Lumber Rack ??

[John in Abbotsford]

I'll soon be building a lumber storage rack and my idea is to fasten 2x4 on edge(lag bolted) to each stud 16" on centre. drill holes at 2 degree angle 3-1/4" deep and insert 16" lengths of 3/4" metal conduate spaced apx. every 12" along it's length(hight) would this work sufficiently or should I seek out some other method of constructing a rack.
With the spacing being every 16" the amount of weight on each arm should not be all that much therefore the electrical conduate should be strong enough for this application ??? @ $4.50 for a 10' length this would be an inexpensive alternative to black pipe

[Randy in Burnaby]

As far as I understand the Metal Conduit is fairly ductile so that it can be bent around corners and such to run cable through it. I don't know for sure it if would work or not, but I would recommend buying a short segment and trying it out by drilling a hole in a 2x4 and insert the pipe, put the assembly in a vise and see you can bend the conduit easily.

I just built two storage racks a couple of weekends ago using an idea similar to the one described in Wood Magazine. I made some mods but it turned out great. I am cheap so it didn't cost much either. I also used some 1 1/4" galvanized fence posts in a way you are describing and they work well too.

[Brian, Whitby]

Question......How much weight, depending if hard or soft wood, can that system hold? How many board ft. will it hang?

[Allan Johanson - South Su]

I'm not sure how strong that conduit is. Try Randy's idea for a strength test. I used the galvanized pipe (the stuff sold beside the black pipe). It was pretty cheap at Home Depot. HD wanted about $6 for a 48" piece and Rona wanted $18 for the same thing. Go figure. So much for buying from a Canadian store!

Here's a link to a previous posting of mine about my lumber rack. Be sure to check the entire thread for more good info from a number of folks.

Allan

[EaglescU*S*A...]

Check Yellow pages for plumbing suppliers.
They normally carry black iron and galv in 21' lengths.
You normally get a couple of free cuts.
Figure what you need.Even with the extra cuts at a modest charge it will probably be a lot cheaper.

[Brian, Whitby]

Allan,
That idea using galvinized steel pipe, opposed to conduit makes it even a stronger support. I wonder, if any engineers view could respond on the subject?

Would 4x4's, be used for the drilled out holes instead of 2x4's? I have, quite a bit of hard wood to mount. 1000 bd. ft. or more. I might aquire an inexpensive hard wood for the 4x4's. I have gone further before today to buy used steel orange racking to support heavy pallets used in manufacturing but found restrictive getting at the wood on the ends. Its over all support is run diaginaly on the sides and can't access lumber.
I'm finally deciding soon, design with pipes and 2x2's or 4x4's, is the right idea.

Cheers, Brian.

[John from Abbotsford]

I made a sample piece tonight, a 16" length of 3/4" conduit placed into a hole drilled with a 15/16 forstner bit. I was able to support all of my body weight 196-lbs on this piece of pipe, It only buckled after I jumped on it so the applied force would have been in excess of 200lbs. this is for a single piece of conduit protruding from the 2x4 13.5" and my weight was placed at the outer end.

[Paul O'H Ingersoll]

John
I used 24" lengths of 3/4" black iron on 24 " centres and drilled the holes at about 5 degrees. I lagged 4x4 's to the existing studs. no problems after 7 years
paul

[Richard]

Hi Allen,
Why don't you price match the pipe from Rona to Home depo ?
Richard in Kanata

[Allan Johanson - South Su]

I ended up doing that. You see, I bought the first few pipes from HD while I was there one day. After I built my rack and mounted it on the wall, I needed another 2 pieces of 48" pipe and a couple more lag bolts.

I went to Rona and picked up two pipes and the bolts and went to the cashier. When I was told the total was over $40 I freaked! That was when I was sent to the customer service counter for the price match. I had the HD receipt with me.

Here's another kicker - the UPC code on the pipe at Rona was identical to the one at HD. The same supplier was used for both stores, yet Rona was asking for 3x the money for the same pipe.

Have you ever priced a box of 100 - #8 x 1" wood screws at Rona vs HD? In my area I've found Rona is asking over $4 for that box while HD wants only $2.40 or so.

It's simply wrong. I'm not really inclined to do business at a place like that.

Allan

[Allan Johanson - South Su]

Hi Brian,

I think 2x4 material is fine (because you'll be drilling in the 1.5" wide edge like in my pic), but if the wood will be very heavy, I'd be inclined to have it extend to the floor. That way the floor is carrying the weight and you aren't depending on the shear strength of the fasteners. The rack will still be bolted to the wall, but only for stability.

If each shelf will have a lot of weight, having numerous supports will spread out the load (just make sure they're level with each other) and drill the holes with a minimum 4 deg angle to make sure the wood doesn't slide off.

There are lots of great ideas being posted. You can combine these too. For example, if you want a super sturdy wall mounted unit with sheet good storage underneath, you can still run the 2x4s (or 4x4s if your prefer) to the ground so the floor will carry the load, but not have any shelves on the lower 52 or so inches. Maybe you want to leave the lower 62 or so inches vacant so you can store full 60" x 60" sheets of Baltic Birch ply?

Or maybe you already have sheet good storage and want to place a workbench or mitre saw underneath? That's what I did with mine.

There are lots of things you can do. The choice is yours.

Happy planning!

Allan

[Brian, Whitby]

John,
Thats great! It demostrates the strength of conduit. I'm going to use pipe from Home Depot with 2x4's. I think, its over kill in my situation, using 4x4's.

Cheers, Brian

[John from Abbotsford]

Hi Brian, I finished the rack tonight and have all my lumber stacked on it. I started it 4 1/2 ft. up from the floor, spaced 2x4 on 16" centre each with 2 lag bolts and 2 #10 4" screws counter sunk, holes were drilled every 6" at a 3 degree angle, I placed a 2x2 along the bottom of the 2x4 uprights to act as a ledger strip, the conduit was cut at 16" lengths using my tube cutter for copper pipe. The rack is extreamly sturdy and I'm certain that you could place a ton on it.
If I was to have longer arms I would consider using galvanized pipe, though I'm certain that I could have made the conduit another 4" longer and still had more than ample strength with the uprights placed at 16" oc.

[Ed/Leaside]

If there is a concern with the pipe collapsing it could always be filled with mortar or a dowel before installation :)

[Jeff Seaman]

Hey John, I picked up my pipe from local scrap dealer, much cheaper than new.
Cheers, Jeff

[Steve In Kemptville]

John, I built a similar rack to what you are describing. I laminated two spruce 2x4's together to make a 4x4 (used construction adhesive and 3" screws). I drilled holes perpendicular (no angle) and they stay put. I don't see any need for the angle. A steeper angle would effectively move the moment arm of the lever back towards the wall but 2° will mean diddly in this area and the pipes don't bend enough to worry about flexing and having stuff slide off.

Seriously, I'd consider using 3/4" steel pipe, even if the conduit seems ok. Like Jeff, I bought some salvaged pipe from a local scrap dealer (Cohen's in Ottawa) and it was 50 cents a foot versus $1.50 to $2 per foot new. This stuff has a 1/8" wall and is MUCH stronger than conduit. Conduit will bend and if you ever let a heavy board drop on one near the outer end (like when loading up the rack) it may just bend a bit. THe chances of this are much less with he stronger pipe.

I don't think you need hardwood 4x4's at all. I considered getting some too but 2x4's are dirt cheap in comparison and readily availabe, and they work fine.

Structurally I would extend the verticals all the way to the floor. With the short moment arm most of the weight is bearing straight down in shear. Having the verticals rest on the floor takes the load off the wall so the only force at all is a small load at 90° to the surface of the wall. Even if you don't put pipes all the way down, I'd still recommend running them to the floor.

You can see a bit of my rack to the right in the pic below. The pipes are about 20" long are farther than 12" apart. As you can see I have them loaded pretty well to the hilt all the way from the floor to ceiling (10') and it's like a rock. THe pipes dont'\'t even flex with a full load of red oak (and I do mean FULL). I have over 1000BF on this rack for a year now!

http://www3.sympatico.ca/caters/Wood/images/Cyclone/Web_Fan_side.jpg

Sorry I didn't have a better pic, never thought to take one of the rack on it's own;) You can see some left over pipe in the 5gal pail. It will likely be rust so just clean it up with a bath in Muriatic acid, then douse with lots of water and dry by blowing off and towel immediately. Paint ASAP to avoid surface rust (Tremclad works nicely here).

Good luck.
Steve.

[Brian, Whitby]

Thank you all, for suggestions! I've decided to mount 4x4's vertically on 2x4 "plate", mounted on the concrete floor, and bolted to existing wall studs and to concrete 16" concrete wall base. Rafters (with 16" centres) will be attached only for support every 32".
I think thats plenty.

Cheers and beers, Brian