Utility shelving designs?

[Jamie Buxton]

I've been asked to contribute a bunch of utility shelves to a charity project. The shelves will be free-standing, about 8' tall, and about 1' deep. I hear there will be more than 20' of length, although probably not all in one piece. These are utility shelves, so pretty doesn't count at all. Sturdy and inexpensive do count.

I'm guessing that some of you have slick designs for something like this?

[Jim Becker]

"Free standing" makes for a bigger challenge as you need to be sure they can be anchored top and bottom to avoid tip-overs. Those dimensions are "tall and narrow"...and this is a real concern. Do you think the anchoring is going to be an issue?

[Wes Bischel]

Jamie,

I'm not sure what the shelves are to be used for, but Ikea has a few types of shelf units that are hard to beat on cost - even if you're making them yourself. One is OTTO and the other is GORM. We have had a set for a number of years and they have held up well.

FWIW

Wes

[Jamie Buxton]

"Free standing" makes for a bigger challenge as you need to be sure they can be anchored top and bottom to avoid tip-overs. Those dimensions are "tall and narrow"...and this is a real concern. Do you think the anchoring is going to be an issue?

Jim --
You're correct in your concern. On top of that, I live in earthquake country -- San Francisco.
The longer story is that this is one of those charity one-day events. We zoom in, do stuff for one day, and we're out. The place where these shelves will go is a basement/garage in an old building. The walls are irregular, to say the least, and they already have lots of stuff fastened to them. Because of this, I think the units need to stand on their own. My hope is to bring in prebuilt shelving units, assemble them on-site, and real-time figure out some ways to stabilize them. Maybe I'll run sticks vertically to the joists above, or horizontally to some part of a wall.

Wes --
Yeah, it may turn out that the cheapest way to go is Ikea or Home Despot. But I thought I'd at least think about building 'em from skratch.

Jamie

[Matt Meiser]

I built utility shelving for our garage and my shop from 1x4's, 2x4's, and 3/4" particle board as follows:

1. Build shelf frames with a 1x4 front and back with short peices of 2x4 every 24" connecting front to back. Kind of like a ladder.

2. Build shelving units using 2x4's as uprights every 4', attaching them to the outsides of the frames with screws driven through the 2x4 uprights, the 1x4's, and into the 2x4 connectors.

3. Cut shelving material to fit the frames. You don't really even need to attach them as they are kept from moving by the uprights.

What I've built so far is attached to the wall, so I'm not sure if they would be stable enough for your needs. I do plan to build some for the basement which will be free standing, but we plan to connect 2 16" deep units back to back where they will be free standing.

[Marshall Harrison]

Jamie,

I built some at my old house out of 2x4s and 3/4 plywood but you could adjust the shelf thickness or even switch to mdf depending on what is going to be on the shelves.

I simlpy routed the 2x4s every 12 inches and then slid the plywood shelves into the rabbits. They were free standing and the bottoms weren't built up in any way. You could screw temporary braces to the tops of the shelves and build the legs out larger if you needed more stability. Siince the shelves are just wedged into place setup and take down should be simple.

[Jim Becker]

I wonder if a stepped design which is wider at the bottom might be more stable for this application?

[Dave Richards]

If Jim's stepped idea isn't feasible, then definitely anchor these things somewhere.

Here is a quickie I did for you. You could bang these out of 2x4s and 1x4s. The parts could be chopped and bundled. Then the lot hauled to the site where assembly could commence.

Shelves would be 1/2" plywood. For no deeper than they would be, 1/2" is plenty thick.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/weekender410/Jamie1.jpg

You had to know I was going to chime in with a drawing. ;)

[Dean Baumgartner]

To further expand on Dave's sketch, I've made 4' wide sections with 1x2 furring strips and 1/4" ply. At that width I (at 250#) can stand in the middle of the span with no problem. Had to try it for myself. To make it even easier, on the 2x4 uprights attach a small block under each corner of the shelf to aid in assembly then (2) 1/4" carrige bolts at each corner to hold everything together. Don't forget the angle braces for stability and at only 12" deep they really need to be attached to something to prevent tipping.


Dean

[Todd Burch]

Jamie, I'm thinking pine 1X12s for sides and shelves. Pine 1X2s for cleats to support the shelves. A screw gun or nail gun and some glue, attaching the cleats to the sides, then shelves to the cleats, (no, I'm not concerned with wood movement. If you wanted, don't extend the glue on the cleats to the edges), then full sheets of 1/4" ply, glued and stapled to the backs - surface mounted. I'm thinking if I cut the shelves and cleats ahead of time (chop saw with stops for repeat cuts), and I had help moving things around (1 man or two boys), I could kick 20 utility grade 8' tall by 4' wide x 11¼" shelf units out before lunch. To pretty it up, you could install a 1X2 toe board inset from the front, under the bottom shelf.

Todd