So you've only got a smallish shed, you've got heaps of small bits and pieces of junk and need quite frankly the entire shed to store it all in?
After several years of experience and experimentation I can safely say that the following shelving arrangements work well for me.
What I did here was buy lengths of modular angle iron. It has holes and slots in it, about 1.5mm thick, 50mmx30mm. Basically just measure, cut to length and bolt it together in situ; quick and easy.
You can see here how the modular
angle iron fits together.
I found 350mm deep represents the best compromise between taking up too much shed space and having wide enough shelves. The shelves themselves are legths of scrap MDF and chipboard I had laying around screwed to the frame from underneath.
The layout of the shelves is a big U and takes up roughly half the shed. The back of the shelves is the shed wall itself, ie, there is legths of the angle iron bolted to the wall that hold the back of the shelf in place. I think you get the idea from the pictures, there is no rocket science going on here.
The *real* beauty is the placcy boxes that everything is stored in. Stuff is grouped into boxes, labelled and placed on the shelves. By far the most important part of storing things in a shed is that everything must have a home. Without a home, it will just be sitting on your bench or laying on the floor. Boxes, category labels, shelves. That is the answer.
So here is my recommendation for your shelving needs:
- Build the whole thing out of mild steel. Don't bother with the modular steel I used, weld the whole thing together. I was paying $AUD3.30(1999)/m for the modular steel, the same mild steel angle is about $AUD0.80(2002)/m. There is no real advantage in the modular - once it is built you don't really need to have all those holes in it. If you are thinking about relocating it one day then rather than welding the frame together, drill holes where needed and use bolts.
- Attach it firmly to the shed walls. Free standing shelves are too dodgy.
- Buy lots of these plastic boxes! I used to get them from WA salvage at $AUD4(1999) each but now I can only get them from bunnings at $AUD7.50(2003) This might seem a fair investment in plastic boxes (I have about 30 in total and still need more) but it is worth it. My shed is small, but it has *heaps* of stuff in it but still plenty of room to rebuild a motorbike engine.
- Buy a paint pen to label the boxes with...
Looking at the main wall of shelves and the neat arrangement of boxes. Could there be any better way? Don't skip though - *all* your stuff should go into boxes, I still have a shelf or two to rationalise ;)
database