Shop Storage Solutions #1: Planning the Lumber Rack

EDIT: PHOTOS HAVE BEEN ADDED BELOW IN THE COMMENTS SECTION

I’ve been inspired by the recent projects of some of my Lumberjocks Buddies (even if they don’t know they are my buddies). In particular, I’ve really liked some of the storage solutions being built by sIKE, Greg Wurst, and Spaids. This is going to be a long post, so if you make it to the end, do you mind posting to let me know if anyone is really reading? I’m going to try and do photos as I work which should be included in part 2 of the blog.

I’m planning to take a long weekend and solve one of my garage shop’s biggest problems… Lumber Storage. I’ve currently got a Triton Rack hanging on one wall of my garage. I like it, but because of the garage layout, I am out of wall space so I can’t just add another of this style rack. I’m also struggling a bit with plywood storage so after TONS of searching, I think I found a workable solution. Here is a link to a photo along with the cut-list.

ShopNotes Link

Cut-List

This looks SUPER simple. That’s a good thing. The problem is that this requires an awful lot of materials and before I load it up, it will weigh a ton. The plans call for 5 sheets of plywood. Those alone probably weigh 150-200 lbs, maybe more.

My goal is to make a few minor modifications to try and save materials (and money) as well as reduce the overall weight. I’m hoping that this won’t reduce the strength in a significant way and I think this can be accomplished. Finally, I want this to have some space for a clamp rack too. Here are my plans with modifications.

1) the bottom will be made out of six 8’ 2×4’s instead of 1×6 slats with plywood on top. I’ll frame it up like floor with supporting joists, but I’ll also add 2-3 diagnal joists to help prevent racking when trying to push such a large object. The stored lumber will just rest directly on the 2×4’s.

2) instead of the sides being a full sheet of plywood each, I’ll cut 1 ft strips off each end making the total length 7 ft. any plywood I store will overhang by 6 inches on each end. I think that’s ok because the stored sheet goods will still be plenty supported. I’ll just have to be careful when moving around not to run the stored edges into anything that could cause damage. The cut-off from this step will be used in step 5.

3) while I’m lopping the ends of these sheets off, I might as well take 6” inches off the top of each side as well. I just don’t think I need a 4×8 foot sheet of plysood to store 4×8 sheet goods. Rip these cut-offs a second time and I’ve got four 3”x7’ strips. These will now be uses as cleats for the shelves.

4) now i need my cut-off bin dividers. the plans call to cut these from the shelving sheets, but I think I can stretch one of the sides I cut earlier even further. I’ll admit, this may be the bigest flaw in my design, but I’m going to give it a shot anyway. I’m going to plunge cut four 9”x24” windows out of the side that will support the plywood storage and use these cutouts to make four dividers. I think it will still leave plenty of material behind for strenth in the sides, but will give me 4 of my 6 desired dividers.

5)time to cut up the two 1’x4’ scraps from step 2. The first piece will be cut into 8 equal sized, 90 degree triangles. These triangles will be doubled up to attach the wheels and also help to prevent racking of the base. the other scrap piece will be cut into two 6”x4’ rectangles. These will attached at the front of the base on the plywood storage side to prevent sheets from sliding off.

Status: So from 2 sheets of plywood, I’ve got 1 side for plywood support, 1 side for cut-off bin support, 4 shelf support strips, 4 dividers, and 8 wheel supports, and a plyood storage “lip” made in step 5. Not bad (if this actually all works).

Now that we know where we hope to be, on to the final plywood sheet. I still need 3 shelves (I’ll have one less than in the picture), 2 more shelf cleats, and 2 more cutoff dividers and a front for the cut-off storage. This won’t be possible to get from one sheet, but I’m ok with that. I’ll explain at the end.

6) rip 1 ft off the end of the sheet so I’ll have 7’ material to work with. cut the last two cut-off bin dividers out of the 1’ scrap. This will leave the only plywood waste for the entire project, which I estimate to be less than 1.5 sq feet of plywood. This along with a few linear feet of 2×4’s seems pretty good to me.

7) rip the 3 smallest shelf sizes from the sheet. Rip two more shelf support strips.

If I did my math/planning right, I’ve got everything I need with the exception of the front for the cut-off storage. This may be cheating, but I’m thinking of using some old pegboard I’ve got laying around in order to hang small clamps from. The left and right bin will probably never be used for lumber, but will instead get some clamp storage bolted onto the side.

Again, if you read this whole thing, please let me know. Even better, if you have comments/suggestions, I’d REALLY appreciate it.