You may have noticed when I started cleaning this section of the garage, that I have a lot of stuff. I think the expression is "10 pounds of stuff in a 5 pound bag". I am taking this opportunity to add some elastic to my bag.

I need room to store stuff for my project vehicles, so here I am creating shelving. Some may ask, "why don't you just buy a shelf and be done with it?" Well, I can't find what I need. My needs are specific. I need floorspace and most traditional shelving occupies some floorspace. There are some shelves that hang from the ceiling, but I have heavy stuff, and I would probably hurt myself trying to put too much weight over my head. There are also shelf brackets that could be mounted on the wall, but I have not seen anything "heavy duty" enough to hold the stuff I would like to put up. This leads me to one conclusion... Make it myself.

My goal with this section of the garage is to use stuff that I have laying around, and if I can use it all, my garage will clean itself. I have some steel that was originally used to create an opera set "Carmen". I took pieces to create 20 feet of steel shelving frame work. If a picture paints a 1,000 words, I will share a few photos during the process.

After clearing out most of the garage and hanging a ceiling to conceal the insulation, I used a 2x4 to locate where I wanted to put the top of my shelf. I then cut steel to make brackets that mount to the studs in the wall. The wall thickness is roughly 3/32" thick (almost a full 1/8 inch) Once everything was clamped together, everything was tack welded in place. With everything assembled as one piece, I removed it from the wall to finish welding all the joints and finish the drywall where this shelf will mount.

When the drywall is finished and painted, Rust-Oleum paint will be used to paint the shelving to protect the metal and to make it more pleasing to look at. After painting, the shelving will be lag bolted to the wall, pool noodles will cover much of the metal to protect people and vehicles from injury, and the shelf will be ready to receive stuff that once occupied the floor.

Stay tuned for the reveal when I finish the garage!!

Floor space is my friend!