Lumber rack

Re: Lumber rack

William Duffield on the Cohansey

>Here's a photo of mine. It is modular and adjustable and can be built in any length and for any height ceiling, as long as the ceiling has exposed joists. My joists are on 2' centers, but 16" centers would work even better.

The uprights are 3/4" plywood with 3 1/2" square 2x4 spacers, bolted to the joists with one 4"x3/8" machine bolt, 2 washers and a nut, each. No fastener is needed at the floor, since all the force there is horizontal, back against the bottom of the wall. Do make sure that your wall is securely fastened to the floor, or the bottom of the wall may move into the next room. Mine has a concrete block wall behind the studwall.

The cross members are 2x4s, of any convenient length, with 3/4" lumber core lauan plywood gussets and a 2x4 spacer block at the bottom. The 2x4's are angled at about 3� degrees above the horizontal. They extend 3 1/2" beyond the back of the gusset, and are bolted to the uprights, with the same fasteners that I used to bolt the uprights to the joists. Note carefully the grain orientation. The upright assemblies and the cross member assemblies are assembled with lots of drywall screws and glue.

I would not recommend using 1x4 lumber for the uprights instead of plywood, due to the potential for splitting, since most of the force on the bolts is straight out from the wall.

The cross-members can be easily moved by driving out the bolt, moving the member, aligning it with another hole, and reinserting the bolt. When you are building it, take special care that you get all your holes aligned both vertically and horizontally, in both the uprights and the cross-members, and very precisely aligned.

If you like this design, and need more information, I can provide a pattern for the gusset, and a layout for maximizing the number of them you can get out of one 4x8 sheet of plywood.

Be careful. Don't overload it. Heavier loads can be supported closer to the wall than out on the ends of long cross-members. I'm not a mechanical engineer, and I have done no stress analysis on the materials or the structure. If yours fails, I accept no responsibility. Also, if it fails, it probably won't give you any warning.

Re: Lumber rack

Bob Rozaieski in Eastern PA

>I haven't built mine yet but I am in the same situation. About 10' of length under the basement stairs so I will make it multilevel with shorter lengths toward the top. There was a good idea in PW a few months back for a "$30 Lumber Rack" that I am planning on using. Basically it consisted of 2x4 "studs" running floor to ceiling joists, lag screwed to the wall studs, with 7/8" holes drilled along the edge every 6-12" at a 5* angle from horizontal. Then the author put 12" lengths of 1/2" galvanized iron pipe in the holes to stack the lumber on. Apparently the iron pipe outside diameter is just under 7/8" so it fits perfectly. Looked like a simple cheap strong solution to me.

Here is mine  *LINK*

Roger Nixon

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Lumber Rack

Re: Lumber rack

William Duffield on the Cohansey

>The pipe is a good idea. My under-the-stairs rack is made of plywood shelves on 2x4 frames, one per stair. Sometimes the plywood sags if heavily loaded, and they always fill up with sawdust and shavings, since they are right behind my contractor's saw.

The best trick I implemented for this rack was to write the depth in inches, in big block letters, next to every shelf. It sure helps to know about how long a piece of lumber is when you can only see the end of it. It also saves a lot of trial-and-error when you want to put a piece of lumber away.

Re: Lumber rack

Jack Guzman from Maine

>Matt, I bought my lumber rack from HD.They sell shelving parts for heavy duty applications. There's a slotted bar that screws to the wall in various lengths and corresponding brackets in widths up to 24". I don't have any exposed studs in my shop so this was the quickest setup for me.These brackets will hold all the hardwood that will fit on them. The only limiting factor I can see is the hardware you use to screw it to the wall. I used 3 1/2"#10 screws.---Jack

Re: Lumber rack

M. MacDonald

>That is the same system that I am using...I added some pipe insulation to prevent any discoloring between the pipe and wood...

Re: Lumber rack

Bob Rozaieski in Eastern PA

>With the pipe rack you can still walk under there and see the lumber stack from the front so you can see the length. That's what made me decide on that system.

Re: Here is mine

Ted Shuck

>I built one almost identical to this, after seeing a posting by Ernie Miller showing his. I used steel pipe instead of conduit though, since I was concerned about the strength of the conduit. I used galvanized pipe and covered the pipe with packaging tape to avoid discoloration of the wood from possible corrosion of the pipe.

Cheap, and it works well.

Ted

Re: Lumber rack

Tim of San Leandro

>mine...

similar to many others.

I used 18 inch sections of 1/2 inch iron pipe. Threaded on one end and screwed into 13/16 holes..about 2 inches deep. spaced ~6 inches apart. It holds a decent amount of wood....not enough...but even if I had a 100,000 sq ft warehouse filled 20 feet high with lumber....I'd probably still think I didn't have enough : ).

btw....the 2x'4 rest on the floor....so most of the weight is borne by the slab foundation. Attaching to the existing wall keeps it all from falling over.

Re: Lumber rack

Tim of San Leandro

>I forgot to mention....I've had no problems with any staining on my lumber. I've used both galvanized and black iron pipe.

I cleaned thoroughly with mineral spirits. As in I think I used an entire big roll of bounty to clean the few pieces that are in my rack.

If I do it again, I'd just stick to black iron pipe. The galvanization tends to flake off....and that would be metal flakes....not good when those meet a cutting edge... : (

damhikt.... ; (

you guys are awesome

Matt -- Los Angeles

>Thanks all for the great info and pics.

I have drywall on the walls so I may go with the HD type system.

It would be a lot easier with everything exposed but the place is what it is so...

Thanks again

Matt - Los angeles

Re: Lumber rack

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>This is exactly what I've done. It works well and was fairly inexpensive. A word of caution: Don't use black pipe, it will stain some woods.

Re: Here is mine

Steve Kubien

>Mine is very similar to Rogers. I used stainless steel pipe because it was available at no charge. It works well and I can always remove a section if need be.

Steve Kubien

Ajax, Ontario

remove the _9 for email

How big is the shed?

Ron Berlier, Sacramento, CA

>

Re: How big is the shed?

Roger Nixon

>12' long x 8' wide x 8' eave height.

I have a similar rack in the shop for lumber up to 16' long.

Re: Lumber rack

Don Thompson, Cutler Ridge, South of Miami FL

>Here is one with a 2x4 frame carriage-bolted together.

Looks unsafe to me

Todd O. Cronkhite Native of Maine

>I dunno fellas, just boring holes into edges of 2x4's and sticking pipes into them to hold up lumber seems a bit on the unsafe side to me. I understand that the load will be distrubeted horizontaly, but it does seem to me that you could easily overload these "sheleves" and with now warning have a stack of lumber on top of you, or worse yet a child or a pet. I think I'd be muh more comfortable with 4x4's instead of 2x4's.

Other than then the 2x4's it does seem like a good and inexpensive system and I think I'll go with something very similiar myself. 4x4's for me tho.

Todd O.

Re: Looks unsafe to me

Don Thompson, Cutler Ridge, South of Miami FL

>Todd,

Take a look again at the picture in the message to which you replied. No pipes. The 2x4 frame is bolted to the floor and to the 2x10 rafters. The support arms are 1/2-inch plywood laminated to 2x4s, bolted to the vertical framework.

Tapering the arms, and varnishing everything is optional. ;-)

Standing the test of time....

Frank Mutchler in Colorado Springs

>Hi Todd. I've have used 4x4 fir bored (5 deg. up angle) both sides for iron pipe for about a year with no trouble. I keep it fairly well loaded with various woods constantly & have had no trouble at all. Figuring 3 lbs/bd.ft., I would guess it normally holds 3/4 ton or more. There's right at a ton of sheet stock..20 or more sheets @ 80 - 100 lbs per.

The 4x4 stock is 10' tall and attached at the top to the ceiling joists. There are four of them, 2' apart. I made an extension off the bottom to hold the sheet stock using the same 4x4 material. The stock slides in & out very smoothly with no damage. (The 2x12 going off to the right is a loft constructed to hold storage for my son.) I got the design from someone on the web...don't remember where I found it ;>)!

No Don, you misunderstand

Todd O. Cronkhite Native of Maine

>When I said it looked unsafe to me I was refering to the one that Roger showed. I just don't feel that holes bored into the edges of 2x4's leaves alot of intergity to the 2x4's to hold much weight. Than again I could be wrong. The ones that you and William showed looked good to me, but I think I like Franks the best. Bolted 4x4's, ugh, ugh, ugh. ;~)

Todd O.

Would not be the first time!

Don Thompson, Cutler Ridge, South of Miami FL

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My Fault. Wasn't clear in my reply

Todd O. Cronkhite Native of Maine

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