Sheet Good Storage

[Wizzer]

How are people storing their sheet goods? My shop size is half of a two car garage. I've seen people store pieces vertically, but I find they warp over time. I currently have a couple of saw horses setup and I off load the sheets from the truck on to them. Although it provides room underneath to store things (garbage), if I have different thicknesses of plywood I inevitably need the piece that's at the bottom of the stack.

The only solution I can think of is to build a 4x8 assembly/cutting table that I can slide the sheet goods into. I would utilize two or three slots for different materials. It would be a simple 2x4 construction with a plywood or MDF top. I haven't seen anyone else do this, which has me a bit worried. Here is a SketchUp of what I'm thinking about. Not shown in the drawing, but the unit would have wheels. This would entail lowering the total height by 3".

[attachimg=1]

The only drawback that I can see is the room the assembly/cutting/sheet good storage table would take up. Does anyone else have any better ideas? Does anyone see any problems with my simple design?

 

[thedude306]

I have the same challenges as you.  I am in 1/2 a two car garage and struggle storing sheet goods.  I like your idea but see a few issue.  It's going to have to be larger then 4x8.  The rack is going to have to hold a 4x8 sheet.  That's starting to be a BIG permanent fixture in the shop.  Not something I would want to consume that much floor space. 

I ended up going vertical against a wall and have horizontal storage above it.  I know this might not work for you, but do better planning and don't let sheet goods sit for long periods and you won't have the warping issues.  I've really cut down my sheet storage. (and it works for me)

 

[semenza]

      I am lucky enough to have space for a good size lumber rack. I built it with both vertical and horizontal sheet goods spaces. I prefer the horizontal , especially for full sheets.

      if you go the bench / assembly table route it might not be too bad on space since you will have a large work bench as part of the deal. As the dude said, it needs to be larger than 4' x 8', and make sure it will accommodate  oversize sheets too just in case you end up with some.

    If you go vertical, maybe a sloped support made with 2" x 4", and faced with a full sheet would help keep them flat.

Seth
   

 

[Wizzer]

My design has 49" for the interior width. I think this would accommodate most sheets, but I will verify if I proceed. I find getting the sheet goods is a pain so I like to get a lot at once. By building this I will have a decent size cutting/assembly table which would help a lot. Worst case, it's just 2x4 and screws that I can take apart if I don't like it.

Wizzer

 

[semenza]

My design has 49" for the interior width. I think this would accommodate most sheets, but I will verify if I proceed. I find getting the sheet goods is a pain so I like to get a lot at once. By building this I will have a decent size cutting/assembly table which would help a lot. Worst case, it's just 2x4 and screws that I can take apart if I don't like it.

Wizzer

49" will be the width of most oversize sheets (97" length) so go a bit more so they will slide without getting jammed against the sides.

Seth

 

[TealaG]

I agree that 49" really isn't enough to comfortably get the sheets in and out.  Also consider that you will need between 4' and 8' of space in front of the table to get the sheet out.  Maybe the plan was to move the car? 

I think these are the reasons most of the sheet good storage solutions are vertical.  My car isn't large enough to carry home a 4'x8' sheet and I can't lift the thing or cut it.  So I always have them cut a few pieces for me so that I can haul the smaller pieces home.  I've now found a lumber yard closer to home so I think I can do better "just in time" purchasing. 

When I built my workbench over the holidays, I had planned on a vertical sheet goods storage 60"x30"x10" because  99% of my sheets are smaller than that (that's the largest that fits in the car).  I had to ditch it because of design issues.  I'm reconsidering building it but not attaching it to the workbench and just rolling it somewhere in the garage.  I had a section of my workbench for storing pieces up to 11" wide x 60" long - off cuts of plywood, moulding,  etc.  My "fix" to the design issue was to use more of a "wall construction" method and then put a "skin" on it.  My original plan was to use masonite for the "skin" since it's cheap and thin.  I ran out of $$$ so I just used 1/2" plywood leftover from the first disaster.  It was straighter and stronger than just a piece of plywood.

 

[Klemm]

take a close look at one approach I took that has worked extremely well for combined storage and assembly duty and easily knocks down for portability or storage beween large projects.

 

[benwheeler]

take a close look at one approach I took that has worked extremely well for combined storage and assembly duty and easily knocks down for portability or storage beween large projects.

Great idea - that pallet racking is relatively inexpensive. I might have to steal that design at some point!

 

[ear3]

I have same size shop and same problem.  I just slide them in against the back wall, and to economize space I added some small scrap/lumber storage racks over the top about five feet off the ground, so I could fit the occasional 5x5 Baltic Birch ply sheet if needed.  Also where the MFT gets stored:

View attachment 1

 

[Steve-Rice]

It's been my experience that sheet goods will warp in either horizontal or vertical positions (take a look at the top sheet of ply in any Home Depot).  The trick is to keep humidity levels the same on both sides of the panel.  When one side of the panel is exposed and the other side is up against another panel, you have unequal exposure and risk warping.  A simple solution which works with either horizontal or vertical storage is to have a sacrificial piece of 1/8" or 1/4" material on both sides of your inventory (top and bottom or front and back) and then clamping the ends together - that will keep everything nice and flat.

 

[Billy stray]

I have a decent sized shop, 24 x 30 with 10ft cielings, and I store my sheets vertically also, if the space is really full I can put a wedge to keep them standing straight , if not I can clamp it like Steve suggeted...
Personally I would never wanna give up that kind of realestate  (spellcheck just wouldn't help me out with that one)

 

[thedude306]

the clamping is a good idea.  I also find having them off the floor makes a difference on that edge as well.  Here's mine just cuz

It's pretty simple,  Sheets on the bottom, horizontal on top.  It's a useless space for me so it works out pretty well.  It doesn't matter how I stack the sheets, I always need the one at the back.  You can't tell in the picture but there is a stand off on the floor that keeps the stock up and prevents it kicking out into the room.

IMG_3287 by Brad Taylor, on Flickr

 

[Peter_C]

Sorry to hijack!

NEVER MIND, I found the pictures I needed on the flickr account. Thanks!

thedude306, is there a few pics (In a thread maybe?) of your underneath dust collection for your table saw? I am trying to find options for my dust thrower.

 

[JimD]

I don't have the clearance in my current shop but in my last one I had about a foot over the garage door.  I built a rack where I could store wood and put sheet goods on one side and long boards on the other.  It was a hassle putting stuff up there and getting it down but it was a good use of space.