Wood Storage Supports/Sag

[Eric D Matson]

I am adding some horizontal wood storage in my shop. I bought some portamate lumber racks when they were $20 a piece so I was just going to use those. I would like to go vertical but am limited with 8' ceilings. I hung the first rack up with 5' spacing in between the supports. After putting some lumber on there, the 5' span seems excessive. Most of the wood that will be going on this rack is around 10'. That gives 2.5' overhang on each end. Will this span of support be ok or should I move my supports and add another set to support the wood every 2'?

[Jared Sankovich]

I have my racking spaced @ 16" on center. The widest I would consider is 24".

30" of overhang is a lot.

[Eric D Matson]

That's my thoughts too. I would have hung another last night but I ran out of tapcons. I was just feeling lazy this morning.

[Brian W Evans]

I have 3 sets of portamate racks and put them 16" on center. Using a long level I was able to make them about as flat as the lumber racks at the hardwood supplier. 6 vertical supports every 16" is 96", meaning very little overhang even for 12' lumber, and almost no overhang for 10'. For $20 or even $40 per set, this seems like a worthwhile investment to keep expensive lumber safe.

[John TenEyck]

While I wouldn't use 5' spacing, the Sagulator says it should be fine. I have a horizontal rack with only 3 supports, each about 4' apart (three joists), and store 4/4 boards 10 - 12' long on it. In 25 years I can't ever recall seeing a board that warped due to too little support.

John

[Jim Becker]

My lumber rack has 16" OC nominal spacing. I'd not go greater than 24" OC for this application.

[Ben Rivel]

16" here as well and also wouldnt go more than 24".

[roger wiegand]

My rack is made up of four very heavy duty shelving units 4 x 2 x 8 ft spanning 12 ft. I laid a sheet of plywood across the shelf supports and store my lumber on edge. It's easy to see pieces and slide them in and out, the plywood allows me to put shorter stuff on the shelves without it falling through. No evidence of anything sagging.

[Bob Michaels]

My concern, aside from spacing, would be the use of tapcons, which are for attaching components to concrete block. Considering the weight that will be on those racks, I would prefer a more positive anchoring, like lag bolts into wood. I use tapcons quite often to attach things to block walls but I avoid load bearing attachments because of the nature of concrete block. Just my 2 cents worth.

[Art Mann]

My racks are spaced at 32 inches, which is every other stud in the wall. I haven't encountered any problems but I would have liked closer spacing.

[Brian Tymchak]

Depending on how much lumber you want to put on that rack, I would personally opt to spread the load on the wall as evenly as possible, anchoring to every stud.

[Mike Cutler]

Echo all the other advice.
My racks are home made, and are anchored on every stud along the garage wall.
Wood is heavy.

[Eric D Matson]

Thanks everyone. All my other lumber racks are 16" OC. I went ahead and spaced these 24" OC and usd another set of portamates. I also built a new sheet goods storage to help with a little organization in the shop. It is starting to look like something now.

[glenn bradley]

Also16 inch on center here. Multiple benefits to this, you can store more weight and there's less chance of sag and you can store shorter pieces.