Wood storage question

Hi Tom,
I think the weight of 1000 bd ft will cause you some grief with the arms
even at 16" centres. How do you plan on supporting the 3' 2X4s. and how
many arms will you have attached to each vertical 2 X 6? My rack holds
mostly 8 ' lengths, is made of 1" steel tubing welded to 1.5" verticals.
There are 5 verticals spaced over 8' and each is about 7.5' high. To each
vertical I have attached 5 24" arms. In effect I have 5 shelves about 8'
long. Originally I went with only 4 vertical double "E"s and a couple of
the arms started to bend when the shelf was fully loaded with about 200bd.
ft. of lumber. Cheers, JG

TomL wrote:

> I'm about to build a wood storage system to hold approx 1000 bd ft in
> my basement. I intend to bolt 2x6's to ceiling joists, toe nail to
> 2x6's on the floor and extend 2x4 arms from the vertical 2x6's about 3
> ft. The joists are 16" on center so my choices are to have the arms
> every 16" or every 32". Wondering if I might get away with 32" span
> between arms or should I go with 16" spans?
>
> TomL

Hi Joe,
The floor joists do not really bear much if any weight. They serve to keep the
verticals , well vertical, with the weight being transmitted to the floor under
the rack. Cheers, JG

Joe Nation wrote:

> The weight of 1000 bd ft of lumber is going to be a major concern. Many
> types of lumber will weigh about 6 lb per board foot. You will need to
> design a system that will safely support at least 6000 lb of weight. The
> ceiling joist without substantial additional support should not be expected
> to support this much additional load! In my opinion, you should consult a
> structural engineer to determine what is needed.
>
> "TomL" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > I'm about to build a wood storage system to hold approx 1000 bd ft in
> > my basement. I intend to bolt 2x6's to ceiling joists, toe nail to
> > 2x6's on the floor and extend 2x4 arms from the vertical 2x6's about 3
> > ft. The joists are 16" on center so my choices are to have the arms
> > every 16" or every 32". Wondering if I might get away with 32" span
> > between arms or should I go with 16" spans?
> >
> > TomL

The weight of 1000 bd ft of lumber is going to be a major concern. Many
types of lumber will weigh about 6 lb per board foot. You will need to
design a system that will safely support at least 6000 lb of weight. The
ceiling joist without substantial additional support should not be expected
to support this much additional load! In my opinion, you should consult a
structural engineer to determine what is needed.


"TomL" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm about to build a wood storage system to hold approx 1000 bd ft in
> my basement. I intend to bolt 2x6's to ceiling joists, toe nail to
> 2x6's on the floor and extend 2x4 arms from the vertical 2x6's about 3
> ft. The joists are 16" on center so my choices are to have the arms
> every 16" or every 32". Wondering if I might get away with 32" span
> between arms or should I go with 16" spans?
>
> TomL

Three feet long seems awfully long for an unsupported 2x4 arm, especially at
32" between arms. I've seen several wood racks with 2x4 arms, but nowhere
near three feet long. I built some racks from plans in a book that
suggested 16" long arms.


"TomL" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm about to build a wood storage system to hold approx 1000 bd ft in
> my basement. I intend to bolt 2x6's to ceiling joists, toe nail to
> 2x6's on the floor and extend 2x4 arms from the vertical 2x6's about 3
> ft. The joists are 16" on center so my choices are to have the arms
> every 16" or every 32". Wondering if I might get away with 32" span
> between arms or should I go with 16" spans?
>
> TomL

On Sat, 29 Nov 2003 03:49:56 GMT, TomL <[email protected]> wrote:

>I'm about to build a wood storage system to hold approx 1000 bd ft in
>my basement. I intend to bolt 2x6's to ceiling joists, toe nail to
>2x6's on the floor and extend 2x4 arms from the vertical 2x6's about 3
>ft. The joists are 16" on center so my choices are to have the arms
>every 16" or every 32". Wondering if I might get away with 32" span
>between arms or should I go with 16" spans?
>
>TomL


Thanks all who offered advice and criticism. I decided to scrap the
wooden wood storage idea and have set up three 4' industrial strength
steel shelving units. I'll use these to store about half of what I
have and will set up three more in a few days to store the other half.
Yeah, this will take up more space but I'll sleep better.

TomL

My wood storage rack is made of 2x4 vertical members, and two 2x4 horizontal
members. the horizontal units are 4 ft long. I have 3 of these assemblies
over a 12 ft span . The unit is 10 ft high and divided into 4 racks each of
which holds about 6 to 7 hundred bdft of lumber. Everything is bolted
together, no nails. All lumber used in construction is rough hard wood,
mostly oak.Unit is five years old and no problems.
"TomL" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm about to build a wood storage system to hold approx 1000 bd ft in
> my basement. I intend to bolt 2x6's to ceiling joists, toe nail to
> 2x6's on the floor and extend 2x4 arms from the vertical 2x6's about 3
> ft. The joists are 16" on center so my choices are to have the arms
> every 16" or every 32". Wondering if I might get away with 32" span
> between arms or should I go with 16" spans?
>
> TomL

>
>>I'm about to build a wood storage system ... I intend to bolt 2x6's to
>>ceiling joists, toe nail to 2x6's on the floor and extend 2x4 arms from
>>the vertical 2x6's about 3 ft. The joists are 16" on center



I would make sure the joist were boxed, wouldn't want them shifting/
twisting.



--

Mark

N.E. Ohio


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