Need wooden shelving ideas for basement

[CurlyDave]

If you have a Sam's club close check out the Gorilla Shelving. I hav'nt done the math , but if your time is worth anything they are hard to beat. They are steel frames and wood shelves that go together in minutes. I must have 8 or ten sets in my garage and a spare in the box just in case.

You can "stretch" Gorilla shelves to hold more material.

Take a sheet of 5/8" or 3/4" plywood and rip it into three 18" x 96" pieces.

Make slots at the 24" and 72" locations on both edges of the planks you have just made.

Set up two gorilla shelves 48" apart, and the plywood planks will fit right in between them. The steel supports fit right into the slots, and you can bridge the 48" gap with the planks. This gets you an extra 4' section with three shelves at about half the cost of a third Gorilla shelf.

 

[sixdogs]

You can "stretch" Gorilla shelves to hold more material.

Take a sheet of 5/8" or 3/4" plywood and rip it into three 18" x 96" pieces.

Make slots at the 24" and 72" locations on both edges of the planks you have just made.

Set up two gorilla shelves 48" apart, and the plywood planks will fit right in between them. The steel supports fit right into the slots, and you can bridge the 48" gap with the planks. This gets you an extra 4' section with three shelves at about half the cost of a third Gorilla shelf.

That's pretty clever and I already have some Gorilla shelves.
Need to look into this but the concept is appealing.

CurleyDave--How does an 8' piece of wood span a 4' gap?
A two ft overhang on each side?

 

[CurlyDave]

...CurleyDave--How does an 8' piece of wood span a 4' gap?

A two ft overhang on each side?

That is exactly how it happens.

Now here is another tip, if you don't have 5/8" or 3/4 plywood, 1/2" will do, but you have to cut a 4' piece of 2x4 and screw it onto the bottom of the plywood in the gap. Both at the front and at the back.

I used 3" deck screws, and I didn't like it because this puts the screws in tension, but they have held up for a lot of years.

What is really nice is that if you only use 3 plywood bridges, while most of the Gorilla shelves have 5 shelves, you can use the middle shelf as a narrow workbench. Not as good as a real one, but a whole lot better than the kitchen counter. At least from my wife's point of view.