Wire mesh shelf liner/topper

[Jay870]

I bought one of the Home Depot Husky "Industrial Duty" shelving units with the steel wire mesh shelves. I like the mesh as I don't expect it to sag over time like the cheap particle board shelves tend to do. It works fine for anything biggish with a flat bottom, but for smaller stuff or anything with an irregular shaped bottom the wire shelving *****.

Looking for ideas of something thin, cheap and at least semi-rigid to lay on top of the mesh and am wondering what others have used. I am afraid thin hard board or particle board could still curl/warp and tends to go to hell quickly when anything is spilled on it.

 

[dcg9381]

Plywood... you can use the thin stuff.

 

[Fav Onefour]

Does the mesh grating sit flush with the top of the rails?
If it sits recessed, measure the height difference and use a material with that thickness if possible. I like having shelves that are level across the front edge. I also like using a material that will allow me to slide items. That is a personal preference.

Interesting side note to the topic. I bought a place that had a whole bunch of built in plywood shelving in a storage area. The previous owner had covered the shelves with flowery foo foo looking shelf/wallpaper material. The stuff was smooth and slippery. I ended up tearing out the shelving and didn't bother removing the cover material. I reused the plywood later on when I redid the area. My first thought was to remove all the cover material. It didn't want to peel off very well, so I cut the plywood to size before trying to remove everything. I did a few dry fits of the shelving with the cover material still stuck to the plywood. During the dry fitting I just set cut sections of plywood on the framing and slid my tool cases etc in to test fit. Some pieces had the cover side up. The end result. . . I now have shelves that are covered with foo foo looking shelf paper. The cover material actually works quite well for sliding items and easy spill cleanup.

 

[astrohip]

Looking for ideas of something thin, cheap and at least semi-rigid to lay on top of the mesh and am wondering what others have used. I am afraid thin hard board or particle board could still curl/warp and tends to go to hell quickly when anything is spilled on it.

I used thin hard board, and it's worked well. The wire shelves support the weight, the hard board helps stuff sit flat, or slide around when I push something. In almost ten years (2016), it's never warped. Maybe because there's always something sitting on it?

I haven't had an issue with spills. There are a couple items that had leaks (eg, chain saw oil overflowed somehow), and the hard board just soaked it up, leaving a stain. I could replace it if needed, but it's no biggie to me.

 

[72Anthony]

I'm thinking hard board (masonite) and you could secure each with two holes and a zip tie around the mesh grating.

 

[driftpin]

Masonite. I've posted about just this subject multiple times.

As long as it's not repeatedly sopping wet, it should last for decades. Take a bit of time to measure it so the side and end 'lips' of the shelf steel are just larger than the masonite sheet, the lips will hold the masonite in-place, even when you're sliding something heavy onto it.

 

[rocksnstumps]

Agree with thin plywood or even masonite works just fine. I have enough odd sized pieces of 3/8" or 1/2" plywood from projects over the years just throw a chunk of that up there. Not worried about covering every square inch of the mesh, just so the object on top can't drip thru or snag on the wire underneath. Have ratchet straps and a come along that way so the hooks can't catch on mesh when pulling off the shelf. No reason to overthink too much. Particleboard? Haven't ever bought any but even that would be fine I would think. Agree have seen just cheap particleboard by themselves sag at other sites. Total **** but the wire underneath will support it ok in your case

I actually like the wire alone in most cases. In a pole barn the rodent vermin will not build a nest on it or cross it much and tend to leave the stuff on the shelves alone.

 

[Youngandfree]

I used scrap wood paneling

 

[Spareparts]

The notch on the rails will accept 2" lumber 2X4 2X6 and up, cut to length and slip them in, plenty sturdy.
I got a lot of the lumber from builders out of their scrap, they were glad to give it to me instead of hauling
it off. We had about 130 ft. of racking. But you already have the wire shelving and they won't work together.

 

[Jay870]

The notch on the rails will accept 2" lumber 2X4 2X6 and up, cut to length and slip them in, plenty sturdy.
I got a lot of the lumber from builders out of their scrap, they were glad to give it to me instead of hauling
it off. We had about 130 ft. of racking. But you already have the wire shelving and they won't work together.

Hm.. what am I missing? I could obviously lay 2" lumber across the crossmembers, but I am not tracking with the "notch on the rails".

Or are you saying run 2x across the short axis?

 

[Youngandfree]

Hm.. what am I missing? I could obviously lay 2" lumber across the crossmembers, but I am not tracking with the "notch on the rails".

Or are you saying run 2x across the short axis?

Yes

 

[Fav Onefour]

The notch on the rails will accept 2" lumber 2X4 2X6 and up, cut to length and slip them in, plenty sturdy.
I got a lot of the lumber from builders out of their scrap, they were glad to give it to me instead of hauling
it off. We had about 130 ft. of racking. But you already have the wire shelving and they won't work together.

Normal pallet racking has notches sized for that option. I looked at Husky brand shelving online and it appears that there are numerous versions.
Those notches and mesh systems vary quite a bit. Some of the mesh setups come without reinforcement rails and will sit on top of wood cross members.
I'm not sure if the version we are talking about has standard 1 1/2 deep notches and reinforced mesh.

The variety of different rack systems is staggering. Years ago, I did a gig with a company that bought and gutted buildings. I spent a **** load of time banging apart racking and making corresponding piles of the parts that worked together. Companies that did slow, cheap expansions usually had a lot of different piles.

My main takeaway is that we don't know for sure which configuration we have in this discussion.

 

[danfromsyr]

political signs..
corrugated plastic panel

 

[RegeSullivan]

I'm not a fan of the wire shelf racks. If you end up removing it, it does make a great hanging rack on a wall with a 1" or 1 1/2" standoffs.

 

[Numerator2142]

Hardboard has been working for me for a few years, but I'm not doing much to abuse it.