Introduction: Milk Crate Wall Storage
Milk crates have long been a storage solution for milkmen, college students, and record collectors. They are a near-perfect piece of design: they are modular, they stack neatly, they have built-in handles, and they are made of a strong, waterproof, cheap, and antiseptic material. Each crate stands alone as a convenient box, but their true genius lies in the scalability of a system of interlocking cubes. Many a big-box housewares store has tried to formalize the concept of milk crates into some sort of snap-together storage system. These commercial versions tend to be cheap, flimsy imitations of the real thing.
As great as milk crates are, they still, in essence, are just open boxes. They tend to stack in the wrong way to store anything other than milk -- they interlock in such a way as to block access to the crates below, forcing you to break down the whole stack to get at anything at the bottom. To add a little utility to your crate collection, all you need are some industrial-strength drywall anchors, screws, and washers. By orienting the crates on a 45° bias, they turn into a self-supporting structural system while adding even more storage space in the "Vs" created by the vertexes.
If you just bolted milk crates to the walls at normal ninety-degree angles, each one would bear only on the one directly beneath it. By rotating them, you've created a situation where each crate bears on two crates beneath, a much stronger, holistic system. And, there's a nice aesthetic twist.
This project couldn't be simpler. It literally takes minutes to take up, minutes to take down, and leaves nothing but a few holes to be fixed up with spackle when you move on. The materials are (mostly) free, if you know where to look -- I'm not condoning stealing milk crates! They are legally available through many channels, including just asking shopkeepers instead of running off with them. I got mine through a combination of inheritance and combing through dumpsters and studio buildings at the end of the college school year.
You will need these materials:
As many milk crates as you see fit
3" drywall screws
Cone-shaped aluminum drywall anchors (50 lb. weight rating)
Washers of various sizes
You will need these tools:
Drill/driver
1/8" or 1/4" drill bit, depending on drywall anchor brand
Philips head bit
Level
Tape measure
Speed square or similar
Pencil
Step 1: Put 'Em Up!
Get some drywall anchors from your favorite hardware store. Use the cone/corkscrew-shaped ones, under brand names like Zip-It, Stud Solver, and Cobra. Don't get plastic ones, nylon ones, toggle bolts, or any other nonsense. I've used them all over the years, to hang things much lighter than milk crates, and they all fail. In 5/8" drywall, a single one of these anchors can hold fifty pounds. Some are pointed, so if you do hit a stud, it doesn't matter, they'll go in regardless.
Score a level line on the wall. If you don't have a level, measure the same height up from the floor or down from the ceiling in two places, then connect the dots to make a level line, about the same length as the side of a crate, extremely lightly, in pencil. Then use a speed square or similar to take two 45º lines off of the level line. Line your first crate up with the lines. Drill into the wall with an 1/8" - 1/4" pilot bit through any of the open spaces in the bottom of the crate in two places, preferably at a diagonal to one another. Then thread some washers onto a screw so they will catch the crate, hold it up, and screw into the anchors, pulling the crate to the wall.
After that, it's easy. If your first crate is set right, all the others just notch against it. Start building your wall organically. For extra strength, zip-tie the crates together through the handles so they are a more unified unit.
As you can see by the opening photos, they can take a hell of a lot of weight. Some of those probably had thirty or more pounds of books in them, and there wasn't a whisper of movement for the whole year I had them up.
Participated in the
4th Epilog Challenge
Participated in the
Green Living & Technology Challenge
2 People Made This Project!
ladywolfe10 made it!- Et_in_Arcadia_ego made it!
Recommendations
Big and Small Contest
Make It Bridge
Game Design: Student Design Challenge
20 Comments
2 years ago on Introduction
I cannot find these 3inch aluminum drywall anchors you mention. I got some that are about 1½" and can hold up to 50lbs but when I went to attach an empty crate to the wall, one of them completely stripped out of the wall!! So now I have a ¼" hole in my wall. Can anyone provide me with a location to get the proper hardware?
7 years ago
I used these steps to complete this project this past weekend. Last night I went to tidy the work area and stooped down to plug in an alarm clock. I stood back up at full speed and my head banged squarely into the bottom of the wooden milk crate I had hung. I have a massive lump on my head but that crate didn't move at all. Thanks!!
11 years ago on Introduction
No wonder we (Dairyland) have lost so many milk crates, shop owner have no right to give away what is not his, 99% of milk crates out there have been taken without permission from the rightful owner to begin with. Milk should not cost so much, but we have to charge double to pay for new milk cases - unfortunately...
Reply 8 years ago on Introduction
Exactly!
Reply 11 years ago on Introduction
I lot of people don't realize this. The crates don't belong to the store, they belong to the company whose name is printed on them. If you have one that isn't broken in such a way that it's not usable for milk then you are in possession of stolen property.
8 years ago on Introduction
While we appreciate the clever repurposing of milk crates, they are not free. Theft of milk crates is an issue taken very seriously by the dairy industry. Dairy companies lose 20 million milk crates a year to theft. ($4/crate = $80 million loss/year) Our industry has thin margins: it hurts the bottom line and costs jobs. If you need crates for projects, retailers Target, Fred Meyer and Home Depot sell them. www.gotmilkcrates.com. Please, return stolen milk crates to their rightful owners.
8 years ago on Introduction
AWESOME! very frugal/intelligent idea Sir!!
TY for sharing! :)
As I have a lack of storage in my apartment, this gives me TONNES of ideas for storage....
It's against the rules to hang anything heavier than a framed poster or picture on our walls(which I think is *cough, cough*) so stacking them from the floor & up really appeals to me...
maybe a 2x12 underneath with properly spaced feet to raise it off the floor directly....
TY again Sir for sharing. 80)
9 years ago on Introduction
Will you clarify please... is the anchor flush with the wall, while the screw sits flush with the crate? Or does the anchor sit flush with the crate?
11 years ago on Introduction
1. Does anyone know who actually manufactures milk crates?
2. Has no one thought to actually sell these wonderful things retail to the public?
3. Where can I buy from directly from the source?
Reply 11 years ago on Introduction
A place called containerstore.com has them for $10 apiece. You can buy the same ones through Amazon for about $4.00 each, though, and also some larger, rectangular crates. They look like the real thing, and appear to be made of heavy plastic.
Reply 11 years ago on Introduction
Walmart has them. You can buy them now because of back to school. They are about $3 a crate.
Reply 11 years ago on Introduction
are these actual sturdy milk crates that you can stand on repeatedly, or the cheap imitations that aren't even the "standard" size?
11 years ago on Introduction
Very nice concept. I did something exactly like this on my desk in architecture school to hang my mini-library of monographs and borrowed library books. Luckily my screws were sturdy since I would have lost quite a few models if they failed.
11 years ago on Introduction
You can buy them from some dairies. When the crates do get damaged the dairies put them to the side, some times to be sent back to the manufacturer.
"Purchased" about 50 from a moving dairy for a good price. They were used as shown on a stair case wall for books, magazines and tools for over 5 years.
The ones at dollar stores are cheap, imatations inexpensive and fail to hold any real load. The ones at the dairies can be filled with paper and heavy tools
11 years ago on Introduction
for a few bucks more, I'd scrub 'em, and spray paint them in high gloss bold colours.
Its true they belong to the dairy/soft drink maker etc.
During big parades in my town you see literally thousands on the sidewalks afterwards from people who use them as boosters to see over the crowds.
Some build elaborate "bleachers" with them using zip-ties - you know, rows of 6 or 8, stacked 1, 2, and 3 crates high. (wouldn't put the heavy dudes on the top row though). Its quite accepted, but once its over the police/security/cleanup crews don't allow people to remove them from the parade route and big trucks come collect them all.
11 years ago on Introduction
S/B "Company Logo" instead of "company log"
11 years ago on Introduction
Thunderbird Plastic (http://www.thunderbirdplastics.com/) is one of the manufacturers. They certainly costs more than $3 to make, even with recycled plactic. If you see one with company log on it, then it is probably not for sale.
Sorry I wanted to be nicer to everyone but....
11 years ago on Introduction
I really like this idea! The only thing stopping me from implementing it in my own room is lack of crates, any better ideas on how to obtain them?
Reply 11 years ago on Introduction
I see them all the time at dollar stores. They come in various sizes too.
11 years ago on Introduction
very strong, i use this setup for tools