Hanging a shelf from the roof

[Jared Greenberg]

Looking to hang a shelf from the roof of the shop over one of the tools. The wall is not an option as I will need to get behind it to do some of the work.

Any ideas or suggestions and especially pictures would be appreciated.

[Jim Becker]

Some information about the structure of your building/shop would be helpful... Pictures even?

[Steve Milito]

I used metal channel and threaded rod. In the electrical dept of the big box stores they have metal D channel ( I think that is what it is called). If you look up in the store you see it hanging from the ceiling. They also carry a threaded rod bracket with mounting holes to hang from a joist, usually in plumbing. Attach the brakets to the joists, screw in threaded rod, then hang the metal channel from the rod with either washers and nuts or the appropriate rectangular brackets.

[Jack Porter]

I agree with Steve, very economical approach and can be easily moved

[Joe Chritz]

Something like this or this?

The wood rack will hold lots of weight. I put an arbitrary 100 BF limit on mine but I bet it is much more than that. The bed is attached to a ledge on the two walls and the wood dowel has an all thread rod to a steel angle crossing two roof joists.

[Greg Cole]

I used metal channel and threaded rod. In the electrical dept of the big box stores they have metal D channel ( I think that is what it is called). If you look up in the store you see it hanging from the ceiling. They also carry a threaded rod bracket with mounting holes to hang from a joist, usually in plumbing. Attach the brakets to the joists, screw in threaded rod, then hang the metal channel from the rod with either washers and nuts or the appropriate rectangular brackets.

Steve,
I think it's referred to as "uni-strut". Usefull as all can be.....

Greg

[Prashun Patel]

Family Handyman had an article about making shelves above the garage doors kinda like Joe did.

I did it and it works well. Sure it can be adapted to yr needs:

http://www.rd.com/familyhandyman/content/17442/

The only issue is that the lower you get from the ceiling, the more torque there is on the 'legs'. I'd use cross braces/gussets on the sides and back (or sheathing) to prevent wracking.

Also, I assume yr planning to use this for light / medium duty storage, right? I wouldn't go using this kind of shelf for yr anvil collection...

[John Huber]

I've successfully used the perforated metal strap used to hang plumbing pipes. Find a joist in the ceiling, drill a pilot hole for a lag screw, drop a plumb to the shelf, drill a pilot hole for a carriage bolt, attach a length of strap between the two points such that the shelf is nearly level. use washers at both ends to distribute the load. The advantage over threaded rod is that it is quicker to install and cheaper; the disadvantage is that the shelf is not exactly level, though a bias toward the wall helps to keep stock in place.

[Jared Greenberg]

Family Handyman had an article about making shelves above the garage doors kinda like Joe did.

I did it and it works well. Sure it can be adapted to yr needs:

http://www.rd.com/familyhandyman/content/17442/

The only issue is that the lower you get from the ceiling, the more torque there is on the 'legs'. I'd use cross braces/gussets on the sides and back (or sheathing) to prevent wracking.

Also, I assume yr planning to use this for light / medium duty storage, right? I wouldn't go using this kind of shelf for yr anvil collection...

This is what I was thinking. It will go over this.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=75017

[Mike Marcade]

Maybe "Ceiling" instead of "Roof" might clear it up some, unless I am misunderstanding.