# How much weight can the wall handle?



## Dovetail (Nov 16, 2009)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Garage space is premium in my household. I've been looking at ways to store lumber. One of them is wall rack such as this. For my garage, this will get bolted to a weightbearing wall. Each level of the rack holds up to 110 lbs, totalling 660 lbs for the entire rack. I just think that this is quite a lot of weight to be adding to 2 of the wall studs, not to mention the force vectors are lateral and down. I don't want to cause structural damage to this house. Anyone know how much weight can studs in a weightbearing wall handle?

Also, what do you call the force that the weight exerts on the studs? Centrifugal?

Just wondering!


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## Eric_S (Aug 26, 2009)

If you haven't already purchased a wall rack, I'd recommend Rubbermaid's FastTrack, http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31Z0XF0BPAL._SL500_AA280_.jpg. You can get it at the big box stores. This thing is great! You can start small and extend the wall rack vertically like I'm about to do. Currently I only have 2 shelves on it but will be adding more shortly. It goes into 3 studs for the 4' one and i believe 6 studs in the 8' version. Between every stud though is another screw that is anchored as well. I believe it will hold 1750 lbs (300lb per level). I have it stacked with cherry and it seems to be holding strong. Very easy to install.


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## SUPERDOG683 (Nov 3, 2009)

600lbs is nothing for a weight bearing wall in a house. or a wall with weight around
and above it.
a garage wall is different, if a small garage with no weight except a roof over head
600 can cause movement. esp. if the sill plate is not bolted to concrete foundation.
if you put the racks on 2 opposite walls that will 1/2 the force and the forces will be
opposing and unless the garage is very poor quality construction it will be fine.
so put one rack on one wall and a second rack on the opposing wall directly opposite the first rack
note i said directly opposite


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Ditto superdog
Unless the wall is not built properly it can hold much more than 600lbs.


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## SnowyRiver (Nov 14, 2008)

I dont think you would have a problem. 600 lbs isnt a lot of weight. Thats only 300 lbs per stud…not much more than a large person. Your wall should be anchored to the foundation, and the trusses should anchor the top. You could use blocking between them to help strenghthen them and tie them together if you think its a problem. If your house has 2X6 studs and you have an attached garage, you might use the house wall since it would be a bit heavier. I used to install guyless steel radio towers, (much larger than a simple TV antenna tower) and we used to anchor them into the side walls of garages. When you get a strong wind blowing, the torque on the wall is much higher than 600 lbs and we never had a problem.


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## knotscott (Feb 27, 2009)

My rack is built on my garage wall. It primarily uses 3 studs, which I augmented first with 2×6s bolted thru the studs…the studs in between have a secondary support. The main shelf supports are notched into the 2×6's. It's 2 tiers high and is loaded to the gills with nary a groan. Not saying that's the best method, but am saying it's working well.


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## SUPERDOG683 (Nov 3, 2009)

A quote "normal" wall this is no problem. but i mention the light weight wall

b/c some of these garages are put up like a small shed.

ie the place i am rehabing now has a very nice shed. looks great.

but it was built with particle board with finger glue studs every 24 inch.

plus it is just sitting on a concrete slab. its not anchored to the slab at all.

you can almost move it if you put your shoulder into it. the torsion force is much higher.

b/c the self might extend 2-3 feet. if the weight was right on the wall then its 600 lbs straight

down. but every foot out from the wall the force gets gretter. if the structure was a real pos like

my shed it will pull the structure out of square over time. i dought this is the case but when i am throwing around advice and i dont know any details i try to cover the bases. even if it is a light weight structure just anchoring the structure to the foundation will make a huge difference.


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## SUPERDOG683 (Nov 3, 2009)

A quote "normal" wall this is no problem. but i mention the light weight wall

b/c some of these garages are put up like a small shed.

ie the place i am rehabing now has a very nice shed. looks great.

but it was built with particle board with finger glue studs every 24 inch.

plus it is just sitting on a concrete slab. its not anchored to the slab at all.

you can almost move it if you put your shoulder into it. the torsion force is much higher.

b/c the self might extend 2-3 feet. if the weight was right on the wall then its 600 lbs straight

down. but every foot out from the wall the force gets gretter. if the structure was a real pos like

my shed it will pull the structure out of square over time. i dought this is the case but when i am throwing around advice and i dont know any details i try to cover the bases. even if it is a light weight structure just anchoring the structure to the foundation will make a huge difference.


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## GaryC (Dec 31, 2008)

Knotscott….I see several pieces there that are putting a real strain on that wall. You should probably take them off that wall and send them to me to store. I'm sure it's a good idea.


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## knotscott (Feb 27, 2009)

Gary - I seriously need to store 4 of these wine vat oak staves at a friends shop for lack of space….I ended up giving them to him. Now that my stash has all been put to use, I wouldn't mind having them back!


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## JasonIndy (Dec 29, 2008)

Just out of curiosity, how old is your house? Sometimes that can make a difference, in my experience.


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## GaryK (Jun 25, 2007)

660 pounds? That's less than hanging 4 men on your wall. I wouldn't worry about it.


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## timbrennan01824 (Sep 10, 2009)

I agree with all these "don't worry about it"s. I have a rack that spans 7 studs in my free-standing garage and I have zero worries about it.

As for the name of the force? There are two forces at work on each stud. One is a shear stress (weight of rack pushing straight down) and one is a torque (the farther away from the stud, the more torque) I made sure to limit the affect of these forces by screwing the rack pieces to the insides of each stud. That way I could use a min of 4 screws and none of these forces would be enough to shear the heads off of them in 5 years time. I also stack my 8/4 and 10/4 hard maple boards close to the wall and the pine on the outer portions.


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## Alexander (Nov 18, 2009)

a 2X4 stud (not a finger jointed stud) of hem/fir will take 2800 lb. of down weight. The pull on the wall I don't know. Newer construction will have plates bolted to concrete but remember the studs are just nailed to the plate. Durning construction the studs are nailed through the bottom of the plate into the stud so we are looking at "shear value" which is great. The same would be true of the top plate and stud connection. When the wall is built (on the floor) it is then set in place and connected to ceiling or 2nd. floor joists.

Hope this helped


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