My first real project - garage ceiling shelving

chrispitude · Post by **chrispitude** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 5:28 pm

Another lesson learned - if the drill bit goes into the joist tightly while drilling the pilot hole, take the time to ream the hole out real good with the bit. Otherwise you stand a (very) good chance of snapping the lag bolt.

Only one snapped in 18 bolts so far, I guess that's not too bad. Anyway, lesson learned.

- Chris

a1gutterman · Post by **a1gutterman** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 12:04 am

chrispitude wrote:Another lesson learned - if the drill bit goes into the joist tightly while drilling the pilot hole, take the time to ream the hole out real good with the bit. Otherwise you stand a (very) good chance of snapping the lag bolt.

Only one snapped in 18 bolts so far, I guess that's not too bad. Anyway, lesson learned.

- Chris

Hi Chris,
"Reaming" with the drill bit usually does knot enlarge the hole in a manner that you need it to. You should use the proper size bit. The bit should cut a hole equal in diameter to the entire solid center of the lag bolt. When you are done, only the threads of the bolt should be forcing their way into the wood. If the hole is too small, knot only do you risk snapping the bolt, you risk splitting the joist that you are bolting to. That is far worse, as it weakens the integrity of the joist.

chrispitude · Post by **chrispitude** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 7:03 pm

Hi all,

I switched to drilling out the pilot holes with a bit sized exactly to the inner diameter of the threaded shaft. I learned that if you drill a pilot hole and you smell sap, or if the drill bit works to drill the hole, it's best to clean the hole out real good and use a bit more lube on the lag bolts.

Speaking of lag bolts, I have a new favorite lube - liquid car wax! It spreads onto the threads easily and really makes the lag bolt thread in nicely. I tried liquid car wash soap and bar soap, and this is by far my favorite. Plus, I think once the water content of the wax is absorbed by the wood, the wax will remain behind in case the bolt must be removed for any reason.

About 3/4 of the way done:

[ATTACH]2000[/ATTACH]

There's 2" of clearance on either side of the garage door opener, which will allow me to upgrade to a somewhat larger model in the future if needed.

Things went swimmingly well until I tested the clearance between the garage door and the shelving. I disconnected the garage door opener and raised the door manually. The shelves at the front of the garage have a good 1.5" clearance. But for the ones by the garage door opener... oops:

[ATTACH]2001[/ATTACH]

I intended to have about 3/4" clearance between the shelving and the garage door at its highest point, but somewhere that got lost in my cuts, my wavy ceiling, and the variation between the garage doors. I used a belt sander to taper the leading edge of the shelving supports so the garage door can't catch the edge and do serious damage, but there might be some slight rubbing. I think I can do some tweaking in the roller channels to move the door down a bit. Hopefully I can get to a point I'm comfortable with which won't require remaking half these supports.

The last step is to screw down all the slats!

- Chris:rolleyes:

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 7:45 pm

Looks great Chris. The problem with good finishes is it makes the enchore more difficult.

chrispitude · Post by **chrispitude** » Sun Sep 21, 2008 1:24 pm

Hi all,

Almost there... I have all the slats screwed on the front shelves in with sheetrock screws:

[ATTACH]2065[/ATTACH]

I haven't put a whole bunch of stuff on them yet, as I need to spend some time thinking what qualifies as "occasional use" stuff where I don't mind pulling a car out of the garage and shutting the door to get to it.

I came across something serendipitous and I wish I could take credit for being clever enough to design it in, but it was just dumb luck. For the dimensions I chose, the space between the slats ended up being exactly 3/4". As I was getting ready to cut off some 3/4" spacers, I realized that the 1x4 pine boards were 3/4" thickness! I just gathered up some scrap pieces and used them as spacers:

[ATTACH]2066[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]2067[/ATTACH]

The slats were designed to overhang by exactly 1". The thickness of my engineer's square was 1", so I just held that up and pulled the slat out to the proper overhang:

[ATTACH]2068[/ATTACH]

Now I just need to finish the four taller shelves by the garage door openers and I'm done!

I had a carpenter/contractor friend of mine over last week to do some other work on the house. At the time, the slats weren't laid out on the ceiling supports and the supports were just bare. When he was in the garage, I pointed up at them and said, "How much weight do you think those would be rated to hold? I glued and screwed them, and put those mending strips along the sides." He asks me, "are the lags all attached and finished?" and I said yes. He JUMPS up and grabs onto the one over his head, and proceeds to swing from it!

Now imagine a guy 6' 4" and 285lbs, a dead ringer for Paul Bunyan right down to the beard. He hops down after a few swings and says, "Well now you know they're rated for 285 pounds!"

I about had a heart attack... There was some lateral play when he was swinging (he was swaying more than swinging) but now that all the slats are attached and I snugged up the lag bolts into the ceiling, the shelving units are absolutely rock solid. The slats pull themselves flat against the 2x4s, helping to keep everything square.

- Chris

nuhobby · Post by **nuhobby** » Sun Sep 21, 2008 2:06 pm

Looks great, Chris!

5 years ago at our previous house, I got some metal-grid-type garage-ceiling shelves that attached with lag-bolts. They were pretty good for organizing the garage. I got a spare lawn-mower up into one of them and it "hung around" for some time until we moved to the next house. Enjoy the fruits of your labor!

a1gutterman · Post by **a1gutterman** » Sun Sep 21, 2008 10:39 pm

chrispitude wrote:...I had a carpenter/contractor friend of mine over last week to do some other work on the house. At the time, the slats weren't laid out on the ceiling supports and the supports were just bare. When he was in the garage, I pointed up at them and said, "How much weight do you think those would be rated to hold? I glued and screwed them, and put those mending strips along the sides." He asks me, "are the lags all attached and finished?" and I said yes. He JUMPS up and grabs onto the one over his head, and proceeds to swing from it!

Now imagine a guy 6' 4" and 285lbs, a dead ringer for Paul Bunyan right down to the beard. He hops down after a few swings and says, "Well now you know they're rated for 285 pounds!"

I about had a heart attack... There was some lateral play when he was swinging (he was swaying more than swinging) but now that all the slats are attached and I snugged up the lag bolts into the ceiling, the shelving units are absolutely rock solid. The slats pull themselves flat against the 2x4s, helping to keep everything square.

- Chris

Seems like someone had said that you could put an engine block on those shelves...

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 2:35 am

Glad you got your first project finished! What's next?

If you want, you can stop lateral swinging by installing a couple of small gussets. Just make some small wood triangles and affix them to the vertical pieces and the slats. They don't have to be large, just -2" on the legs of the triangles. (2,2, and sq root of 8):rolleyes: You can make them from the scrap of slats. Should give practice in cutting miters?:D