh" shelving. A standard pre-cut 6' length of the cheap stuff is $7 and change. A 6' length of this stuff is $17 and change. The difference is the wires running from the front to back of the shelf are spaced every 5/8ths of an inch instead of 1" spacing. Doesn't sound like much difference but it is much more sturdy.
My plan was to use clips to hold the back of the shelf to the wall. These are the clips I found:
And I planned to suspend the end of the shelf from above using all thread rod, washers and nuts:
I needed some brackets to attache the threaded rod to the ceiling joists, but could not find any. So I decided to make them, out of drilled flat plate steel, like this:
I used my vice and a ball peen hammer and a screwdriver to make the brackets, after cutting off lengths of the drilled plate with my rotary tool:
Cut the rod to length and attache the brackets:
Used washers and drywall screws to attach the brackets to the joists:
Spent some quality time hunting for the joists and studs. (my stud finder is a POS) Then attached everything:
Loaded it up:
The gas cans are empty. If you are unlucky enough to have been in Houston for Hurricane Rita you know why I have so many extra gas cans on hand....
I made three supports, but only needed to use two. Now I only have to make one to put another shelf on the other side of my garage door header.
Hope this gives ya'll some good ideas. Nice to get a few more things off the floor.
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