About to pull the trigger on GridWall. Should I get SlatWall instead?

[jamesr242]

I was all set on getting some grids to hang various tools on my walls but I'm having trouble finding reasonably priced garage oriented (as opposed to retail hat hooks, etc.) attachments. I'm looking for ladder, rake, and hammer type holders to give some specific examples. I was able to find the items at the link below but $12 for a hammer holder is more than I paid for most of my hammers! I was looking to buy all this Grid stuff from the Gershel Brothers store in Philadelphia since I'm nearby, but like I mentioned most of their hooks are tailored to the retail application.


Originally I wanted the grids because they seemed easier to install/transport than sheets of SlatWall and seemed more heavy duty. But now that I see the lack of reasonably priced attachements, I'm doubting myself. Slatwall also has the benefit of being available at the home improvement store as opposed to the grids which are only available at a specialty store that's open only when I'm at work. Should I just just go with Slatwall or do you know of suitable grid accessories?

http://diamondlifegear.com/slatwall-accessories-organizers-fixings.htm

Here's some pics of my garage for reference. I'm looking to put this on the two wall areas to the right. I've got 1/2" OSB for walls, BTW.

 

[James E]

I faced that same dilemma and wound up with gridwall, and I have never regretted it.

The 4x8 wood slatwall is particle board or melamine and can't hold any weight at all without coming apart. It's also not water resistant. The plastic slatwall is insanely expensive. Covering an entire wall with it would wipe my bank account out. That's why most installations you see are just a couple strips of the stuff--which looks really cheap to me.

The gridwall is very sturdy, and you can add as many mounting points as you need to, to make it even more sturdy. Yes, the accessories are more limited than slatwall, but I have a retail supply store in my city and they have a surprising variety of hangars.

Hooks come in several lengths, there are various baskets, shelves and platforms. If you're handy, you can bend or weld up different accessories to the backing plates, too. All of the backing plates have set-screw holes so that you can solidly lock the hooks in place. Two short hooks, side by side are perfect for hanging a shovel, hoe, sledge, you name it--and while they're not very specialized, the gridwall hangars are WAY cheaper than the slatwall accessories.

I'll bet right now I have several hundred pounds of equipment mounted on my wall and the gridwall just handles it.

 

[jamesr242]

Can't argue with another James . That seems like solid advice; I think you are right. I like the gridwall and I can adapt my stuff to fit the standard hooks or vice versa. I'm thinking of things like drilling a hole in my rake handle or using hose clamps to attach a hook to the smooth handle could solve this relatively easily without buying the expensive specialty hooks. Or like you said, I can put 2 hooks next to each other.

Have you come across a good solution for mounting a ladder? Mine's particularly heavy (one of those folding multi-position things as you can see in the pic) so I was a little worried about that one. I was wondering if 2 regular hooks could really support this 40lb ladder or hold up to the abuse of hanging it repeatedly.

Thanks for your input!

 

[James E]

I have a ladder like you describe but I don't have it hung on the wall. I think the heaviest single item I have on the gridwall is my backpack blower, which I sit on a shelf. The heaviest items hung from hooks are probably a weed-eater or sledge hammer and pickaxe. I'll try to take some pictures tonight and see if I can upload them to my new Photobucket account tomorrow.

I can tell you that after I installed the gridwall but before I hung anything on it, I climbed up to the ceiling several times on it and it didn't budge. I weigh just under 200 lbs.