# Beefy Garage Worskhop Shelf



## Tom5151 (Nov 21, 2008)

Hello,

I am looking to build a VERY simple but very stout shelf above my workbench in the garage. The workbench is on one wall of the garage. It will be a high shelf. It will be roughly 18 inches down from the ceiling, about 13 inches deep and 8 feet or so in length. My thought is to be able to put all of my smaller hand power tools in their cases up on that shelf to free up room on the shelves under my bench. It will carry things like circular saws, sanders, nail guns, biscuit joiner, jigsaw, etc. I also have a 4 foot fluorescent light hanging down over my work bench currently and I want to fasten that to the underside of the shelf so I can still have plenty of light.

I am trying to figure out the best way to build this so that it’s as strong as possible. I am kind of envisioning a really beefy floating shelf but not sure if that’s the best way to go. I don’t want it to sag under the load obviously and I don’t want to use angle brackets to support it if I can avoid it.

If I lag bolt a simple box frame to the studs and screw my shelf to that, do you think that would be strong enough?

Thanks,
Tom


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## firehawkmph (Apr 26, 2008)

Tom,
Why don't you pick your material for your shelf (I would maybe use some decent 3/4" plywood and face the edge with a hardwood 1 x 2, leaving it stick up a little over the top edge of the plywood to keep things from sliding off.) Fasten a cleat to the wall, 2 x 2 would be fine. Screw the shelf to it on the top edge of the 2 x 2 . Then install three supports to the ceiling, one at each end and one towards the center. I would use either a piece of allthread, chain, or a 1 x 2. You might install a cleat on the ceiling depending on which way your joists/rafters/trusses are going. You could also use the angle iron with the holes in it. I use that for garage door opener installs. Just depends what you want to look at. One suggestion: don't put it so high that you need a ladder to get the tools down. That's a PITA. Hope this helps,
Mike Hawkins


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## Tom5151 (Nov 21, 2008)

firehawkmph said:


> Tom,
> Why don't you pick your material for your shelf (I would maybe use some decent 3/4" plywood and face the edge with a hardwood 1 x 2, leaving it stick up a little over the top edge of the plywood to keep things from sliding off.) Fasten a cleat to the wall, 2 x 2 would be fine. Screw the shelf to it on the top edge of the 2 x 2 . Then install three supports to the ceiling, one at each end and one towards the center. I would use either a piece of allthread, chain, or a 1 x 2. You might install a cleat on the ceiling depending on which way your joists/rafters/trusses are going. You could also use the angle iron with the holes in it. I use that for garage door opener installs. Just depends what you want to look at. One suggestion: don't put it so high that you need a ladder to get the tools down. That's a PITA. Hope this helps,
> Mike Hawkins


Thanks very much Mike,

That does help a lot. Opens up the possibilities from the narrow way i was looking at it.

Thank you.


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## Gerry KIERNAN (Apr 20, 2007)

I think Mike is right on with his ideas. Support from the ceiling joists would give you lots of load carrying capacity.

Gerry


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

ditto. I have a 30" wide "shelf" supported this way.

George


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## mmtools (Aug 21, 2008)

When first read post, thought "lumber storage", but finished reading and agree w/Mike about allthread from joists.


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## Tom5151 (Nov 21, 2008)

perfect.....thank you gentlemen.......I appreciate all of the ideas and your time in providing them......support from the ceiling joists it is.....

Regards,
Tom


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## TheRecklessOne (Jul 22, 2008)

Good call on the all thread....I would definitely use that instead of chain. Good and solid, and cuts easily with a hacksaw. Chain is kind of finicky and you have to cut through 2 sides of the link instead of one piece of rod. Probably cheaper too.


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## Tom5151 (Nov 21, 2008)

like the allthread idea but how am I going to fasten that into the ceiling joist? Can I just screw one end of it up into the ceiling joist?


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## johnv51 (Oct 27, 2008)

Use a 90 degree angle bracket. Screw one side into the joist and use the other to attach the allthread.


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## Tom5151 (Nov 21, 2008)

johnv51 said:


> Use a 90 degree angle bracket. Screw one side into the joist and use the other to attach the allthread.


I think to do that I'd need access to the ceiling joists. Unfortunately I have a drywalled garage celing and walls. If I attach some type of cleat to the joists through the drywall and then angle bracket into the cleats i should be good right?


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## johnv51 (Oct 27, 2008)

That should work. In my last garage I put up treated deck boards on the wall and screwed em into the walls with 3" deck screws into every stud. I used the deck boards to mount whatever type of screw-in hangar I needed where I needed it. So use 3" or longer screws or even lag bolts to hold up the cleat.


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## Tom5151 (Nov 21, 2008)

perfect.....thanks again to everyone for the help


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## TheRecklessOne (Jul 22, 2008)

Hey tom. For a little cleaner look maybe you could drill 3 holes into the cleat and then with a forstner bit hollow out enough space for a washer and nut. feed your allthread through and attach the cleat to the ceiling with the 3 allthread rods dangling through. Then assemble the shelf as usual feeding the allthread through 3 holes in the shelf.

Just a thought.

take care,
KC

P.s. Is ST.Charles IL close to St. Charles MO? I know sometime MO and IL like to share city names on that side of the state.


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## Tom5151 (Nov 21, 2008)

TheRecklessOne said:


> Hey tom. For a little cleaner look maybe you could drill 3 holes into the cleat and then with a forstner bit hollow out enough space for a washer and nut. feed your allthread through and attach the cleat to the ceiling with the 3 allthread rods dangling through. Then assemble the shelf as usual feeding the allthread through 3 holes in the shelf.
> 
> Just a thought.
> 
> ...


Hello there,

No we are quite a ways from St. Charles MO....lol

That's a great idea but unfortunately i don't have an attic over the garage. I think I am just going to use 3 cleats. One at each end and one in the middle and mount my 90 degree angle bracket from those and slide my allthread through that. At least that's my current thought.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

You could use an "eye nut" at the top of the all thread. To the ceiling joists use an "open eye lag". These come in many sizes.

Or, you could use a closed eye, and an "S" hook.


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## Tom5151 (Nov 21, 2008)

cabinetman said:


> You could use an "eye nut" at the top of the all thread. To the ceiling joists use an "open eye lag". These come in many sizes.
> 
> Or, you could use a closed eye, and an "S" hook.


that's a really nice idea.......it might be a little tricky to tension the final assembly. I'd kind of need to have that pre set almost and lift up the shelf slightly while i slip the closed eyes over all the open eye lags.......


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## firehawkmph (Apr 26, 2008)

Tom,
Shouldn't be hard to tighten up the shelf. Just drill a hole for each rod through the shelf material. If you are using thick enough material, you could drill a recess in the bottom of the shelf to hide the nut and washer. Put a nut and washer on each side of the shelf. Hang everything up and just adjust the nuts until the shelf is level and lock it down. You could trim off any protrusion of the rod on the bottom with a small grinder with a cutting disc or sawzall. You could even dress up the rod with some sort of cover, maybe plastic tubing, pvc pipe, etc.
Mike Hawkins


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## sawduststeve (Jan 11, 2009)

If you want you could get t-nuts and install them in your cleats and then just thread the all thread into them an it would hold real secure!


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## Tom5151 (Nov 21, 2008)

thanks for all the replies everyone. Your responses and tips are helping me to see this project in a way I hadn't thought about. I put togther the plan last night and will build it this weekend.

Thanks again


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