Let me answer the first question you have. Customization. THAT's why you should build shelves as opposed to buying them from Ikea, Home Depot or any other store.
By building shelves yourself you can make sure to use every inch of space that you have and even build your shelves around the boxes you know you're going to be storing on them. No wasted space, no fits when you find out your massive stock pot is ½ " taller than your biggest shelf.
Now that we have that out of the way, I'll give you an idea of the sort of thing I was dealing with when I built my basement shelves. My basement is a nightmare. A place where demons dance. It's creepy and old and built out of rubble.
My basement is 175 years old and is home to an equally aged band of centipedes.
What is has going for it, is it's dry, fairly large and seems to be ghost free.
My basement is a bit of an odd shape with a weird cement ledge all the way around it. This made installing store bought shelves kind of useless. It's hard to describe, but by putting up high shelves, I'd be losing space behind them. Many, many square feet of space.
So. I never put up shelves.
Instead I dumped stuff upon stuff upon stuff. I'd find old shelves at garage sales or on the street and throw them down in the basement hoping they'd help solve my storage problems. They did not. They did not help at all.
When I had my basement sprayed with foam insulation this summer, I had to move every single thing down there into the middle of the basement so they guys could have room to work spraying around the outside walls of the basement. It was such a huge job I figured while I had everything moved I might as well think about building actual shelves.
It took $100 and 1 day.
That's right. All you need to do is basically build a series of rudimentary ladders. I've drawn the plans up so it involves the minimum amount of cutting on your part as possible.
This project is simple enough that someone with a basic knowledge of tools and building can make them in a day.
To do this you will need a few tools though.
The wood you use to build your shelves will depend on the height of your ceilings and the size of your wall. But if you follow the general plan I've given you in the picture above you can adapt them to build shelves to your heart's content.
The only thing you have to remember is to install one "ladder" for every 3-4 feet. This will give your shelves the proper support they'll need and prevent them from sagging. Also make sure to buy ⅝ths plywood and nothing thinner. Thinner will sag over time.
The 2x4 s will be the tall supports of your ladder shelves.
The 2x2 s will be what the plywood shelves rest on. (You can use almost any wood for this. I used a bunch of 1x4 s I had hanging around for instance)
The plywood will be your actual shelves. The more shelves you plan to have, the more sheets of plywood you'll need.
These plans will make a shelving unit that's 6' long, 6-8' high and 2' deep.
Your tall supports will be attached to the floor joists at the top (floor joists are actually in the ceiling) and into the concrete floor at the bottom.
To attach into concrete you need to use special screws called Tapcons. Tapcon is actually a brand name like Kleenex. When you buy a box of Tapcons they usually come with the drill bit you need for pre-drilling the concrete so you don't need to guess at what size of bit to use. It's all ready to go.
That by the way is part of the reason I say it's best to have 2 drills if you can. Even if you have to borrow one.
One drill for the pre-drilling of holes ... and one drill for setting the screws.
Otherwise you're constantly wasting time having to change back and forth between bits.
To attach the wood to other wood, you just need to use 4" wood screws. I had leftover decking screws, so that's what I used. I used up a lot of crap doing this project actually.
For extra, added security you can run a length of wood across your wall. If it's cement, attach the wood with Tapcons.
This will give you something extra, along with the ceiling and floor to attach the tall supports to.
Again, for this I used an extra length of 1 x 4 I had laying around.
So you'll be securing your supports in 3 places.
#1 ... the floor joists in the ceiling
#2 ... the floor
#3 ... the wall
You can either build your entire ladders first, including the shelf supports and attach them to the ceiling, floor and wall,
or
You can build your ladders with one shelf support a few inches up from the bottom, and one at the very top, attach them to the ceiling, floor and wall and then attach the rest of the shelf supports once the ladders are up and secured. Doing it this way is useful if you want your shelves to be at custom heights for big boxes and such.
Just measure you biggest box, then measure up from your lowest shelf support. Cut your plywood shelf to fit, and then do the same with the next box and shelf support.
As you can see, I did a variety of shelf heights to accommodate the variety of boxes and things I had to store. This way I wasn't wasting any space at ALL.
When I first started to take the after pictures of my basement for you it wasn't looking so hot. So, I styled my shelves and got them looking pretty by putting stuff in baskets and boxes.
I recommend you do the same. I love going into this basement now, not only because of how organized it is, but because it looks half decent. Take your garbage bags out of their ugly cardboard box and put them in a nice basket. Ditto for storing potatoes or anything else.
I never would have done this if I wasn't taking pictures and I'm so glad I did.
So that's my word of advice for the day. If you redo your basement, do it like someone's going to come in and take pictures of it. It'll make you happy every single time you go down into that hell hole.
One section of my shelving unit is devoted to Halloween and random house accessories that aren't in rotation at the moment. Those 2 shelves look really messy and ugly so I covered them up by tacking up a burlap coffee bag I scored from my local health food store. You could do any kind of drape or a length of plain cotton fabric. Just tack it in place and lift it when you need to get into that area. It just helps to get rid of some visual clutter.
Bags and bags of heirloom garlic courtesy of my super-fantstic neighbour Jane who picked it up for me when she was on vacation this summer.
Just waiting to be planted in late October.
Getting organized allowed me to make use of a few things that were just thrown into the original messy basement.
Things like my kitty cat clock were pulled out and hung up.
By the way. You haven't lived until you've gone to Costco and bought the jumbo packages of paper towels and toilet paper because you actually have somewhere to PUT them.
I feel like a princess.
Once I got the hang of it I was putting shelves everywhere I could fit them.
This one isn't exactly pretty, but drilling into boulders is a LOT harder than you would think.
This area is a work in progress ... I'll be showing you how to build a handy little basement table in this very spot in the near future.
And now onto the other side of the basement.
The workshop area.
The one shelving unit I saved from all the pieces of crap I'd collected from the side of the road over the years was this one metal shelf.
It's very narrow and has a lot of shelf space.
Perfect for my canned goods, extra paint cans and craft supplies.
I actually have an entire shelf dedicated to my moss collection.
Yes. Seriously.
It's only been a week or so since I finished the basement and I've already used it for projects I could never use it for before because I just didn't have the room.
Plus everything was all over the place and disorganized and I was always knocking something over ... bleh.
Now? It'll make reupholstering this little footstool a breeze.
You can't see it but I have a small television hooked up in the corner and also installed a phone line.
Tools? Got em. Whadda need? 'Cause I know exactly where it is.
It's right there. On the wall.
Unless it's a drill or something larger, in which case it's in the cupboards below.
Yup.
I searched all over for jars to put my assorted deck screws in but decided I liked them in their paper bags, so I just rolled down the edges and hung the bags.
Nowhere to put the antique fishing creel? No problem.
Hang it on the wall and fill it with ribbon and bows.
Definitely one of my favourite things.
The ribbons are all on a dowel so they spin. I can just pull out the length I need and cut it.
I realize this may not look like the makeover of the century but I've already gained back the time it took me to rebuild this basement. I've saved 17 hours in the past week just by knowing where my duct tape is.
The best part of all of this is I found my old saddle. I love that saddle.
Now that I have so much time on my hands, maybe one day I'll go for a ride if I can manage to strap it on one of the centipedes.
Hi mates, how is everything, and what you desire to say regarding this paragraph, inn my view its in fact remarkable for me.
THANK YOU KAREN!
I'm looking at old posts trying to catch up.
I've really wanted to build shelves in my basement since buying my house a year ago. We downsized considerably, and there's no where to put anything. So all the crap is jumbled with my tools and I can't find anything!! I wasn't confident or even sure about how to do this. And, the fact I have no shelves has been driving me nuts for the whole year!
I wanted hubby to help me, but that won't happen. I feel I can totally do this myself.
Thank you as always, you are the best virtual friend a girl could have!!
Ha! You're welcome Tracey. My basement is a disaster again but at least I know it'll look good once I clean it up, lol. These shelves have really held up and worked out great! ~ karen
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Beautiful shelves you should caution your readers about building shelves in this fashion in areas of the country where floating wall framing is required in basements. By framing the shelves all the way from the floor to the ceiling in that fashion you could cause your home to be ripped from its foundation, or other structural damage when the basement floor rises due to expansive soils.
I n those areas of the country you should really leave a gap between the bottom of the selves and the floor, essentially hang them from the ceiling.
I'm just wondering what kind of looks I will get when I go in to home depot and ask them where to find a box of tapcons. I'm thinking they will tell me to go to Walgreens down the street thinking I said something else. Those stores never think an old lady might want to build something or that she might even know what she is doing. lol
Great tutorial! One more tip: you can make the shelves considerably "stiffer" by nailing and gluing 1"x2" trim pieces onto the front edge (and the back too if you want) of the plywood shelves. Then you can put heavier loads on them without them bending. (It makes the shelf act like it's 2" thick instead of 3/4"). Also makes the shelves prettier!
Thanks Eric! That reminds me that my basement is back to the disaster it was pre-shelves, LOL. Must do something about that. ~ karen
AWESOME...very clear directions. Thanks
You're welcome! I love my shelves! They make a HUGE difference in terms of cleaning up any basement or garage. ~ karen!
Karen, you make starting my day that much better! You have so many comments that I just said, HECK, and will offer a tip even if it was already buried somewhere above---If you put an outline around every tool, etc. on your peg board(you know, like a who-dunnit body outline) you will always know where to put that tool back should you use more than 2--now go make something else look like fun while doing it!
I have similar shelving in my basement and it works great. I also have a full wood workshop (I'm a hobbyist) and what I did to keep my nails and screws organized was to use the Ball jelly jars. The lids were attached to the underside of my shelves over the workbench, I can see easily what item is in the glass jar and with just a quick twist I have what I need!
Eric - I have a similar thing in my workshop area, but it's baby food jars on a spinning wheel. Problem is, you can't put very long nails or screws in those little jars! I'll try the ball jars. ~ karen
Great instructions. I followed them exact and had an awesome result. One suggestion, instead of screwing diagnally in the floor, I suggest "L" brackets. It's hard to drive that screw at an angle. Also, this is all much easier with a hammer drill. Dont forget to vacuum out the holes before trying to screw in. A 7/32 bit works better then the 3/16ths that comes with the 1/4 " Tapcons. Lube that screw up before you drive it too, it helps. Ok, so its more like 4 suggestions. Anyway, thanks much.
Dang! Did I hear some one say--LEG? Cause I LOST mine--and I am pretty sure it is in Karens basement!!!
Seriously--I have not been in MY basement since I lost my actual leg. The stairs were never built right and are way too steep and out of whack for me. So--I am pretty sure there ARE things living down there--and I am not just talking about my adult kid who has a room down there!
The thing is fully "finished" as in--there are TWO actual bedrooms--ya know with closets and paint n all--and a full bath. But the REST of it---I am POSITIVE you could not get a knife blade inbetween the amount of STUFF I fear is down there. And since once upon a time I USED that pace for an online business--now ALL of the stuff for THAT has to live up HERE where there really are no places suited to these kind of ingenious shelves. Sigh. So like you I have amassed a "collection" of odd shelves.
So of course then I need to organize THEM. Since I like you am unable to pass by some orphan thing on the side of the road.
And I am not going to show YOUR chickie coop to our soon to be future chickens--my coop is one built by my father in law 30 years ago--moved it here when he passed--had chickens, then it had our pet goat, when she passed my gimlet eye lit on it and said--Hmmmm---can't have a chicken house with NO CHICKENS! And the dog run attached to it to prevent the Escape Goat from getting loose and being killed by a bear--another story but it happened to our pet sheep--well--that WILL make a perfect chicken run. Right?
Maybe I can con MY fella--who actually works at a home center and USED to be in contracting--to build some of these. And the Shelf Fairy can come along and sort n fill!!!! Right? Right? RIGHT!!!!! No tellin' WHAT might be found down there--but I DO know on good authority that there is at least ONE faux leg in a tote down there!
Instead of putting your screws in the rolled paper bags use the little craft ziplock style bags from the craft stores. They come in all sizes, are super cheap. and allow you to hang multiple bags on each hook so you can sort different sizes of each type screw, hook, etc. together. And you can easily see and identify what you need, thy can't spill. and stay clean!
Hubby just made me shelves in our furnace room! Not as nice as yours (shhhhhhhhhhhhhh don't tell him I said so) but they hold 18 large buckets - yahooooooooo! I wanted to refer him to this post, but he's a "I'm a guy and can figure it out myself" kind of guy. So I'm just coming back to compare!! lol Plus going through the photos again, I realized how much I like your work bench - reminds me of my grandpa's workbench that he had!! Thanks for sharin these awesome posts!!
Okay!! get that saddle off the concrete! You can build one of those nice saddle holders or you could go to Quick Feeds and buy one and plus, you will lose your mind at Quick Feeds, coolest farm supply store ever!!
Debbie - Lol. I go to QuickFeeds at least once a month. Chickens! Remember? ~ k
This is great inspiration! Thank you for doing your basement up in a functional and feasible way! My 80 year old basement needs a similar re-organization!
I see the penguin as well. I love your shelving. Hope all your Christmas stuff are in nice shelves too. These are also great depth for suitcases. I have a lot of suitcases filled with cloth and a lot of Christmas decorations.
After growing up with a father who liked nothing better than tinkering, building, sanding, sawing, painting, staining, and drilling in his home made, 'perfect for him' work area in our basement; AND as he was somewhat of a neatnik to boot, this absolutely brings a tear to my eye. It's positively loverly.
*sniff*
p.s. where'd you put the leg? :)
kelliblue - The leg is on hanging in the joists above the Halloween shelf. :) ~ k
Is that a welder i see in the background? Please tell me you have a welding craft/project that you could post because i've always wanted to learn!
HI Eric ... that is a welder you see. I'll work on coming up with a welding project for ya. ~ karen!
Awesome! i feel so honored, love this blog!
To karenagain:
Old freezer equal mouse proof/ moisture proof storage. Keep it, esp if its cute.
Now you have time to build a saddle tree and get that saddle up off the floor. And I say that with love (for old saddles).
You have inspired me with this post - and thanks for the sketches, I do so much better with visuals.
Do I see a stuffed penguin?