Shelves - Part II

Before I show my ceiling storage areas, I'd thought I would mention my wife claims my garage shop is just a giant mess but I say it is organized clutter.

Since the ceiling is 11' high there was a large area under the garage door, when up, that was wasted. So I built a storage crib 6' by 3 1/2' that is hung 26" below the ceiling. It is positioned over the garage door, when it is opened. There are commercial units like this. There are even some that can be raised and lowered. For a single car garage they would be too wide with the center track for the opener. If one had a double car garage it might be possible to mount two, on either side of the track the lifts the door.

In mounting such a storage unit be sure to:

• Use metal L or strap supports.


• Attach the parts that go into the ceiling with lag screws that go into the ceiling jousts. I used 1/4" by 4" lag screws. Do not use molly bolts.


• All lower attachment should be done with steel bolts as well.


• Finally for the lower edges, especially if you use L metal, file the points as they can give a nasty scratch when you are trying to get something into or out of the storage area.

It's a little difficult getting items up and down from this area. I ship smaller wood items and stained glass all over the country. In ten years I've never purchased a shipping box. Rather all are made from recycled boxes. The best are moving disk packs or wardrobes. The space shown is mostly filled with disk packs and some larger regular moving boxes. Wardrobe size moving boxes cannot fit here, due to the door motor and it's supporting metal braces.


The next photo shows a side view of the unit. On this side there is a wood rod that goes from the far wall to the ceiling unit, near the end on the right in this photo. It can support up to two large rolls of bubble wrap. The photo shows just one. The rod slides back and forth to allow getting the rolls on and off.

The large black plastic bags hold shipping peanuts needed for shipping glass. Like the cardboard boxes, almost all peanuts are recycled. I get them from local stores. I pay the store owner a small amount, about 30% of the cost of new bulk peanuts, pick them up and the store owner gets rid of something they don't need.

The color patterns on the bottom of the ceiling storage unit attest to the pack that 20 years ago it was a 4' by 8' train track board for one of our son's. I really don't throw away much.


This final image shows the other side of the ceiling unit. Here you can see more bags fulled with shipping peanuts. It also shows a small shelf high about the garage side door, just visible at the bottom of the photo with a mounted motion detector for an alarm system.. It holds a supply of 1/4" and 1/2" oak and mahogany wood.