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The average two-car garage has the upper regions of three 24-ft.-long walls ready and available for big-time storage. Add a continuous 2-ft.-deep shelf on all three walls and you’re talking about a huge, accessible storage platform without taking up any floor space whatsoever. This project will work on just about any garage on the planet, although you may have to customize it a bit for your garage. (More on adapting it later.) We show this project in a garage with finished walls, but the assembly techniques will also work on garages with open studs.
While these shelves aren’t sturdy enough to store your anvil collection, they’re plenty strong enough for off-season clothes, sporting goods and camping gear. In short, just about anything you’d want to hoist up onto an 8-ft.-high shelf and out of the way. In general, keep the weight under about 30 lbs. per linear foot.
The 23-in.-high apron under the shelf is a great place to drive nails and hooks for hanging garden tools, cords and hoses — all that other stuff that clutters up the garage. Add a closet rod between a couple of braces and you have a convenient place to hang jackets, raincoats or other clothes.
Cutting and installing the parts for an entire garage will only take you a weekend. As for skills, it’s a project any weekend warrior can tackle. If you can handle a circular saw, a screw gun and basic hand tools, you’ll have no problems. For the cleanest look, use a miter saw to cut the trim. And to speed up the job, use a brad nailer for most of the nailing.
Planning your shelves
There are no magic heights or widths for your shelves; you'll want to customize them for your garage and needs. The best strategy is to build a 3-ft.-long mockup of our shelf and hold it against the walls in various positions to test the fit. It just takes a little effort and may help prevent headaches later. Then you can decide what height and size the shelves
need to be to clear obstacles.
Some rules of thumb for sizing and positioning:
• Choose shelf heights that'll allow for enough space between the ceiling and the shelf for the tall items you plan to store.• Make sure that shelves and braces will clear obstructions like garage doors, garage door tracks and service doors.
• In foot traffic areas (near car doors, for example), keep braces above head level and back from doorways, so you don't bump into them.
• If you have an SUV or a pickup truck, make sure the braces won't obstruct the doors.
• If you need to build narrower shelves, just shrink the plywood braces and shelves by the same amount.
FIGURE A High shelving plan
Click Image to enlarge.
Position shelves in all unobstructed zones along the ceiling.
Customize by varying heights and adding shelves, racks and
cabinets for special items.
Choosing the materials
Our shelving system, made from oak plywood and solid oak trim, costs about $55 per 8 ft. of length. If you choose 3/4-in. CDX (construction grade) plywood and pine trim, you’ll whittle down the cost to about $40 per 8-ft. section.We prefinished everything with two coats of polyurethane.
If you choose to finish your shelves, roll the finish on the full sheets of plywood and brush the finish on all of the trim boards before cutting. That’ll take scads less time than finishing it later.
Measure the overall length of shelving you intend to build and then use the dimensions in Figure B to help calculate the materials you need.
FIGURE B Shelf construction details
Click Image to enlarge.
Lay out the walls
and mount the aprons
Rip each sheet into one
23-in.-wide apron and one 24-in.-wide shelf. Use the
factory edge of a “freehand” cut shelf as a saw guide for
straight cuts on the other shelves and aprons (Photo 1).
Snap a line on the wall to mark the top of the apron and then mark all of the studs with masking tape. Take your time with this step; it’s important that the apron nails anchor into solid framing, since they support the entire weight of the shelf. To be sure, poke nails through the drywall (just below the line, where holes will be hidden) to find the centers of studs. Start the first apron somewhere in the middle of the wall, making sure that both ends fall on the centers of the studs. Then work toward the corners where the freehand crosscut ends will be hidden. If you’re working alone, partially drive a couple of “stop” nails at the chalk line to help align the apron (Photo 2). That’ll eliminate any guesswork. Prestart a couple of nails at stud locations before hoisting the apron into place so you can tack it to the wall while supporting it with one hand.
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