About a year after I started welding, I finally got tired of dealing with 10′ sticks of flat bar, angle, pipe, and square tubing, so I decided to turn this pad I made during my shed build into something useful.
My big limiting factor was that I couldn’t use the wall for anything structural. It is as flimsy as a block wall can be (I can shake it and it moves). I came up with a design that transfers all the load to the slab below. I didn’t get a photo before I added the roof, so here is the design file showing the structural members.
The back support is a standard 2×4. The “foot” is made up of two pieces of 3/4″ plywood sandwiched around the stud, a 2×6 angled support, and a small piece of 2×4. The pieces are all glued and screwed with 1/4″ construction lags from both sides, pinning the pieces together. The top of the foot is the first shelf, and there is enough room under it to store a standard 5 gallon bucket. Here’s a closeup of the foot.
To support the roof, I took 2x6s and cut them to give some slope, and attached them to the tops of every other stud with pocket screws, glue, and steel strapping.
For the other shelves, I welded some .120 wall 1″ square tubing to some 1/8″ x 2″ channel, for a sturdy bracket.
These were screwed to the studs using the same 3″ Spax construction lags I used to assembly the feet. I added a row of standard shelf brackets at top to give me a place for lighter items. The roof is a piece of 1/2″ OSB with the same asphalt roll roofing I used on the shed. There are two sticks of unistrut behind the trim facia for supporting the sliding barn doors.
I added a door to the front-facing side so I could more easily slide out long pieces.
The doors are simple 3/4″ plywood frames with corrugated roofing for panels. They slide using four wheel unistrut trolleys.
This has been a great addition to my shop. The overall structure is 12′ long, 5′ high, and about 18″ deep. It allows me to keep a reasonable amount of material on hand and out of the weather without filling my limited shop space. I’ve had it up now for over eight years and haven’t had to do any real maintenance to it at all.