Need Garage Shelf Help...

[Derek Arita]

This may be OT, but I'm sure more than one of you will know the answer. I have to build a shelf that spans the back of my one-car garage. It is about 11 1/2 feet across. I want to be able to park a car in the garage, so I don't want any support beams. Back of the shelf will be against the rear wall and the shelf needs to be about 4 feet deep. Typical things will be stored on the shelf, some heavy some light. Because of space issues, I'd like to use a 2x6 for the front beam. Is this too small? What's the smallest I can safely use? Can I sister two 2x6's to do the job?

[Jamie Buxton]

Must the shelf front be entirely free span? Could you support it from the roof/ceiling in a few spots? Heck, if you don't trust the ceiling rafters with the load, you could run a serious beam across the ceiling. You're probably not going to use the airspace up there very much anyway. Then run a couple of chains or something down to the front edge of the shelf.

[Stew Hagerty]

First of all I think that in general that is a long span without support. If you can't add vertical supports what about angled supports that go from the front edge back to the bottom of the wall?

Here is a link to a header chart for microlam beams. Granted you have a different application, but it would be worth looking at. LVL's (microlam and other brands) will carry a much higher load that the same size dimensional lumber.

[Heather Thompson]

Derek,

I did exactly what Jamie suggested with the support beam and chains, you could put engine blocks up there.
Heather

[Heather Thompson]

Another try at a picture or two.

Heather

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I did something similar for a friend, and I angled the support beams from the base of the shelf to the base of the wall. Just a though in case you were thinking that your only choice was to drop a support straight down to the floor.

We installed shelves along the back and the sides. The car has no problem driving in past the support beams or parking under them (but we had a bit of room in front of the cars).

[Derek Arita]

Matter of fact, I do have two 2x4's running from the front edge of the shelf, up to a 2x4 that lays flat on the ceiling that is bolted to ceiling rafters. I would think that would have been enough, however my roof is a truss system and I'm concerned that it is not built to have a load on the rafters. Am I wrong here? That's why I thought about adding a 2x6 across the front edge to help carry the load.
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[Jamie Buxton]

.. I would think that would have been enough, however my roof is a truss system and I'm concerned that it is not built to have a load on the rafters...

Right. If you're going to put a big load on the shelf, the ceiling rafters (or the bottom chord of the truss in your case) may not be sufficient to support it. That's why I suggested putting a big beam across the ceiling, below the ceiling. You can make it as sturdy as you like. It will be out of the way of most stored objects, whereas putting the same beam down at the bottom of the opening would eat space that is more valuable.

[Derek Arita]

Right. If you're going to put a big load on the shelf, the ceiling rafters (or the bottom chord of the truss in your case) may not be sufficient to support it. That's why I suggested putting a big beam across the ceiling, below the ceiling. You can make it as sturdy as you like. It will be out of the way of most stored objects, whereas putting the same beam down at the bottom of the opening would eat space that is more valuable.

Any idea how big, keeping it as unobtrusive as possible?

[John M Wilson]

If the large beam running across the top cannot depend on the truss to support its load, you may want to help out the wall studs that will ultimately be transferring the load to the floor or foundation. A 2x4 or 2x6 "cripple" will help avoid over-stressing the portion of the side wall that is supporting the beam. Good Luck!

[Jamie Buxton]

Any idea how big, keeping it as unobtrusive as possible?

Any idea what your load is going to be? :) And how much sag you're willing to tolerate?

If you can make a weight estimate, you can use a Sagulator to estimate the sag. http://www.woodbin.com/calcs/sagulator.htm

[Derek Arita]

Any idea what your load is going to be? :) And how much sag you're willing to tolerate?

If you can make a weight estimate, you can use a Sagulator to estimate the sag. http://www.woodbin.com/calcs/sagulator.htm

I'd be guesstimating at 4 to 500 lbs. max. Right now I'm using one 2x4 post to help support it all, but I'd love to lose the post.

[Jim Andrew]

Do you have attic access from the garage? A couple of 2 x 8's parallel with the trusses, sitting on top of the ceiling would sure add a lot of strength. Just put them at the edge of the shelf line and nail down, then you can screw a 2x4 flat to the ceiling and drop some 1x4's down to the front edge of the shelf.

[Derek Arita]

Do you have attic access from the garage? A couple of 2 x 8's parallel with the trusses, sitting on top of the ceiling would sure add a lot of strength. Just put them at the edge of the shelf line and nail down, then you can screw a 2x4 flat to the ceiling and drop some 1x4's down to the front edge of the shelf.

Not sure I understand? The rafters run the length of the garage and are parallel with the trusses, kind of a sideways roof line. Are you saying 2x8's the length of the rafters or across the width of the garage? I only have the small access, seen at the top of the pic, so I might not be able to get long 2x8's up there.

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Hi all,
I have steel wall studs in my garage so I can't really screw into them and get any holding power or strength. How could you build the shelves shown in the above pics? I hope I'm staying on topic and not hijacking this thread.:confused: Alan

[glenn bradley]

I did this on three walls of a friend's garage for him. 2x4 frame, lagged to the walls studs and chains off the front edge to ceiling joists. We stored everything up there including motorcycle parts.