Looking for hush shelf storage ideas.

[fiataccompli]

Looking for High shelf storage ideas.

I have 12’ ceilings in my garage/workshop and my original hope was to be able to hang shelves from the trusses for high storage. I have a huge “inventory” of spares for my cars mostly in like size flip top tubs , like this:



My hope was to be able to line some of my walls with them shelved 2 bins high/1 deep. I weighed one of the heaviest & the number I seem to recall was 65PSF as a load to hold them. The problem is that the trust company said no way to putting that load on the trusses and my architect was less than helpful also. I’m guessing they comes down to a choice of either something hanging from the wall or something like a pallet racks with one shelf a pie. The latter would certainly work but it makes for awkward floor space below. (Alternately a friend has racks is used for lumber which were apparently Macy’s warehouse racks or something that I believe are cantilevered pallet racks, basically...So maybe a little less greedy with floor space below)

I would be interested in hearing or seeing examples of high somewhat heavy load shelving people have built and installed....Preferably some that they’re happy with and has not fallen on them at some point!

In general this is the type of space I’m looking at filling, referencing the upper 2-3’ of wall space.





Thanks in advance for ideas.

In a related topic I was also going to ask if anyone here has experience with the wall-mounted we all racks that are sold by places like Summit. Looks like Amazon has several choices and did about 50 bucks a pop to hold four wheels they are probably as cheap as fabricating something...that is, if they work.

EDIT: that was supposed to say “High Shelf” not “hush shelf “

Sent from my iPhone using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[Busted Knucles]

Frame off the floor over those 2 red cars in the 2nd of your 3 pics. A mezzanine if you will call it.

 

[garrett1812]

I am pretty happy with these, made your unistrut, threaded rod, and 1x10 boards.

 

[fiataccompli]

Both nice ideas. I love the suspended shelves & these were what I had in mind (basically) originally until the truss folks made it sound like I'd be structurally compromising my garage. Whether what they say is accurate, I don't know, but one of the ways to find out is not a place I want to go. I have a very shallow hip roof, so I believe that does translate to less vertical load carrying a ability to hang stuff like many boxes full of heavy car parts.

 

[wssix99]

You can't hand stuff from trusses. Because... trusses.

the truss folks made it sound like I'd be structurally compromising my garage.

Your garage will be fine. Your roof; not so much.

Whether what they say is accurate, I don't know, but one of the ways to find out is not a place I want to go. I have a very shallow hip roof, so I believe that does translate to less vertical load carrying a ability to hang stuff like many boxes full of heavy car parts.

The simple answer is that trusses are always custom designed/economized for the application and in that activity, they are not "over designed" to allow for any future loads. (Particularly point loads on the bottom chord.) Yours will be designed to carry the drywall and light fixtures and that's about it.


I have a garage very similar to yours and installed pallet racking. It's great and gives me a bunch of heavy and long stock storage up high; preserving workspace at floor level. If you lay it out right, you can create large/long bays to pull cars through, nest work benches, etc. and get all the heavy load capacity you could want up high. The stuff isn't that expensive (even new) and you can configure it in many different ways.

BTW - You also need to keep 2 feet clear between your storage and the ceiling (if memory serves me) to be compliant with fire code. I think you may be able to go closer to the ceiling with noncombustibles, but this is all worth researching before you get into a firm plan.

 

[rburke65]

Ya can’t beat the Unistrut system.

 

[fiataccompli]

yeah, point taken. I enjoy both the ceiling & the roof in place as-constructed.

I've been watching pallet racks on the local facebook marketplace (cheap is relative...last time I got a LOT of pallet racks for a shop they were free-please haul them off....around here now, people seem to want around 200 bucks +/- per section.

I think I'll check out the racks my friend has before deciding on something.

I probably have the viable & likely option of storing a lot of the spare parts in another location, but it would be ideal for a lot of reasons if I could have them in the same place as the cars & everything else.

At the moment, pretty much everything except the 2 post lift is mobile (most actually on casters) and I'm hoping to keep things fluid so I can find a layout that seems to work naturally. The two cars in the corner in the second photo are placed there in a rather temporary fashion. The original idea was that area would be a sort of a long-term work spot. Alternatively, a friend suggested a 2-wide 4 post lift in that corner to put the cars above & roll-able storage or work areas below (or 2 more cars....)

thanks for the feedback!

 

[Klammer]

I'd second the mezzanine suggestion above the red cars. I'd consider adding a mezzanine above the windows behind the X1/9, too. You should be able to get engineered lumber to span those lengths without any support other than along the walls, leaving you clear span underneath. I have some shelves holding totes along one wall and a section of pallet rack with a workbench underneath. Both work alright for me, but won't give you the clear span you're looking for.

 

[wssix99]

I've been watching pallet racks on the local facebook marketplace (cheap is relative...last time I got a LOT of pallet racks for a shop they were free-please haul them off....around here now, people seem to want around 200 bucks +/- per section.

That's about right, but it all depends on how many cross bars you want, if the parts are stock sizes, and if you want grating. (vs. making wood decking yourself)

I have a system of 30" deep rack, just over 40' long and recall that the whole thing (10' high with grating and lots of shelves - you don't need to go all the way up to the ceiling; just under it) cost me around $3500 for brand new racking; delivered.

Having assembled a lot of this stuff in the past; having new parts was incredible. It all went together great and I didn't have to worry about messing with bent pieces or custom welding odd lengths of components. I was also able to get the proper anchors , etc. to secure the thing to my concrete wall.

 

[fiataccompli]

new stuff is nice indeed. Frankly, for this part I was hoping to *not* be spending x,000 dollars like most everything else for the garage project has been...ha! we can dream, right?

I think I need to dust off some structural engineering books & look more at the mezza-shelf option.

Oh, I'll also have cabinets on the walls, but relatively speaking, they'll be easy and would be below the storage height, whatever storage I have.