Will I regret putting shelves here?

[bdog]

I have a 50x50 shop. I have drawn and attached a sketch of it.

It basically has three bays each with a 12' door. The left side houses a mobile office type trailer, the back of the middle has my lift, and the right side stores a rubber tracked machine in the back and the front is my welding area.

I have shelves, benches or tool boxes along all the walls. No free space on walls.

I need more shelving to store things.

I was contemplating putting some of these https://www.lowes.com/pd/Gladiator-...r-Steel-Freestanding-Shelving-Unit/1000003004 in the areas shown in orange on the sketch. They are 2' wide and there is 2' of space between my doors. Maybe just one - 6' long or maybe 2 - 12' long.

Will I regret this? I have a separate door for each bay so they would not effect getting things in and out of the shop I don't think.

Then again it seems they would just be sticking out and in the way.

 

[lakeroadster]

What kind of work do you do in this shop?

I think you'll regret the shelves. Shelves **** if you will be grinding, doing woodworking projects etc. Everything on the shelf will be covered with "project dust" in short order.

Adding more cabinets in the same wall space is a much better option.

 

[tjdux]

Im going to vote probably be in the way at least a little. Maybe a rethink of your current shelves is in order. Maybe deeper or taller shelves will improve storage.

Also a loft or mini loft will help. Not a full blown mezzanine but something 10ft square with 4 or 5 ft height to store the odds and ends above the trailer maybe.

Signiture; Check out my garage progress http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=352703

 

[tjdux]

Also some photos may help and some idea of what your currently using shelves for and what you want to use the new ones for

Signiture; Check out my garage progress http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=352703

 

[bdog]

The right side is for welding, the rest of it is just storage for and repairs on vehicles, atvs, etc. We don't do any particular work for hire in there but we own 8 atv /UTVs, 5 cars/pickups, semi, dump truck, backhoe, skid steer, three other rubber tracked machines, two international straight trucks, etc. Shop is basically used to maintain all this ****.

As it is now I have things along the walls from the floor to about 8' high. One entire wall is covered with shelves that came from a best buy that closed down.

 

[bdog]

Im going to vote probably be in the way at least a little. Maybe a rethink of your current shelves is in order. Maybe deeper or taller shelves will improve storage.

Also a loft or mini loft will help. Not a full blown mezzanine but something 10ft square with 4 or 5 ft height to store the odds and ends above the trailer maybe.

Signiture; Check out my garage progress http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=352703

I have thought of that but the trailer is enclosed and about 12' tall. The lift is in the middle, and I pull my semi in on the other side when I need to work on it. Not much room to go up.

 

[bdog]

The problem or need for the additional shelves stems from about two full pickup beds worth of specialty tools, equipment , etc that we have to load up and take on jobs once or twice a month. It is always the exact same stuff we take and it has no other purpose when not doing these jobs. I would like to have it all on one set of shelves by itself so it is easy to load and unload and nothing is forgotten. This stuff is heavy and bulky. I was thinking of putting it on the shelves by the door.

 

[vettex2]

I like clear open space. Walls are for benches and shelves

 

[ddawg16]

I'm also of the 'not the best place' crowd.

 

[braidmeister]

Wheels or casters can transform your space into whatever you want it to be anytime...I've got a lot of shelves with wheels on them in case I need to shuffle things around for a large job.

 

[ddawg16]

Wheels or casters can transform your space into whatever you want it to be anytime...I've got a lot of shelves with wheels on them in case I need to shuffle things around for a large job.

That is actually a very good idea

 

[bdog]

Yes it is. Do you think mounting wheels on the shelf I linked to would be ok? It will likely have about 1,000 lbs on it

 

[vettex2]

Wheels or casters can transform your space into whatever you want it to be anytime...I've got a lot of shelves with wheels on them in case I need to shuffle things around for a large job.

I tend to put casters on any and every thing that doesn't touch a wall.

 

[larry_g]

I have a similar shelving unit, probably the same under a different name. They are sturdy and will hold the 1000lbs. However if you put them on wheels then I would suggest a couple of things. In the picture above there is a hole between the tangs for bolting things together, use these bolts. I would build a frame to hold the legs together or put the bottom shelf as low as it would go to prevent bending of the legs. I would add an X brace on the back to help prevent racking when being pushed on.

That said I had some shelves in my shop like you show between the doors and they were a bother. Me being the slob the 2' deep shelves would grow to near 3' with stuff sticking out front an back. So for me they took up a bit more than 2'. I had to be careful coming through the door that something was not sticking out to scratch, or worse, the rig coming in.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[Caperluke]

what about putting the two shelves in the space between the trailer office and the garage door? Putting them on casters helps too, but if they are in that space they would not be in the way to scratch or hook anything coming in the centre bay. Also they would be close to the little used garage door so you could just back your truck up to door number 1 and load up/offload with ease. I see that would put them somewhat in the way of the mandoor but just keep them more to the right

 

[JimVonBaden]

I really despise shelves in a working shop. They allow everything on them to collect dust and grinding debris. Cabinets, especially off the floor, are my preference.

 

[jimreed2160]

I vote yes. I have lots of shelving in my shop and some of it is freestanding. Shelves are a great way to organize and store STUFF.

 

[PugetDude]

Yes. You will regret it.

 

[bdog]

what about putting the two shelves in the space between the trailer office and the garage door? Putting them on casters helps too, but if they are in that space they would not be in the way to scratch or hook anything coming in the centre bay. Also they would be close to the little used garage door so you could just back your truck up to door number 1 and load up/offload with ease. I see that would put them somewhat in the way of the mandoor but just keep them more to the right

If they are on casters this would be a great spot. That trailer office comes out a couple times a month to go to job sites.

 

[PugetDude]

I vote yes. I have lots of shelving in my shop and some of it is freestanding. Shelves are a great way to organize and store STUFF.

The question is "Will I regret putting shelves here?" so your yes vote is actually a no vote...

 

[Trey T]

I hate shelvings - it's the biggest enemy for me in terms of organization. If I have to have shelves, it has to be less than 12" deep.

 

[jnich1977]

Wheels or casters can transform your space into whatever you want it to be anytime...I've got a lot of shelves with wheels on them in case I need to shuffle things around for a large job.

Almost everything in my garage is on wheels, it makes things soooo much more efficient!

 

[regguy1]

Why use floor space? try this: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=65557