JoshC1501 Posted May 23, 2014 Report Share Posted May 23, 2014 Need some help for ideas for big lumber rack. It is going to need to hold some weight. I would guess close to 1000 bf. Concrete block walls but I am thinking of making it free standing. Ideas? Lumber or metal conduit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilburpan Posted May 23, 2014 Report Share Posted May 23, 2014 If you have the height, I’m a big fan of storing lumber vertically. Construction is silly simple. A platform from 2x4s and plywood, some pipe and fixtures that you attach to the wall. Because the platform supports the weight, you don’t have to worry so much about how strong your rack needs to be. Plus, by arranging your lumber vertically, it’s very easy to page through your boards to see which one you want to use. More info here: http://giantcypress.net/post/5388073797/the-worst-part-about-building-a-new-lumber-rack-is Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC1501 Posted May 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 23, 2014 I really don't have the height. Wish I did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilburpan Posted May 23, 2014 Report Share Posted May 23, 2014 How much height do you have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC1501 Posted May 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 23, 2014 7 -8 feet high but I have 16-18 feet of length. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trip Posted May 23, 2014 Report Share Posted May 23, 2014 There are quite a few threads here and on lumberjocks for lumber racking... ==>I am thinking of making it free standing Free standing is fine, as long as it's securely bolted to a wall. The most horrific woodshop indecent that I know of involved an insecure free-standing lumber rack, our Construction VP, a lengthy hospital stay and several rounds of plastic surgery... ==>Concrete block walls You'll find wide variance of opinions -- everything from 'you're house will collapse'... to 'You can store 10Kbf of exotics'. The truth is somewhere in between. A great deal has do with span, type of block, etc... While my wood shed was being rebuilt, I had to store about 5Kbf on block-wall-based racking... No problems... but that was over a 32' span with 10" block... YMMV. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave H Posted May 24, 2014 Report Share Posted May 24, 2014 One of the slickest racks I've seen is a 4x4 upright screwed to a 2x4 that was pined to the concrete floor against the wall and, the 4x4 was lagged into the ceiling joists a series of 1" holes where drilled through the center so a 3/4 galvanized pipe could be slid into the holes there was nothing pined to the walls. He had about 2' of pipe penetrating the 4x4's if he used all the wood off any one tier he just took the pipe out of that tier which opened up floor storage. It seemed to hold a lot of weight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC1501 Posted May 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 24, 2014 Here is what I am thinking let me know what you think. Have a lot of these materials on hand, trying to build with what I have as much as possible. I built a version of the lumber rack Marc built in my garage with 2X4's and 3/4 inch ply laminated to the outsides. The hole system fits together well. I would think it would need to be a bit heavier. So instead of 2x4's for shelf supports, using 2x8's or 2x10's. Place these every 24-36" over 16 feet? Was thinking the 2x4's that get vertically placed along the wall could stay the same, anchored into the concrete block. Would likely use 2/4's on the floor level to make the biggest shelf on the ground. What fasteners would you use for concrete bock anchoring, attaching shelf supports to 2/4 on the wall? I don't know construction fasteners that well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted May 24, 2014 Report Share Posted May 24, 2014 You might like to consider buying a commercial free standing metal rack the kind that are used in warehouses and save the wood you have for some other project. They don't fall over and don't need bolting to the wall. I have one for my lumber storage and it holds 5500lbs - expensive but worth it. I blogged about it here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilburpan Posted May 24, 2014 Report Share Posted May 24, 2014 7 -8 feet high but I have 16-18 feet of length. One last attempt to get you to think about vertical storage: unless you plan to run a lot of molding, you don’t need to keep your boards at 16-18 feet long. Consider cutting the boards down. At least for furniture projects, you rarely need very long boards with the exception of dining tables. You can cut your long boards down at obvious places: where there’s a knot or some other defect. Okay, I’ll shut up now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted May 24, 2014 Report Share Posted May 24, 2014 If you go the home made route, consider that as the horizontal members grow, the vertical members should as well. If nothing else, larger horizontal members indicate more load is expected, therfore a greater attachment surface will be required between the horizontal and vertical parts. Honestly, though, I think I would max out at using 2x6 lumber for both parts. If you go bigger than that, the supports will consume more space than the lumber stacked between them.As for anchoring to the block wall, I suggest toggle bolts. Use L brackets bolted to the upright, and put the toggle through those, instead of using long bolts through the width of the upright. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC1501 Posted May 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 24, 2014 One last attempt to get you to think about vertical storage: unless you plan to run a lot of molding, you don’t need to keep your boards at 16-18 feet long. Consider cutting the boards down. At least for furniture projects, you rarely need very long boards with the exception of dining tables. You can cut your long boards down at obvious places: where there’s a knot or some other defect. Okay, I’ll shut up now. I hear you on this, the ease of access definitely makes it attractive. Looked at my shed this morning, and realized if I put them in between the trusses along one wall I could go up as high at 12' to 10' depending how far they come out. The truss's run perpendicular to the block wall. Its a strange building, basically two buildings under one roof, as there is a block wall that runs right down the center at the peak of the roof. Because all the boards are so wide, based upon my estimates I would need roughly 8-10 feet in width to stack them vertically with the edge facing out. This assumes cutting boards down to fit in my 12 foot height limit. I could cut the board down at a logical spot, saving the most clear board space possible. I hate this thought, but guess I could find another place for the two or three cherry boards that are extremely wide and clear along their entire length. The top 4' would not be supported behind it unless I build something up there. This solution actually requires the least amount of rearranging. Just need to throw out some junk and move a few small things, my other plan was going to require full reorganization. This solution might be the best, thoughts? The only downside I see, it might be tough to get the boards in an out with the truss's there. There is not a lot of room to maneuver in there, it is sort of narrow. But the truss's could help support the boards, which would make building it much simpler. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trip Posted May 24, 2014 Report Share Posted May 24, 2014 ==>cherry boards that are extremely wide and clear along their entire length. If you've got wide, tall and clear out to 12' -- don't cut them for storage -- unless you know you're going to make a couple of 10' table tops... With Cherry the way it is now, I'd kill for stock like that... If you go vertical, remember to also keep the edges off the concrete/ground/whatever... In my woodshed rebuild after Hurricane Sandy, I originally planned to go all vertical... The shed footprint is 16' x 32' x 12' and figured, "I've got plenty of room -- no problem"... Reality soon set in... I went hybrid horizon/vertical storage... Horizontal high-density racking for un-figured sticks, secondary carcass/drawer stock, and the like. I reserved vertical for figured sticks, very wide sticks and anything unusual/noteworthy... I found I could store 5Kbf horizontally in about the same footprint as 1Kbf vertical... My initial requirement was around 5Kbf... It's grown a bit since then, but not by much... Lesson Learned: One thing I forgot to consider --- flooring load. As I started shifting stacks of lumber, I began to get concerned... I used an on-line wood calculator that reported I was placing about 18Klbs load on the flooring/joists -- and that was an optimistic number based on favorable MC -- and didn't account for future wood acquisition*1... After reviewing construction standards for load, I re-jigged my horizontal racking to spread load over a wider footprint... I broke-up the horizontal racking with interspersed vertical wood and solvent storage*2... *1Note: One huge advantage using an outbuilding: you can stash an extra couple bf of lumber or that super-secret Amazon purchase --- and the wife will never know... Just a thought. *2Note: A few years ago, I had a scare with a bandsaw motor fire... While the fire was uneventful*3, I realized that the bandsaw was positioned right next to my shop finish/solvent storage... After that, I moved all solvent-based finished to another room and bulk solvents to the woodshed... *3Note: Never having dealt with a fire, it was an interesting experience... Not the actual fire you understand, but how the insurance guys tried pissing all over each other. Thing was -- the bandsaw was brand new and still well within warranty... While nothing was really damaged, except the saw, Delta tried to get my insurance company to replace the saw... Truth be told, Delta wanted to get my insurance to pay for the outrageous rigging costs to get the old saw out of the shop and get the replacement saw in... As you can imagine, my insurance guy told them to pound salt... Delta finally agreed to pay... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estesbubba Posted May 27, 2014 Report Share Posted May 27, 2014 Here is mine which is 4' wide and 8' deep. The structure you see repeats every 2' and it's attached to the wall and ceiling. Easy to build and holds a lot of lumber. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC1501 Posted May 29, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 29, 2014 Went with a vertical system. Not exactly my most thought out and designed build but it is strong and functional. Sort of designed as I went with materials on hand. Need to get this wood processed and out of my shop. There is no room to do anything. I have about 1/2 the cherry cut down and stacked. It is heavy backbreaking work for a guy with a bum back! Need to find some help. So looking forward to milling a few pieces of this wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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