Rack It, Stack It - Free up floor space.

[Steevo]

I took a drive this morning, and picked up some pallet racking for the shop. Seven hours round trip, and was home by 12:30pm. Then I unloaded the trailer and put it all together . . .

Now I can start getting stuff on shelves, once I put some cross boards and plywood on them, anyway.

My recently refurbished compressor will go on the top here, above where it is sitting now:

This tractor project was a tight fit here, I wanted 10’ load beams for this section, but they only had 8’, 9’ or 12’, and I didn’t have the room for 12’, so I had to use 9’ for this section:

Oh, and I don't recommend assembling pallet rack by yourself.

 

[Hades12]

Where did you get it and how much were the parts. Looking to do something at my shop and lowes is all I have been able to find.

 

[Steevo]

C/L in most cities will have some places selling used pallet racking.
That is how I found mine. Unfortunately, I needed 36" deep, and 10' high, both of which are harder to find than the more standard 12' high by 42" deep stuff.
I ended up paying almost $500 for all of it. You can find better deals when a business closes and sells off their stuff. Search Craigslist for "pallet" in "all for sale" because some list it in Business, some in General, and some in other places.

 

[Jay H 237]

Still a good buy and something you needed.

What is the height of the uprights, 9'? I'd guess your ceiling is 10'? Even if someone had lower ceilings they could cut the uprights down if required.

 

[STClurker]

I have some racking very similar to that in the garage...worth every cent we paid for it.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Depending on how deep (front to back) they are, don't use plywood, it will bow. If the cross beams have deep inlet notches on the inside, they take 2x lumber perfectly. If they are shallow notches, 5/4 deck boards and HEAVY pallet boards work well. I have three sections of pallet rack. One is three uprights, 14 ft, total depth is 40 inches (which is an odd depth) the 8 ft beams all had shallow notches and I scarfed up a bunch of pallets from work that had 1" or so thick rough boards on them (for 55 gal drums), and I salvaged and cut the boards to 36 inches to fit in the beams. I also used some end cuts/remnants of 5/4 deck boards from a construction project, the builder gave me.

The most recent project is two 12 ft uprights 26" deep, and 10 beams, some shallow notches, some deep. I got the dollar each 4ft scrap/remnant/waste boards from Home Depot, 5/4 deck boards that were too bad to sell full length, they cut to 4 ft and sell for a dollar. Also use some 2x12's and cut them up for the deep notched beams.

Charles

It looks like a lot of junk (and some is) but right now, a couple of those shelves are empty and a couple have very little on them. The uprights weight 100 lbs each and I raised them and completely assembled the racks and loaded them by myself.

The new pallet rack I put up is for storage of motor oil, jackstands, gas cans and things like that mostly.

 

[Steevo]

Still a good buy and something you needed.

What is the height of the uprights, 9'? I'd guess your ceiling is 10'? Even if someone had lower ceilings they could cut the uprights down if required.

The uprights are 10', and ceiling height is 11'6"

 

[Steevo]

As Charles pointed out, the notches in the load beam are 1-1/2" deep, and will get a bunch of 2x4's cut to 32" laid in them, then a sheet of thin plywood over the top of them and the load beams, for a smooth surface. In hindsight, I should have probably bought some of the wire deck that they had for $13 apiece, and saved a lot of labor and some wood costs.

I have some leftover 1-1/2" solid door pieces I will probably cut to 32" and use in there to make use of them and save buying a few 2x4's.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

As Charles pointed out, the notches in the load beam are 1-1/2" deep, and will get a bunch of 2x4's cut to 32" laid in them, then a sheet of thin plywood over the top of them and the load beams, for a smooth surface. In hindsight, I should have probably bought some of the wire deck that they had for $13 apiece, and saved a lot of labor and some wood costs.

I have some leftover 1-1/2" solid door pieces I will probably cut to 32" and use in there to make use of them and save buying a few 2x4's.

Do your math carefully. I ended up buying 2x12's (11" actual dimension) as this was slightly cheaper (and less boards to cut) than narrower sizes. Really no need for plywood, you would be surprised how flat a surface you get. For the shallow notches on the new rack, I used "culls" (thats the word I was trying to think of) form HD. 5/4 deck board.

Charles

 

[bas157]

I hint for helping put up by yourself that I figured out after putting up the first one in my shed, rope ratchets! Get one end suspended a little, then do the other end , just a tug on the ropes and it'll lift them close to the position you'll want it in.

I've got 2 racks in my shed, they can hold so much stuff!! I scored mine on CL for pretty cheap from a shop that was closing(think mine were $180 for 5 uprights, 14 beams and decking).

 

[NUTTSGT]

I think you'll have plenty of storage.

 

[Mike F]

If anyone is near Ct, I found a boatload of racks. Need to call for pricing, though. http://longisland.craigslist.org/bfs/2902082256.html

 

[Joe B.]

Charles is right about the 2X4s. If you need a solid surface, I would just fill the whole area in with wood 2X4s. I like the 2X4s a lot better than the wire decks. Stuff slides in and out easier on the 2X4s, and stuff can catch on the wire decks.

One tip on the 2X4s. Cut them so that they are a little big and you have to tap them in with a framing hammer. This will keep them in place over time but you can hammer them out with no problems if you ever need to move them around.

 

[nehog]

If you don't want pallet racks, go to the local Sears store (you know, the one that is closing) and buy shelving from the store. I got mine from KB Toys, a 20 ft 'gondola' that I split apart and mounted to the walls. They threw in about 10 sheets of extra peg-board too, and extra shelves. Nice things about it are that I can adjust shelf height easily, and as well, I have a choice of 14 or 20 inch deep shelves.

 

[ChristopherLutz]

Steevo - what are you setting up your shop for.....meaning, what kind of work will you do once you've got all this sorted?

 

[Falcon67]

There's no such thing as too many cookies - or shelving.

 

[jeffmoss26]

Nice!!

 

[PCO6]

I have a pallet rack "buried" under my bench. It's very strong and rigid ... makes a great foundation for a bench.

 

[Cryptic1911]

You can get the stuff that is taller than you need, and just cut the uprights after a cross bar. They usually have a crossbar, a diagonal, then another crossbar, etc. We bought 18ft tall ones, and cut them to ~10.5ft since that's where the last crossbar was that would fit under our 13ft ceilings. We kept the 7.5ft leftover pieces.. probably make some tire racks or something out of the rest

 

[Steevo]

Steevo - what are you setting up your shop for.....meaning, what kind of work will you do once you've got all this sorted?

I restore old garden tractors, do some fabrication & welding, light machine work, general mechanical and metal shop setup. I also am a life-long motorcyclist and classic cycle enthusiast, although I am currently between rides.
I have also started rebuilding compressors, since my search for the one I wanted led me to so many lighter-duty units that need minor or major overhauls for very little investment.

 

[Steevo]

I was just about to buy some 2x6 lumber and start cutting blocks to make shelves on my pallet racking, when I found a deal on some 36" wire decking that was an odd length. I needed decking for 9' load beams and this place had a stack of it in 59" lengths.
He had mis-ordered it and was stuck with it in inventory, so he let me have eight of them for $10 apiece.
I used a bolt cutter to shorten them to the right length for two to fit a 9' load beam, and installed them.

This works out perfectly for my needs and saves me a ton of time, and a little money, too.

 

[PeteMoore]

I had no issues building my pallet racking on my own. And I'm built like a budgies hard on.

Just did one support beam above head height then slotted the rest together as required. Worked a treat. No real stress or strain.

I got 36 bays of 8ft x 2ft for £150.

Only used 4 bays worth in my garage and my dads garage and sold the rest