Building cheap shelves
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Joined: Sep 1999
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From: Pensacola Florida
Building cheap shelves
I just put up two metal storage shelves. One is 8x10 and the other 14x10. Both have a side wall height of about 51". Using 2x4's and 1/2 plywood what would be the cheapest way to build shelving. I'm specifically looking for ways to economically reduce the over all thickness of the shelves counting the support mechanism. I hope I'm being clear. If you use the 2x4 and the 1/2" plywood you have a 4" thick shelf. Using 3 shelves results in a 16" loss of space and that is almost 30% of the area allowed for the storage of items. I checked on using 1" angle but it was too espensive. Any ideas?????? Maybe 1" EMT pipe. By the way the shelves are min 24" but I would like to use a few that are 36".
Senior User
Joined: Aug 2003
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From: Palmyra
Depends on the span between supports under shelf and weight of what your putting on the shelves. If you are placing light items on the shelves the 1/2in ply should hold without a problem. 1/2in ply will hold up some good weight as long as it stays dry and fixed in place. I would figure what will be on each shelf then build them acordingly. Hope this helps.
Post Fiend
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 6,214
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From: New Jersey
I made all my shelves out of 2x4's and plywood that I tore out of the house as I remodeled various rooms over time. The 2x4's are actually 2"x4" and are of douglas fir in most cases and some of which are actually hardwoods.
Here's an old picture:
http://frederic.midimonkey.com/yard/...ean-small1.jpg
One one row of shelves, I have a 460, a rover 3.9L, a honda 4-banger, a power washer, a corvette suspension, six radiators, a powerstroke intercooler, and a huge pile of dumbells. Shelves didn't even creak. I used deck screws to hold it all together. The plywood, which is hardwood-based because of it's vintage, is 1" thick.
Another option for you is to build the supports of the shelves out of steel, which will take less dimensional space as compared to wood, for a given achievable and desirable strength. I was actually going to buy steel for my wall-length shelving until I realized the cost as well as noticing the large pile out back of vintage wood I was going to cut up and get rid of. Why not recycle! I thought to myself.
Here's an old picture:
http://frederic.midimonkey.com/yard/...ean-small1.jpg
One one row of shelves, I have a 460, a rover 3.9L, a honda 4-banger, a power washer, a corvette suspension, six radiators, a powerstroke intercooler, and a huge pile of dumbells. Shelves didn't even creak. I used deck screws to hold it all together. The plywood, which is hardwood-based because of it's vintage, is 1" thick.
Another option for you is to build the supports of the shelves out of steel, which will take less dimensional space as compared to wood, for a given achievable and desirable strength. I was actually going to buy steel for my wall-length shelving until I realized the cost as well as noticing the large pile out back of vintage wood I was going to cut up and get rid of. Why not recycle! I thought to myself.
Junior User
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 58
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From: Canton MI
If they'll handle the weight you need, you might check out the wire shelving configurations in the big box stores -- same stuff the builders use these days in closets. The steel supports take up less space than wood framing and if you go with the channel option you can move the shelves around after they're assembled. For most things I'd rather build from scratch and used to think wire shelves were only for people with no tools, but after installing a couple I'm impressed.
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Posting Guru
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From: Pensacola Florida
The wire shelves are not wide enough. I need 2' to 3' deep. The uprights are every 4'. Some are for heavy items such as heads, transmissions, etc.. while others I am using for light weight stuff. I have in the past used 2x4's for shelf material and it wortks good for heavy items. The metal sheds I built used a hat channel for the floor. I did not use it and built my own so on some of the shelves I used the channel screwed to the plywood and it will work fine for light and medium weight stuff. I used it across the front and back spanning the 4' between uprights. I turned 2x4's and screwed them to the plywood front to back to stop flex.Itworked well but not for heavy stuff.
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,493
Likes: 346
From: SE Iowa
I build shelves using 1x1x.120 angle iron. It was actually pretty cheap. the only expensive part was the 18ga sheetmetal for the shelf tops. I know i have less than $100 in the shelf unit which is 8' high, 8' long, and 2' deep. I can also say it holds every bit of 1000+ lbs. Of course most of that weight was on the bottom shelf. I'll get some pics posted top my gallery soon. I'll let you know why I do.
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From: charlotte nc
I used galvanised decking screws when building my garage. They hold tight, they go in easy. you dont make alot of noise like you do banging with a hammer and if you ever want to remove them its alot better than trying to pull out nails,Also you dont need as many as nails so the additional cost is well worth it.
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Tuned
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 352
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From: Kansas, USA
I split 2 x 4 to make the uprights from some used Douglas Fir that I had. The shelves were also of used 1 x 4 Doug Fir....dam I got to go measure them... just a minute...Shelves are 13'' high x17 '' deep and 36'' wide. It was custom made to fit a certain space in the garage. That gave me seven shelves high (to ceiling) x 2 sets. The 1 x 4 shelves were nailed to the split 2 x 4 as well. This whole thing has never sagged and is assembled with nails only ( it's nailed to the studs as well). Now that I'm and old gezzer, getting on a ladder to reach that top shelf is an acrobatic thrill. BTW, I did it without any power tools. 
..That was 35 years ago.... 
..That was 35 years ago....
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