Sorry I didn't follow all of this thread, but maybe I'll jump in here
as I've just put up a "shelf" to store heavy stuff. I have about 3500
pounds of steel "lumps". Lumps not long pieces, or huge plates. They
are anything that won't conveniently fit in/on a proper/standard
storage rack. Pieces of rounds and blocks of tool steel and old
elevator parts and and and and and ....you get the idea. It all came
off the truck in a box about 48"W X 36"L X 24"H, full to the brim.
It was the heaviest thing I moved from the truck to the garage/shop
with my 2500Kg (5400pound??)pallet truck. Took three of us to push it
up the driveway on the (until now) invisible slope from the road to
the shop door!!

Anyway, I put up a "shelf" to hold it all. All shelves and uprights
made of 2 X 12 spruce. I started off with 24" uprights on 32"
centres, holding an 8 foot 2 X 12. (I will store boxes in this 24"
space). Three long woodscrews though the shelf into each upright. I
then used two angle brackets to catch the studs in the wall behind the
drywall. The angle brackets only keep the shelf from moving sideways
or forward, which is not much pressure. All the force is down. Then
I used the 2 X 12 like you would a floor joist, that is set on edge,
cut to 11-1/2" or whatever, as risers for the next shelf, keeping them
in line with the first ones. I continued this all the way up, placing
steel on it all as I went, and when the box was empty I stopped. I
had put up 5 levels as it turns out, and I could ad more now if
required. Very simple, very strong, very solid, very flexible to
work with.

Take care.

Brian Lawson,
Bothwell, Ontario.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX



On Tue, 16 Dec 2003 04:39:49 GMT, Fitch R. Williams
wrote:

Loren Coe wrote:

with support at 32" intervals, how much load can a 2x4
support on its side?

btw, i am using 5/16"x3" lag bolts to fasten the brackets.

You might give some thought to the total load and moment on the studs
you are fastening this monster shelf to. It might be that the wall is
the weakest part of this structural system.

Fitch