Cold Storage Room shelving

 

My client had a cold storage room that required improved shelving. What was there were simple wall-mounted shelves that couldn't handle the amount of items that were placed on them. They also didn't provide enough storage space for all the stuff they wanted in that room (bulk food, preserves, spare dishes, coolers, large bins etc.). Much of the shelves were simply planks of particle board that was bridging the space between the other bracketed shelves. They needed a whole new system.

Cluttered storage room in need to better shelving

Shelves were attached to the walls with anchors (which cannot hold too much weight) and narrow particle boards that would bend under pressure

I took photos and measurements of the room. This project gave me an opportunity / excuse to buy a new laser range finder, to easily get accurate measurements of the room. When I took the measurements, the room was full of stuff, which limited my ability to get some measurements (which will come back to haunt me later).

This room had several unique features in it. It had a sloped ceiling on one side, which is where the exterior stairs at the front of the house are located. This meant that shelves near that wall could not extent higher than 4 ft. On another wall, there was a section that jutted outward, forming a triangle shape. I still don't understand reason for that feature. Above that triangular space is a fresh-air vent that needed to remain accessible, so that limited the height of any shelving going there.

I brought the measurements of the room into Sketchup Make 2017, and not only drew the floorplan, but also the walls and ceiling. This was important to get a good idea of how the room would look once new shelves were built, and how high they could be while maintaining accessibility. I thought of shelves that would be as deep as possible, to provide as much storage as possible. I looked at other shelving solutions that were used for basements and garages, and while they were functional, they were ugly. The appearance didn't matter for those other projects, but my clients wanted the shelves to look good (as did I!).

As part of the project proposal, I provided the client with a video animation of how the shelves would look, to scale. I created this video with Sketchup using the precise measurements of the storage room.

I decided to build with simple 2x4's and plywood. This would help keep the cost down, and would be simple to build with. The materials were inherently strong, so I wouldn't need to do anything to increase their strength (such as increased bracing, or doubling-up of boards). My only concern for strength was the joints. There were a number of ways I could have joined the 2x4's, but the simplest for me, and the one I am confident in, is pocket hole joints. The combination of pocket hole joints with glue is a strong, simple solution which will hold everything that will be placed on them without any strain. 

My design involved building a high shelf in the area near the door, where the ceiling was highest. I wanted to make use of the vertical space that was available. The next shelf down the line would be limited in the height because of the sloped roof, so 4ft was it's limit. I could have build 2 shelving units and butted them up against each other in the corner, but the result would have looked clumsy, and the access in the corner would have been cumbersome because of on of the corner posts from the shelves. I decided to make a single corner shelf that had no inside post - allowing of easy access all the way into the corner. I drew the plan, and decided on the method to achieve it later!

Next was the medium 4ft shelf that would sit at the back of the room. To the left was the triangular space which I didn't want wasted. I decided to fill that space with a triangular shelf. The last would be the small shelf unit that would sit to the left of the entrance, and would be much shorter. It was planned to be smaller because the light fixture was above it, and it would also make the room feel small and cramped if the shelf were too high in that location.  

Adding objects and a person to my Sketchup sketch, used in my project proposal, helps give the shelves a relatable scale for the client. These objects, including the person, were all available for download from the Sketchup Warehouse website.

One key feature of the shelves was the rabbet that I cut into the front 2x4's, which would allow the plywood to be recessed into it, and have the ugly plywood edge hidden from view. This was important to giving the shelves a cleaner look. It also gave the plywood boards constant support across the front edge. This added more work, but was worth it in the end.

This graphic shows a rabbet (the groove indicated by the arrow) cut into the 2x4, which allows the edge of the plywood board to be hidden from view. I decided this would be a more sturdy option to cover the edge of the plywood vs edge banding.

The project began with the procurement of all the 2x4's. This was a lot of wood to hold in the van all at once, but it was able to take it! The least expensive way to buy the boards was to buy 10ft boards (vs 8ft), and then cut them to desired sizes. I took all the measurements from my Sketchup model, listed all the boards 1 would need, and then put everything into Cutlist Optimizer. This allowed me to determine how I should cut each board, to ensure there was as little waste as possible. This would result in over 100 2x4 pieces, all of which needed to be labelled and stored in my tiny garage workshop. For a while, the work in there was very cramped!

After all the long boards were cut, I started prepping all the parts of the tall 6ft shelf. This started with cutting the rabbets. My table saw and dado blades made easy work of cutting these rabbets. The plywood was 3/4" thick, so that's how deep the dados would need to be. I also wanted the inset to be half of a 2x4 (which is actually 1.5" thick), so my rabbet was 3/4 x 3/4" along the long side of the shelf fronts. 

3/4" dado with the resulting rabbet.

I wanted all visible sides of the plywood to be hidden, so not only did I want that rabbet to keep the plywood recessed on the front, I also wanted the sides recessed, which posed a challenge for the corner posts. I needed to 'contain' the plywood corner within a rabbet, which meant cutting into the end of the corner post with a chisel. It's hard to describe, but the photo below shows the resulting space that was created for the plywood at the corner.

This shows the space that was chiseled-out for the plywood. A chamfered edge can also be seen in this photo, which was added after assembly.

A close-up view of the corner that will hold the plywood, and hide the ugly edge.

This is the short shelf, but you can clearly see how the plywood would rest in the rabbet and the edge of the board would be hidden from view.

Next were the pocket holes. I needed a lot of pocket holes for this shelf. All the horizontal pieces had 4 pocket holes (23 boards x 4 pocket holes each = a long time). After all the pocket holes were drilled, I decided to seal the ends of the 2x4's that would be in a joint, and I did so with wood glue. The ends of boards are very porous, and glue gets sucked up into the pores easily, so when gluing the ends of boards, very little glue will be creating a bond, since much of the glue is absorbed into the end pores. This is solved by sealing the ends of the boards by spreading glue on the ends of the boards 20mins in advance, allowing that initial smear of glue to set into the pores and dry - sealing them. This creates an impervious surface for the real glue joint to adhere to. I did this with every horizontal board for the entire project.

a fraction of the pocket holes I drilled for the horizontal boards

Now that the boards were cut, pre-drilled and sealed, I started assembly. This involved marking out where the joints would be on the vertical support board, and ensuring the joints would be on the same place on the opposite end of the board (to ensure the shelves would be level). The horizontal boards were glued on the ends and screwed to the verticals using the pocket hole screws. I would use a speed square to ensure the boards were joining at a true 90° angle. On some occasions, the board wouldn't be a perfect right angle - in those cases, I would either re-cut the board, taking no more than a blade kerf off the board - or I would accept the slight angle that was created, knowing that I would have to force the board straight when joining on the other vertical board.

The horizontals were attached to one vertical, and then I would attach the opposite vertical, to the horizontals. With the pre-measured alignments already marked, I could line-up the horizontals in the correct place, sometimes with force. Glue was applied then the board screwed. In this way, all of the frame of the shelf was created.

To pull the sides of the frame together, I needed to use some clamps....connected to each other. I have a pipe clamp but it isn't long enough for this span

Fully assembled frame of the 6ft shelf

Essential helper for any workshop

Pocket holes are an excellent way of joining the boards, but they are ugly. The boards at the back had the pocket holes on the wall-side of the board, so they would never be seen after installation. The same for the front boards. The side boards however, there was a possibility for them to be seen, so I needed to plug them. Now, I didn't 'need' to plug them, as this shelf was a utility piece, not a fashion piece, but I still wanted the unit to be attractive, if possible. I bought dowels, cut them to 2 inch pieces and then glued them into the pocket holes that were easily visible. Once the glue dried, I used a flush-cut pull saw to cut the dowels flush to the board. They are invisible once sanded (and eventually painted).

dowel and pocket hole

glued dowel before trimming

dowel after trimming (and the leftover piece)

Once the assembly of the frame was complete, the dowels were cut, I then added a chamfered edge to all the exposed edges to make a nicer appearance, and a smoother corner for comfort. It also is a good idea to remove the sharp corners from a shelf that would likely be used in a rough way (a storage / utility shelf) because sharp edges on the boards are rather fragile and could break. You can see that chamfered edge on the inside edges in the photos above. A router was used to make this chamfer.

The next step was sanding everything. All the glued edges had small amounts of glue that squeezed out during assembly, and these boards were not perfect to begin with (less expensive framing boards were purchased to keep costs down, rather than appearance boards that are perfectly smooth when bought). All edges were sanded with 120 grit on my random orbital sander.

Now that the the frame was complete, I added adjustable feet. This was needed because the floor in the storage room where the shelves were going wasn't perfectly flat. The feet were also an ideal way to keep the wooden posts off the basement floor (in case of spills or minor basement flooding). These feet required a pre-drilled hole in the bottom of the posts, then a threated nut was pounded into the hole. That nut holds the foot into the post.

Home Depot calls this a 'Leveler with Nut'. It's the foot I installed on all the posts.

After the shelf was sanded and had the feet applied, I put the shelf aside and worked on the plywood boards that needed to be cut. The top board was a simple rectangle that would fit nicely into the rabbets. Theoretically, I should have been able to just cut the board based on the Sketchup plans - but things change during construction, so I instead measured the space on the actual shelf and cut the plywood to fit (which was different than the plan by fractions of an inch, but enough to potentially waste a board).

The inner shelves were a different beast. The top shelf sat on top of the corner posts, but the inner shelves didn't. They rested on the horizontal boards only, and needed their corners to be cut off to make space for the posts. So each shelf was measured and cut to fit their individual spot.

I don't have a track saw, which is a great way to cut long plywood boards, and a compact table saw in the space I have in my workshop is not an option. There isn't space for 8ft x 4ft boards to be cut on my table saw. I bought an alternative to a track saw - the Kreg XL Straight Edge. It is an adjustable straight-edge that can self-clamp to the edges of a plywood board, and provide a straight edge to run your circular saw on the board. It even has a gauge that can be used to adjust to your particular saw brand. Even jigsaws can be used with this guide to make straight cuts. All the boards were cut and dry-fit into the shelf. I then sanded the plywood. Then only part of the plywood edge that would be exposed was the back/wall side. I gave that corner an extra sanding, just to take the sharp edge off.

Kreg Straight Edge XL in use with my circular saw. Clamp the board to my workbench, and then the Kreg Straight Edge to the board. A great guide for my saw in a tiny workshop.

The next step was painting. This was a job and a half. There are sooo many corners and hidden edges on this shelf. It made the job tedious - so I asked my wife for help. I decided that the shelving units would be delivered without the shelf boards installed - due to weight. These units were heavy with only the frame, and the boards were heavy also. The storage room was in a tight space of the clients' basement, with stairs and difficult corners. A heavy unit would complicate the delivery. I decided to paint the frame and the plywood boards separate, and then install those boards upon delivery. During the dry-fit, I noticed that some of the shelves were difficult to insert into the frame, because of the corner posts. The solution that involved the least amount of swearing (and potential damage to the shelf) was cutting the shelf in half. The frame had a center board for support under the plywood, so I was able to screw the 2 plywood boards down to it in the middle of the shelf after delivery. This is more apparent in the photos below.

To paint the shelves, we used a combination of brushes for corners and small edges, and small rollers for the broad edges of the 2x4's. A roller was used for the plywood shelf boards also. One coat of primer, and 2 coats of white paint were used. This Behr Premium Cabinet enamel paint is my absolute favourite. I've used it for many jobs and really like the coverage and the durability of the paint. The thick, gloss finish on the paint is really good for the projects I have done.

Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 Primer

My favourite paint for all my shelving projects. Behr Premium Cabinet enamel.

All painted and ready for installation. The plywood boards were removed before transport.

This photo shows the underside of the shelves, with the center support that the plywood can be secured to. This is in addition to screws around the outer edges.

The completed shelf. Note the horizontal board that is not placed on the bottom front. This allows boxes and bins to slide under the shelving unit.

My garage is used for my workshop, and is shared with many other functions - bike storage, firewood, lumber cart, spare fridge, winter tires etc. All of those other items limit the available space for my woodworking. This project involved the building of many large shelves, so I was forced to build and delivery each one individually. This unit was delivered singularly.

Note the space in the wall that this shelf had to fit into. The adjustable feet allowed the shelf to be levelled also.

My normal sized toolbox shown for scale. The walls in this storage room were not straight - note how the shelf is flush to the wall at the ground, but the wall is 1.25inch away from the shelf at the top.

Shelf was filled shortly after installation. It fits that space so well, I suspect it will be there for as long as the house stands.

This 6ft shelf was 1 of 5 shelves that needed to be built. The next, and most complicated shelf was the L-shaped corner shelf. It was built to fit the space between the 6ft shelf, and the lower-ceiling / back wall.

This shelf in the red box appears to be 2 units, but it is only 1. The top ply wood is 2 boards that butt-up to each other.

I could have made my life really simple by installing 2 separate rectangle shelves in this space, but I decided to challenge myself. I planned on having this be a single unit - which would also have no corner post on the inner corner. This would allow the client to make full use of the whole shelf space, even the back corner.

This plan shows how the design omits an inner corner post on the L-shaped shelf. This was achieved with the use of half-lap joints on the front horizontal boards.

The structure was cut and assembled the same as all the others, with the exception of the horizontal boards at the front of the shelf. Those boards actually overlap each other with a half-lap joint. This allows for the board to be fully supported at the opposite end of the shelf, and also be supported by the board that crosses it (which it is glued and screwed to). The result is a hidden joint that provides all the support needed and all the access for the client.

This is one of the boards with a notch cut in the middle. That is where the crossing board will fit into.

The various crossing boards with their half-lap joints.

The front edge of the board is only present on the half of the board that will be seen. The part of the board that is inside the shelf (and under the plywood) cannot have the front lip, so it was removed with a chisel.

This view shows the top of the shelf. The boards cross each other, while leaving a flat surface inside the shelf for the plywood boards to rest and be secured to. Notice how the board reaches the other size of the shelf and is secured there. It actually has 3 points of support.

From the front of the shelf, none of the criss-crossing action can be seen. Just a clean corner without obstructions.

Another view of the joints, from above. You can see all 3 shelves with their half-lap joints.

The same process of routing a chamfered edge, adding feet, and sanding was done to this shelf. The plywood boards were simple rectangles. I could have used a single piece of plywood for the shelf, but it would have resulted in a lot of waste, as there was no use for the inner part of the L-shape after cutting. 

When I assembled the shelf, I did not use glue on the half-lap joints initially. This shelf frame would be delivered in 2 parts, and then assembled in the storage room. The shelf was put together to be painted and to measure and fit the plywood, but then partially disassembled for transport.

The L-shaped corner shelf, dry-fit and painted. Lots of space on the ground to slide large bins and boxes, as needed, and full access to the back corner of the shelves.

This view gives a clear idea of how the boards cross each other and provide full structural support without the inner corner post. The pocket holes on the side are ugly, but will be hidden by the neighbouring shelf.

The shelf is installed. It's hard to tell from this photo, but the shelf is 4ft high. It could not be any higher because of the sloped ceiling.

The shelf fits inline with the first shelf installed, the big 6ft tall unit.

Another view of the L-shaped shelf.

The next shelving units to be built were 2 simple rectangles, one to go next to the L-shaped shelf, and the other is a short 3ft shelf to be placed near the doorway.

A simple 4ft rectangle shelf, made to match the others in style and height. Even before I could get the this 3rd shelf installed, the first 2 were filled!

The last shelf to be made was a triangle. This was actually not as difficult has I thought it would be (particularly considering the L-shaped shelf). The horizontal boards needed to be cut on angles in order to fit against the vertical posts. Then the triangle plywood boards were cut at the correct angles also. The result was a shelf that custom fit an odd space in an equally odd room.

The frame of the triangle shelf. Same rabbets used to hide the edge of the plywood boards.

The triangular plywood boards installed

The corners had to be cut off to account for the vertical corner posts. This was a difficult adjustment to make, but worth it in the end.

Assembled and painted, the shelf looks pretty sharp!

The pocket holes are only visible on the back of the shelf. The plywood edge is also only exposed at the back.

Installed in to the storage room - the shelf fit like a glove. It was difficult for the client to make use of that space before, but now they can use every inch of that space.

Another view of the new corner shelf installed.

A view of the triangle shelf next to the smaller 3ft shelf.

Panoramic view of the whole storage room. All 5 shelves can be seen. So organized! Note - the ceiling is not rounded in reality - the panorama function on my phone warped the ceiling in the photo.

This project was the largest I've ever tackled. It took several months to complete, but I learned a lot. I continue to do work for this client and check on this room occasionally to see the shelves filled and look at how much the client can store in there with so much vertical storage capacity, in an oddly shaped room. I don't believe I've ever seen a corner shelf designed like my L-shaped shelf anywhere else, so that gives me a bit of pride (it may be done elsewhere, but I've never seen it, so I'm claiming it as my own!)