Stock storage- Vertical or mezzanine?

[MushCreek]

I'm totally gutting my shop to prepare for insulation and finished walls. I had put up a semi-temporary mezzanine that was 4 X 12 feet, hanging down from the ceiling. I had a bunch of lumber stored up there. I had to take it down to do the finish work, and I like the way the shop looks without it. So much brighter and open. With 12' ceilings, I can store all of that stuff vertically. Either way is a PITA to organize and sort. I kind of like the way it looks now. What are y'all doing to store 8-12' stuff?

 

[TurnipTruck]

The metal side of my shop has only 10’ high ceilings, so I have the 10-16’ stuff on this wall:

(old pic)

Right now, the 10-4’ stuff is outside and the 4’-0 is shelved under the weld table.

What little wood I have now is stashed horizontally on the wall or under the table in the wood shop.


I tried stashing stuff vertically in the tall part of the shop, but I have run out of wall since then.

 

[MushCreek]

That's a nice set-up!

 

[NUTTSGT]

I keep all my steel stock on the top shelf of my pallet racking. Two sections of racking set in a corner, one set bottom shelf is workbench, second shelf is tool storage (cases) and top is steel storage. Other section, bottom shelf is about 6' up allowing for storage of taller items followed by one more shelf higher up.

Nice thing about pallet racking, it goes along the wall, shelf height can be where ever suits you and used as a work bench top. It comes in varying width and height. Find some too tall for your shop, cut it down and reweld it to the correct height. This stuff will hold some serious weight and is sturdy.

 

[MushCreek]

If I hang brackets on the wall like Turnip Truck, I'm wondering what kind of fastenings to attach it to the studs. Lot of pull-out force on the top one, depending upon the load. On my 'storage wall, there will be two 18" X 36" industrial shelving units, so I could make the top of those be part of the support for the lowest shelf. Add maybe two more brackets to create a 12' long shelf. Then, maybe two more shelves above that. I don't generally have long sticks of steel; most of the projects I work on now are mostly short pieces. I probably don't have anything over about 6' long right now.

 

[u2slow]

Most of my longer goods stand up. They get heavy in quantity. I do have an 18' long shelf I hastily built. That's where the more delicate moldings, trims, and channels go.

I also have a mezzanine (7x30') but that's for bulkier, lightweight items

 

[tarmy]

Vertical for plywood, horizontal for steel except for cutoffs. You can see the 4-10’ steel on the left of the first pic…