Building Cheap Shelves

They ARE heavy duty, but NOT warehouse type. There are differences. For one, the holes are in the wrong face, for a different type of fastener. (I will post pics later. We use warehouse style.) Look at the back left corner. That appears to be a welded corner, not an adjustable bracket.

 

take a good look at these corners. The heavy brackets with gussets don't exist in the ammo shelf posted. I think you are right as to the origins of these pieces, but I think they were cut and welded to fit that space.

 

Agreed. Looking back the holes were on the wrong face. I wonder if they make something similar for narrower shelving that is based on pallet racks.

Something to look into in the future.

 

they have where houses and websites that specialize in selling just this type of shelving. new and used ...
But in my opinion dollar for dollar you can not beat a homemade shelf made from 2x4 and ply wood
for the money you spend on one "pallet style rack"you can build 10 2x4 shelves .... and if you are smart moore

FYI
if they are building houses near you go and ask if you can dig threw there scrap pile 90% of the wood is already there for free..
Its better for them to give it away they have to pay to have it moved...

 

You could always go the cinderblock and 2x4 route, too.....but that might look a little bit too "college dorm"-ish for most of us.

The wire shelves that I spoke of (oftentimes available at Target for ~$35-$40) were on special a month ago, even cheaper than normal, so I picked up two more of them. Target was doing a "graduates need storage for college" themed sale, and gave a $5 off of $50 coupon, plus special pricing on anything storage related, and I picked up two shelving units for just over $50.

To me, the saddest aspect of some so-called "heavy duty" store bought shelving units, is the cheap materials they try to get away with. For instance, this shelving unit, at Lowes:
Shop edsal 72-in H x 48-in W x 24-in D 5-Tier Steel Freestanding Shelving Unit at Lowes.com
For $85, you're getting a halfway decent stamped & formed sheet metal frame, that will actually hold some serious weight (we had similar shelves at the last place I worked). BUT....then they put crappy OSB "wood" shelves in the box with it, and they're not worth the trouble! Where I used these, we had some fairly heavy (but still well within the weight limit for the shelves, supposedly) pipe fittings stored on ours. Within a few months, most of those OSB shelves were so bowed in the center, they resembled bowls more than shelves! We ended up buying plywood, flipping the shelves over and doubling up the OSB, then putting 3/4" plywood shelves in the spaces that needed it. Much better.....but for $85, we should have never had to do that.

 

This subject is near and dear to my heart. Dad was always a bit of a scrounger, and we always were building shelves when I was a kid from found stuff. He assumed ambient temperature a few years ago. I'm in the process now of replacing some of his impromptu shelving. Some of it had been in place 40 years.

One thing that REALLY works is old doors. Dad used to pick people's hollow core doors out of the garbage and use them for shelving. He'd support them with whatever he had handy-- usually 2X4. They make a very sturdy shelf for normal household stuff.

I don't know what the price is these days of 1/2 ply versus particle board, but I remember particle board used to be cheaper. If you support it properly, it will work as good or better than 1/2" ply. Just don't let it get wet. For light stuff I saw him use OSB and 2x2. He used that for the shelves where he stored his Coffee, toilet paper, and paper towels. It was all scrap from job sites. He'd find a good deal on a year's supply of this or that, and the next thing you knew it was in his larder.