shelving beam sizing

[w33b8t1]

I am getting close to finishing my garage and need to start thinking organization.

I have a left of piece of insulated header. It is basically two ~1.75" thick by 5.5" high beams that sandwich foam insulation. I am sure many of you have seem them for 2"x6" framing.

What I cannot seem to find is any information about the loading you can put on them.

The piece I have is about 15' long. If I plan correctly I should be able to use this as the bottom beam of a shelving system. With a 15' clearspan I can establish my tube rack under the bottom shelf and be able to get to tubing rather easily. The tubing is typically 20', but 15' is more than enough room to stab a piece in the opening.

Does anyone have any idea where I can find a table to see if this beam would work for 15' of span. It would have to support all the shelving above it.

 

[sands35]

Simply find a span table. ~1.75" thick by 5.5" is basically a 2x6. Yours are doubled apparently. The foam won't do anything for support, but since it's "free" that is irrelevant.

It really depends on how much weight you want to put on it and if you can support the middle of the span.

I would NOT hang it from trusses or rafters. Your inspector *might* look twice at that since trusses are engineered for specific loads, typically hanging shelves or other loads are not considered when designing trusses.

40 lbs per foot^2 live load is probably OK as that is for a living space. 20 is for an attic with limited storage.

L/360 if you are going to drywall the underside. If not, then L/240 or 180.

The span table say a single 2x6 is good for about 8' of span with 24" on centers. Presumably, 1/2 the load will be carried by the wall and not the joist. Double that and you can carry double the load or double the distance, so you are fine for 15' span with sistered 2x6s.

How deep will your shelves be?

A drawing would help.

Personally, I wouldn't worry about it. As long as you don't put engines up there.

Just sister up some studs for the king posts. Make sure the width of the joist is fully supported down to the sill plate.

 

[w33b8t1]

You're right after I re-read what I wrote I didn't explain much.

I am building shelves along one side of my garage (20') up to the top (10') So imagine 4 shelves with 2' between them. I also have a very low pipe rack I have built that would fit nicely under the shelving unit if I can clearspan most of it (in this case 15' of free insulated header).

The shelving system would be 2' deep. The wall side will be ledgers attached to the wall so no worries there.

As you can see from the picture I would be able to 'stab' a 20' tube in pretty easy with a 15' clearspan, but the span has to support the entire shelving system.

If that header I have won't work. I would probably just buy steel and span the whole thing. But a beam will cost a few hundred $$.

 

[sands35]

How heavy are the pipes?

The 2x6 header is probably much more robust than you need.

I'd just build a rack out of 2x4s or buy one or two of these:

Those will hold 2k lbs per rack and you can take them down later or move them.

http://www.garage-organization.com/...ZG.aspx?f=gb&gclid=CKW24O_Ehr8CFQwDaQod8D4AyQ

 

[w33b8t1]

The pipes are resting on the floor. I am only worried about the beam spanning 15' and holding up the shelving system with normal stuff on it.

 

[w33b8t1]

Well I am at the point where I need to buy some lumber. I have a slight change to my plan above and would like to span the whole thing. Ideally what I would like to do is:

- Build a shelf system 20' long where 4 rows of shelves are supported by 2x4 horizontal ledgers on the wall. I would screw the 2x4s to the wall in 4 rows and then screw 7/16 OSB to the top of the ledgers.

- The shelves would be two feet deep.

- Now the tricky question part of the question as similarly stated above. I want the bottom shelf to be able to support all 4 shelves at the front and I want the bottom shelf to clear span 20' so I can place a low profile tube rack under the shelf assembly. This would mean that all vertical supports fro the shelves above now rest on the bottom shelf beam and do NOT go all the way to the floor.

- So what I know is that I need the bottom shelf edge beam to be able to support all 4 20' rows of shelving.

When looking on woodby's downloads for a 2.0E 1.75"x9.5" LVL it says I could span 20' according to the following PFL:

-----------total load------live load
single ply-----62------------45
double ply---125------------90
tripple ply----188-----------135


I figure if I total the 4 shelves at (20PLF) and call it a uniform load that puts 80PFL on the bottom lvl beam that is supporting everything.

A tripple 9.5LVL shows 188 total and 135 live.

Am I going to kill someone or am I overdoing it given I support the ends properly and screw/nail properly the beam?

I don't believe that shelving should be considered with live load so I am a bit concerned that all I have to work with is 52PLF of dead load to do it right.

LVLs are relatively cheap, but I dont' want to go taller than I have to with it cause I still need to get at the tube rack under this beam.

 

[hippie2cams]

what is the wall made of where the shelves will be. Can you install cantilevered shelve above your piping rack. that would cut down on your span for upper shelves and give more weight bearing. instead of 20 ft. clear span you could make it four or six or even 8 and give it plenty of support.

 

[w33b8t1]

The wall that the one side of the shelf is to be build off of with ledgers is a stick framed exterior wall. 10' tall 2x6, 16oc construction. So i don't think I can really cantilever a whole lot off of it.

It was suggested that I just use angle brackets for all the shelves, but buy the time I buy enough of those I could buy a lot of engineered lumber.

I could also make some type of removable column at 10' and just take it out when I am working with tubing, but it is all for not if I take it out and the beam collapses.

 

[srmofo]

I would only use the center support but I would add chains/cable/lumber at the center angled up and back and then fastened to the wall.

how much weight do you plan to store up there?

 

[w33b8t1]

No a lot of weight, just 'normal' garage stuff like golf clubs, coolers, folding chairs, extension cords, random stuff. Almost all of my tools will be in cabinets and all of my power tools will be on a different set of shelves on the other side of the garage. This is really only a storage area for, like I said, normal garage stuff because we are converting our other garage into an outdoor living room.

There will only be a few heavy things and they will be out towards the end. Clamshell bearing kit, tubing bender and dies, pipe bending dies, etc. (maybe 200 pounds of heavy stuff in the first couple feet on the left side) This is because my shop press will be over on that side of the shelves.

No small block chevys or anything.

In your drawing instead of the center support on the shelves 2,3,4 I can use two point loads to get closer to the ends instead of one center support?

 

[w33b8t1]

what is the wall made of where the shelves will be. Can you install cantilevered shelve above your piping rack. that would cut down on your span for upper shelves and give more weight bearing. instead of 20 ft. clear span you could make it four or six or even 8 and give it plenty of support.

Thinking more about what you said. While I cannot attach a cantilever to the wall with much success I could weld a "C" looking assembly like an engine lift. Buy some 5x3x.25 tube and weld up a "C" with some feet that can get bolted to the floor to keep it from moving. Then through-bolt the end of the cantilever to the LVL beam.

If I did one of these at the middle point it should help out tremendously I think. I am using an online calculator and a 2' cantilever with 2000 pounds on the end of it with 3x5x.25 tubing hardly bends if I am punching the numbers right.

 

[w33b8t1]

Well here is that I did. I built a 21' shelf and two cantilevers. The beam is a double 7.25" LVL and the cantilever setups are 4"x2"x.25" tube. So the beam has support every 7'. Some online calculators suggest with a safety factor of 2 I those cantilevers will support 1500 lbs each. The seat of my pants says it should work fine.