Another Lumber Rack Option

[Jay Albrandt]

Nice job to Kent Parker on his lumber rack. I tried doing a similar thing in my garage shop, but the walls are not true and the pipes were not level after I attached the 2x4's to the wall (all that careful layout down the drain!).

I found this stuff called Unistrut that works perfect. A little expensive, but it works great and it is BOMB proof! There is a "u" channel that gets bolted to the wall, and then the brackets get bolted to it. A clever spring on the nut that rides in the channel makes it a breeze to level the brackets. I shimmed a couple of the brackets to get them dead level side to side and front to back.

The channel come in 10' lengths and the brackets come in sizes 8" to 24". They also have brackets that are just square tubing if distance between shelves is a concern.

Anyway, just thought I would share.

Now, if I could only get some time out there to use the wood...

Jay

[William Lai]

Very cool! Do you mind sharing what the ball-park cost was for something like your installation?

[Jim Becker]

Interesting. I just used a piece of Unistrut to hang some lighting fixtures from in the great room. I didn't know that these brackets were available. Kewel...'will have to consider this for the additional wood storage I'm considering for the upstairs of my shop building!

[Bill Lewis]

I use unistrut quite often. To get some general pricing look it up at www.mcmaster.com (http://www.mcmaster.com)

[Jay Albrandt]

William,

What you see in the picture is only half of what I bought. I have the material to make 3 more shelves the same length, but the brackets are all 8" for small parts storage on the other end of the counter.

So, cost:

3 - 10' channel
8 - 18" brackets
4 - 16" brackets
8 - 6" brackets
20 bolts and spring nuts
Channel mounting bolts I bought locally, get at least grade 5

Please don't quote me, but I want to say around $300.00, including shipping. My wife as the files all over the place getting ready for taxes, otherwise I would be able to give you the exact figure.

What I did find out too late, that commercial electrical supply houses, HVAC supply, and any mechanical supply usually carries the stuff. I ordered mine direct (premium price) and had to pay for shipping. Had I'd known what I was looking for, I could have gotten locally, and probably cheaper.

The good thing is that I won't have to buy again. It can be moved, and changed as much as I want.

Good luck!

Jay

[bill walton]

When I worked for the phone company, we used it all over the switchrooms, for suspending equipment racks, cable racks, anything that need strength and the flexibility of design called for in a dynamic environment. However, I never though of using to build wood racks. Foolish me, thanks for the idea.