I was desperate for more shop storage ...

[BuckeyeDennis]

... and not too proud to steal someone else's idea. I often stash random junk between the overhead joists in my basement workshop, but it wasn't exactly user-friendly space. At least not until I found the following idea online.

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After a lot of searching, I found some one cubic foot plastic storage totes on Amazon the were almost a perfect fit for the between-joist space, except for being a tad too tall. No problem, I said to myself, I'll just fir the shelves down 3/4" from the bottom of the joists.

Although making firring strips isn't exactly fine woodworking, I needed 31 of them, each with six clearance holes for the mounting-bracket screws. Now mind you, drilling 186 reasonably-accurate holes overhead was not my idea of fun. So I decided to pre-drill all the holes in the firring strips prior to installation, and then use them as guides for driving the shelf-mounting screws. But even using a Shopsmith in drill-press mode, that still didn't sound like fun. So I decided to delegate the drudgery to my CNC router.

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Oh yes -- much better!

Here are some of the shelves after installation.

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And a close-up of the U-brackets I used to mount the wire shelves -- also an Amazon find.

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And finally, as much space organization as I can muster up. In addition to the content labels I stuck on them, you can see right through the clear-plastic ends and bottoms of the totes, making it a lot easier to find stuff.

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The plastic totes were the bulk of the expense, at about $12 each. All told, I added a little over 20 cubic feet of flexible storage space to my shop for less than $400 total, including the plastic totes, wire shelves, and mounting hardware.

I hope that someone else finds the idea useful!

[Matanuska]

Great idea but sheetrock gets in the way in my garage.

[Matanuska]

Like your clock.

Is that 1/4” plastic pegboard? I’ve just filled the last blank space in my shop With that and highly recommend it. I’m using the Triton Durahooks that screw in - they’re great.

[BuckeyeDennis]

Great idea but sheetrock gets in the way in my garage.

Yep, you definitely have to have exposed joists for this to work!

My shop ceiling is perfect for this. It's beneath our slightly-sunken family room, so the bottoms of the joists are only about 7-1/2 feet above the shop floor. And I'm a tall guy, so I can reach the totes pretty easily while standing on the floor.

Is that 1/4” plastic pegboard? I’ve just filled the last blank space in my shop With that and highly recommend it. I’m using the Triton Durahooks that screw in - they’re great.

My pegboard is the generic 1/8" hardboard stuff from a big box store. To my surprise, it's held up fine for over ten years now, even when I hang heavy stuff (like my Shopsmith speed reducer) on long hooks.

I've gotta try out those DuraHooks. I currently have two types of pegboard hooks, and don't like either of them very much. One type is made of heavy wire and has anti-rotation prongs, but the prong spacing doesn't quite match my pegboard. The lighter-duty hooks came with little plastic retainer clips to keep them from swiveling and/or falling out, but the retainer clips themselves sometimes pop off.

Long-term, I want to install French cleats over some of the pegboard, and make custom organizers for various things. I guesstimate that by going 3D with the storage, instead of having just a single layer of stuff hanging on pegboard hooks, I can fit maybe 4x the stuff in the same amount of wall space.