Extra Storage Shelving in Your Garage

Recently I was looking through a weekly add for one of the major hardware stores and I saw them selling a kit that you could suspend from your ceiling for extra storage space. I thought this was a great idea and started doing a little searching I found kits from $50 to $350 and frankly didn't think any were that great. So I decided to build my own!

Step 1: Find Your Ceiling Joists

First get out your stud finder and locate the ceiling joists. Once you do you can sink some cleats in them to support everything. I used 3 inch long screws and a few pieces of 2x2's that I had. I used 6 cleats on each shelf.

Step 2: Decide How Far Down They Should Hang

After you have your cleats in the ceiling you need to decide how far down your supports should hang. One of my shelves is about 12 inches the other is 21 inches down. That's what worked in my garage so make your own decision here. Once you have your supports cut to length attach each to a cleat. I used 2 long screws, 3 inch, on each support.

Step 3: Build Your Bottom Supports

Once you have you supports attached to the cleats cut your bottom support pieces. I used two full 4x8 sheets of plywood for my bottom so all I did was measure my pieces so they were long enough to attach to the downward supports and not obstruct the plywood. I again used 2 screws each time I connected any of the bottom supports, 3 inches long.

Step 4: Add Plywood Base

Once you finish framing your base support just put your plywood base on top of it. Because my base supports were well spaced and very well secured I bought the thinnest lightest piece of plywood I could to use for the base. I then used a few 1 1/4 inch general purpose screws to attach the plywood to the base, just because I had them and didn't want the plywood moving at all.

Step 5: Store Your Stuff!

I don't have anything very heavy on my shelves but I did hang from them and layed on the plywood when I was screwing it down and it held my 195lbs no problem. Mostly they just get me camping and seasonal stuff up out of the way.

Hope you like it and please vote for me in the shelving contest! Thanks!