Basement Shelving

Crimson Ghost

I am looking for some simple designs for basement storage units (open shelving) - I am probably going to build 3 units each about 7 feet long. One against a wall - the other other two making alley-ways to walk down (corner of my basement). I was thinking of 2x4 construction - posts, stringers and plywood for the shelf. Things are always simplified in my noodle -- so I googled for this web site to see if anyone has any tips, plans on line or advice. Many thanks !

JakSuede

This might be helpful:
http://www.naturalhandyman.com/iip/infshe/infshe3.html

RippySkippy

Details would be good, like what you plan on storing, if it's general household "stuff", I don't used full 2x4's any more, rather rip them in half, and screw them together, don't nail. Use the star or torx drive screws.

At the intersection of framing material, reinforce them with small gusset of plywood or metal it doesn't matter. Make sure you screw your plywood to the framing...it's a key part to making the unit strong, so it doesn't rack. If you have to, fasten it to the floor joist to keep it solid.

Don't put the stringers on the edge of he plywood, but move them in and you can support a lot more with less framing.

When you decide on a width of shelving, plan the size to minimize waste, for example if you use 2 foot wide, you can get two shelves from 4' material. If you choose 32" wide, you can use the two cut offs to make a shelf rather than having waste.

crecore

I winged some shelves similar to the link suede sent. I framed and ply'd the shelves in the garage and carried them all down. I screwed them to the uprights, stood up, squared and then braced. I built about 7 in the course of a weekend while cleaning and organizing. I made different sizes and strengths customized for each thing... gallons of paint, storage totes, nails and screws, etc. to make efficient use of material.

A good tip for racking is screw some triangular pieces of thin plywood/osb/ whatever to the back corners.

You can sometimes also get cover sheets for reduced cost (or free) at local lumber yards. This is what I did.

duknut

i use full-length 2x2's. and 4x8 sheets of 3/8" composite board.

i meaured from the underlayment above to the basement floor and cut the 2x2's to length.

i screwed one end to the floor joyce(?) nearest the wall.

had the store cut 4x8 sheet of heavy 3/8" composite board lengthwise in half.

screwed another cut 2x2, nearest wall 8' from the first.

measured 2' from the inside of each of the fastened 2x2's along same joyces. perpendicular to the wall.

screwed 2 more 2x2's at those locations.

screwed 2x2's across the suspended pieces forming a lateral rail between them running parallel with the wall.

do this from the floor upwards re: spacing of the shelves.

i was able to get 3 tiers out of mine.

simply slide the 2' wide x 8' lengths of board along the rails

that's it.