Workshop Bliss: An Economical Built-In Utility Shelf

By Bruce W. Maki, Editor

Everybody Needs More Storage Space:

In my own garage I had a corner that was not very well organized. I badly needed some way to better utilize the space, to store tools, equipment and miscellaneous household stuff.

The plan is to use the studs in the exposed garage wall to support the shelves, with only one additional stud or post needed.

 

I began by cutting the vertical post and the front and side support "joists". The post was made 80" long. The front shelf supports ended up being 48" long (half of an 8' 2x4), though they could have been perhaps an inch longer and still fit just fine.

The exact dimensions of each piece of lumber will depend on the particular garage's stud layout, so what you might build will almost certainly be of different dimension than what I built here. But the principle is the same, and that's what I'm going to show.

 

I began by assembling a "half ladder", which was nothing more than the vertical post with the short side supports nailed to it.

 

At the desired height of each shelf space (plus 1/2" for the shelf plywood) I made a line to mark the bottom of the next 2x4 support.

The "half ladder" assembly. It is much easier to nail (or screw) boards together on the workbench.

The "half ladder" was nailed to a stud about 4' from the corner.

I deliberately planned the horizontal support layout so this board would not interfere with the electrical wire that ran through the wall.

I used Quick-Grip clamps to hold the boards in place while I nailed them. This is especially helpful when hand nailing or driving deck screws to attach 2x4's.

After a few minutes the "half ladder" was installed. Once attached to the wall stud it more resembles a "full ladder".

I clamped the front support to the frame and nailed it.    This method of fully overlapping the boards is perhaps the strongest and simplest method I know for joining wood together.

After clamping each horizontal support in place, I made sure it was level before I nailed it.

This split is typical of what happens when nails are driven close to the end of a board. Ardox (spiral or twisted) nails are thinner than common nails and are less likely to cause splitting. When I use deck screws in places like this I pre-drill the holes, which usually eliminates the splitting problem.

The front and side horizontal supports have been installed. The other side supports were simply nailed to the wall studs.

The back cleat:  I clamped the ends to the other supports and nailed the board to the wall studs.

The completed frame. This was so easy, I can't even call it work. (I know, I'm spoiled... the air nailer does take a lot of effort out of this type of job)

I cut pieces of oriented strand board (OSB) to fit on the shelf framing. Each piece was about 44" x 22", so I was able to get all 4 shelves from a single sheet of OSB. I nailed the OSB to the frame, spacing the nails about 4" to 6" apart.

The best length of nail to use would be 1-1/2" long. Unfortunately the shortest nails available for my framing nailer are 2-1/2" long, which is not really a problem as long as the extra length does not cause any problems such as splitting the 2x4 framing. As a general rule, one inch of penetration into the 2x4 framing is all that is needed to adequately hold the OSB.

The finished shelf unit.   I gave it a little "stress test" and climbed on the shelves. There was no deflection (or "give") to the shelves at all. That makes me confident that this will be plenty safe.

It took no time to fill up the four shelves. These shelves are very sturdy, strong enough to easily hold a heavy air conditioner. The bottom shelf spacing was designed to accommodate this large round kerosene heater. I often custom-design such storage spaces just for a certain item.

A Note On Fasteners:

I used a pneumatic nail gun on this project because... I have one and it saves time. Granted, most do-it-yourselfers don't have nail guns (what's the matter with you people anyway?) but old-fashioned hand-driven nails work just fine, of course. I have traditionally used Ardox (spiral) nails for framing. In fact I have a hard time finding common nails around my shop because I just don't buy them.

For the past few years I have done much of this type of framing work with 3" deck screws. My favorite is the "Deck Mate" brand sold at Home Depot. While expensive, the square-Phillips drive works great, and the screws have a really durable coating.

Money:

This shelf unit was quite cheap. It used seven 8' long 2x4's, and one sheet of 7/16" OSB. These materials cost less than $20 at current prices. I have never seen any store-bought shelf units this sturdy for anything near this price.

Variations On A Theme:

There are two obvious variations that could be tried.

One is to use two wall studs to support one side of the shelf unit. I have made such a shelf unit, placing it about 5 feet from the corner of the garage. It uses two 2x4 studs to support the opposite end, which sticks out about 3 feet from the wall.

The second variation is to make a shelf unit completely free-standing. I built a free-standing shelf unit similar to this but made the shelves removable so the unit could be taken apart for moving. It wasn't as sturdy as I would have liked, until I bolted it to the wall in the garage. There is a danger in building free-standing homemade shelf units... the thing can fall over and hurt someone. Any shelf unit that appears shaky or unstable should be secured to a wall or other sturdy structure. Children like to climb things, and a child could be seriously harmed by being caught underneath a falling heavy shelf unit. Take a few extra minutes and secure any wobbly shelf unit. Personally, I wouldn't have a shelf unit that was not sturdy enough for me to climb on.

Longer Shelves:

If I was going to build shelves longer than 5' or 6',  I would use 2x6's for the front supports. The drawback of this is the reduced usable shelf room because of the deeper "joist" that supports the shelf.

Tighter Spaces:

I have also used 5/4x6 deck planks, ripped in half on a table saw, to create 2-3/4" deep joists for supporting plywood/OSB shelves. This saves 3/4" of headroom above each shelf, which could be valuable sometimes. The last deck boards I bought cost $3.77 for 8', and 2x4's cost $1.78, so half of the deck board costs $1.89, a whopping 11 cents more than a 2x4. Considering the time needed to rip the deck boards, I'm not sure it's worth the hassle.

Copyright © 2000-2002  HammerZone.com

Written December 1, 2000
Revised (Formatting) May 16, 2002