If you have ever thought about installing steel shelving in your garage or storage shed, then you might be wondering how to go about planning for the shopping and installation. Here is a 10 step guide to help you with your next organization project.

Closet Shelving Units

1 - Choose between open or closed storage. Choose between open shelving where you have open access to all items, and everything can be seen in an instant, versus the cleaner and more organized look of closed shelving with doors.

Closet Shelving Units

2 - Choose between solid shelves or wire shelves. The items that you have to store will be the main determinant between solid shelving or wire shelving. Wire shelving is more cost effective, and also offers better air circulation for your items. Solid shelving is convenient when you have smaller items, or items of different sizes that wouldn't sit flat on wire shelves, or would fall through.

3 - Calculate the width of the shelving area. Measure the overall horizontal space you have available to install storage units.

4 - Calculate the size of the objects to be stored. Measure the height, width and depth of objects that you will need to store, and keep this in mind when choosing shelving dimensions.

5 - Calculate the weight of the objects to be stored. Total the individual weight of objects by the number of units you will be storing per shelf, and multiply again by the number of shelves. Note that a shelving units weight capacity is generally calculated based on even distribution of weight.

6 - Calculate the width of the individual steel shelving units. Typical shelving unit widths are 36", 42" and 48". If you are storing a number of similar items, such as storage boxes, choose a shelving width that is slightly larger than a multiple of the objects width in order to maximize storage efficiency.

7 - Calculate the depth of shelf required. Typical steel shelf depths are 12", 18" and 24". Take into account the orientation of the objects to be stored - it may make sense to go with a narrower unit with deeper shelves if you can rotate your objects to store them lengthwise.

8 - Calculate the weight that each shelf will bear. This is related to step 5, make sure you determine the individual weight requirement of each shelf so you make sure to find a shelving unit with a sufficient weight capacity.

9 - Calculate the height required for your shelving. Vertical space will be determined and limited by a number of factors. You will be limited by the ceiling height in the storage space you are outfitting. Other than that, calculate the height between shelves that your storage items require, and multiply that by the number of shelves required. You may want to round this off to the closest standard height that steel shelving is available in - 75", 87" (most common), and 99".

10 - Calculate the total size and weight capacity. Take all the previous measurements and calculations and total up the number of shelves that you require to store your items, making sure to fit them into the available space. You should now have a good plan for the number, size and quality of units for your steel shelving project.

10 Steps to Plan a Steel Shelving Storage Project

Closet Shelving Units