Print PDF
Favorite
Email
I have a one car garage. It had some wall mounted shelves in place when I bought the house. When I bought a Honda Pilot, I had to take down some shelves to get more clearance on the sides. I wanted to reclaim some storage space but when I looked at ready-made shelving, I found them to be too deep for my purpose. Pretty much everything I wanted to store in this shelf measured at less than 8" thick (fertilizer bags, paint cans, lawn, garden and auto chemicals etc.). So I decided to build one to my specifications. I decided on a 4' wide X 6' tall, 6 tier shelf based on available space. You can use this information to build your own custom shelving on similar lines.
I wanted to use as much precut wood as possible. I chose 1" thick white wood (cheap, untreated soft-woods like Pine) for construction. My calculations showed that at 4' width, the shelves would sag with heavy loads. So I decided to add edge strips to increase the rigidity.
I used the sag calculator at http://www.woodbin.com/calcs/sagulator.htm
Design Details:
To make sure I wasn't missing anything, I made a sketch for the shelf unit. The bottom shelf is mounted at 9.5" so that I can use the space underneath as well. The sketch shows the spacing between (lower surfaces of) individual shelves. I wanted 16 inches to accommodate the fertilizer bags. The top shelf is mounted closest to the top. I decided to have edge-support strips on both edges for the 1st, 2nd, and the top shelf. All other shelves are supported only on the front. The little rectangles you see below each end of a shelf are end supports. This will become clear in step 2. Note that because of the edge supports, frontal spacing between shelves is less by 1.5". The back is open as I have installed it flush to the wall.
I wanted to use as much precut wood as possible. I chose 1" thick white wood (cheap, untreated soft-woods like Pine) for construction. My calculations showed that at 4' width, the shelves would sag with heavy loads. So I decided to add edge strips to increase the rigidity.
I used the sag calculator at http://www.woodbin.com/calcs/sagulator.htm
Design Details:
To make sure I wasn't missing anything, I made a sketch for the shelf unit. The bottom shelf is mounted at 9.5" so that I can use the space underneath as well. The sketch shows the spacing between (lower surfaces of) individual shelves. I wanted 16 inches to accommodate the fertilizer bags. The top shelf is mounted closest to the top. I decided to have edge-support strips on both edges for the 1st, 2nd, and the top shelf. All other shelves are supported only on the front. The little rectangles you see below each end of a shelf are end supports. This will become clear in step 2. Note that because of the edge supports, frontal spacing between shelves is less by 1.5". The back is open as I have installed it flush to the wall.
Remove these ads by
Signing UpStep 1Materials and Tools
Materials:
8" X 1" X 6' planks - 2
8" X 1" X 4' planks - 6
2" X 1" X 4' planks - 9
Some 2" X 3" material I had (about 8' needed)
2" screws
1.5" screws
(I found that the Phillips II outdoor screws are much cheaper than the zinc coated ones - these come in 3 different colors and are almost impossible to strip. I chose the ones suitable for use with Pine/Cedar)
Tools used:
Circular saw
Jig-saw
power-drill/ screw-driver
Clamps
Misc.:
Some left-over deck stain
Paint brush
Wood Glue
8" X 1" X 6' planks - 2
8" X 1" X 4' planks - 6
2" X 1" X 4' planks - 9
Some 2" X 3" material I had (about 8' needed)
2" screws
1.5" screws
(I found that the Phillips II outdoor screws are much cheaper than the zinc coated ones - these come in 3 different colors and are almost impossible to strip. I chose the ones suitable for use with Pine/Cedar)
Tools used:
Circular saw
Jig-saw
power-drill/ screw-driver
Clamps
Misc.:
Some left-over deck stain
Paint brush
Wood Glue
| « Previous Step | Download PDFView All Steps | Next Step » |
1
comment
|
Add Comment
|
Oct 11, 2008. 8:15 PMScammah
says:
Kudos very thorough instructions.
Reply
 |
Add Comment
|
