Storage unit for shed, advice needed please.

[Greek Enigma]

ok im new 'as you know' joined yesterday and have never worked with wood in my life,except for last week when i built a cabinet, now im trying to build some kind of storage for my mums metal shed
can i do this to make the wood longer??? or will it be 2 flimsy
as i need it to take good weight,thats why i have the shelves on ledges or whatever their called (i just cut lil bits of the wood for this )
P.S all made with taken apart pallets :lol:

 

[Tarkin]

Well, I'm sure the more experienced members of the forum will be along soon offering you a hundred options :lol: , but in the meantime...

In the meantime, my gut reaction would be yes - but not advisable. You can joining two lengths together, but doing it as a butt joint with a metal plate may not be the best way. If you add a finger or dovetail to it, it would be much stronger IMO. But then again, I'm far from the most experienced woodworker...so I shall look on with interest to see what others say! Thoughts?

 

[Greek Enigma]

Well, I'm sure the more experienced members of the forum will be along soon offering you a hundred options :lol: , but in the meantime...

In the meantime, my gut reaction would be yes - but not advisable. You can joining two lengths together, but doing it as a butt joint with a metal plate may not be the best way. If you add a finger or dovetail to it, it would be much stronger IMO. But then again, I'm far from the most experienced woodworker...so I shall look on with interest to see what others say! Thoughts?

i dnt have that stuff
im useing pallets some nails i kept and screws
ill do it see how it goes and show you
but thanks ma8 and its not a metal plate just a cutoff of wood

 

[9fingers]

That should work OK but like any such shelf unit (with or without joints) is that it can 'rack' or the side go out of vertical and then the shelves collapse.

You can stop this by fitting a strip of wood across a diagonal at the back, screwing through into each shelf. It does not have to be thick as the stress is along the length of the wood.

The secret of structural rigidity is the formation of triangles either overtly as above or by fitting a sheet back.
Even a sheet of hardboard on the back of a set of bookshelves adds huge rigidity. Another example is the skin of an aircraft. Very light but very strong.

Bob

 

[Carlow52]

Can you give us some idea of the span of the shelves and how they will be fixed to the side of the shed.

The key thing missing is a cross brace to stop it from swaying.

The ideal cross brace is a full sheet of thin ply pinned to the back all the way around.
I suspect you may not have that so try doing the X brace with timber.
The other idea is why not make the units 32 high with a top and bottom shelf nailed down and up to the uprights rather than sitting on a ledge and stack them, okay there will be a double shelf where they sit but easier to deal with and makes the X bracing easier as its only for each set at a time.

Fix them to side of shed anyway

 

[Greek Enigma]

Can you give us some idea of the span of the shelves and how they will be fixed to the side of the shed.

The key thing missing is a cross brace to stop it from swaying.

The ideal cross brace is a full sheet of thin ply pinned to the back all the way around.
I suspect you may not have that so try doing the X brace with timber.
The other idea is why not make the units 32 high with a top and bottom shelf nailed down and up to the uprights rather than sitting on a ledge and stack them, okay there will be a double shelf where they sit but easier to deal with and makes the X bracing easier as its only for each set at a time.

Fix them to side of shed anyway

he other idea is why not make the units 32 high with a top and bottom shelf nailed down (thats what i was going to do)
but i cant as ummmmm
ok ill just do it tomorrow my way and show it,ummmm also im not bothered about the look its just for the shed

 

[Greek Enigma]

That should work OK but like any such shelf unit (with or without joints) is that it can 'rack' or the side go out of vertical and then the shelves collapse.

You can stop this by fitting a strip of wood across a diagonal at the back, screwing through into each shelf. It does not have to be thick as the stress is along the length of the wood.

The secret of structural rigidity is the formation of triangles either overtly as above or by fitting a sheet back.
Even a sheet of hardboard on the back of a set of bookshelves adds huge rigidity. Another example is the skin of an aircraft. Very light but very strong.

Bob

i know what your on about ma8 (kinda), i did a x thing ages ago on a old wardrobe and has holded up like 5 years since then,
even though i hardly work with wood im very practical minded and usually succeed in what i do, built a motorbike from scratch once (just stating i usually figure a way to do things (ill do woodwork itll just proberly look dung lol and the members on here are like pros i know)