Sliding Shed Shelves

My best plans come when naked. That's when I fill the tub with hot water and just think with no distractions. My nakedness might be distracting to others so don't tell anyone where this great plan came from. The goal was to maximize organized storage space with the lowest cost.

Tools: circular saw, drill, screw gun, level, tape measure, ladder, sharpie.

Materials for 1 shelf:

4 1/2, sheets 7/16 OSB sheets,.

10, 8' studs 2" x 3"

100, 1 5/8" screws

50, 3" screws

2, 3" casters

2, 3" fixed wheels

Replace failed wheels with 4, 4" casters

Oriented Strand Board, or OSB is not the fanciest of lumber but with the cost of nice wood going crazy $10.80 a sheet is an interesting structural building material.

Going vertical would maximize floor space and if on casters you could eliminate the aisle between the rows of 128 linear feet of shelves.

To make the most use of materials the common denominators of a 4 x 8 sheet are 2' and 4', So a 4' base could make 8 rows of 4 foot shelves 8 feet high.

It was such a simple plan I didn't draw anything. I surmised the sum of all the connected vertical sheets would all add to the structural strength once it was all connected.

Back to the base. Frame the 4 foot base with 2" x3" Douglas Fir only $2.86/stud. Attach each frame piece with 5, 1,5/8" screws on each side. The casters were $3.99 each from Harbor Freight. Two were fixed so it would act like a giant shopping cart. Screw the base of the casters across the frame joints for added strength.

To attach the back of the shelves a 4' stud was screwed to the center of the base with screws from the caster side of the base.

Make sure the fixed casters and swivel casters have the back of the shelves aligned so when the cart pushes the casters are on the front. Like a shopping 🛒.

Depending on ceiling height you may have to trim the uprights first. The sides are 3" longer than the back since they extend to the lower frame of the base.

Before attachment to the base attach another stud to the top of the back. This will add support for the shelves sides.

Now comes the scary part, if you don't have a helper you can screw on a brace or use a ladder to balance the back as you screw it to the crosspiece on the base. Take a deep breath get your drill screws and screw gun ready within easy reach. Balance the back against the ladder and attach the back to the base.

It all feels wobbly but with each component it will get stronger.

To keep the sides flush with the bottom of the cart wedge boards under the edge for the upright sides to rest on as you attach them.

Things are getting taller. Since the back of the shelves is on the front of base crosspiece it will be closer to one edge than the other. Therefore attach the top crosspiece the same distance from the lower edge as the lower crosspiece. On the lower edge use the 1 5/8" screws but on the crosspieces use 3" screws.

Since I am building 4 of these a quick jig for the shelf frames from scraps was worth the time. Using clamps to hold the jig in place you can slip in the rear shelf supports.

(These dimensions can be edited for your needs. But the clearance from the base is 24", next two are 18". This will accommodate totes and buckets with the top shelf ~6' high. The bottom and second platform are ~24" with the top shelf 16".)

Using the jig attach the 3 shelf frames to the back of the shelves with the 1 5/8" screws from the opposite side of the back. I used a level on jig to make everything plumb. While the jig is in place mark the location of the front shelf supports. Don't attach the front supports until you have removed the jigs.

Align the jigs on the rear shelves and use 3" screws to attach the frame screwing all the way through to the shelf supports on the opposite side.

Using 3" screws in the ends of the shelf supports through the shelves sides. Now everything is stronger.

Making the top shelf narrower will make it easier to see what is on the top shelf and will help insure the system isn't top heavy. It won't require a tub soak to figure how to store paddles and other tall items by shortening a shelf and adding crosspieces on the front.

You can even store multiple bicycles on end with hangers on one side.

What would be a shopping cart without a steering wheel. Using a band saw cut out 30" handles out of the studs 1 1/4" thick with 3" of the original stud on each end of the handle. Sand smooth and finish with Tung Oil Finish to prevent splinters. Attach these on the side of the shelves with the fixed wheels at bellybutton height with 6, 1 5/8" screws.

After finishing the shelves the casters from Harbor Freight failed to support the 170# each as advertised. This created a problem the storage units were too tall to turn on their side being too close to the ceiling. The option was to trim the top down 5" with saws. Then jack them up at an angle and replace with new 4" casters rated for 1200#. This took an entire day. Avoid my failure trying to save $4 per caster with the bargain ones. I used the $7 casters from Amazon. Like grandma used to say the cheep skate pays twice. Which in my case was more than double with the extra time to fix the problem.

I changed to 4 casters without the fixed wheels like a shopping cart. I found it difficult to drive with the width of the shelves obstructing your view.

Here is an alternative use for the rolling shelves. I used them to solo sheath the ceiling. I installed a temporary top on one shelf and used wedges to hold it up while attaching it. The video explains it better than my writing.

Final tour of the finished project. The improved heavy duty 4 wheeled casters in action.