Shelving in a pole barn

I have two long lists of jobs. One list is titled "havtas" and the other is titled "wantas". I have reached a point this year where I can put away the "havta" list for a bit and actually do some things I WANT to do. I would like to get some of my stuff off the sand floor of the barn and up on shelves. Just wondering if there is any particular shelving plan that has worked good for folks here? Seeing as the poles is so far apart and the floor is not solid?

I used industrial pallet racking in my barn. I have about 5 sections in there with 3 shelves on each section that are 3 feet deep. They're so easy to put up and take down and strong enough that you could store engine blocks on them all day long on each shelf. I even bought a couple of extra sections and use them for scaffolding if I need to repair a roof on the house or barns. They're super strong, affordable, and easy to put up and take down in a few minutes.

Don't know how heavy of stuff ? But I have hung several home made and boughten shelves on the purlins.

You need to make the footings level and attach the shelving to the walls/ poles for safety . I recently built shelving for my daughters garge . Made it 24 ' long x 2' deep x 8 ' high ., 3 shelves . Bought 2x4 and 3/8 plywood and scewed it together -- 2x4 posts are 6' spaced , shelving supports are 2' spaced . Now she has everything off the floor in toats, that are all labelled , unlike dad who can't find a thing L.O.L.

Larry --ont.

My pole are probably closer together because I designed the buildings myself for snow load, they are 7 feet. I lag bolted everything to the poles with a facer board on the front to prevent sag. I just wish I would of sheeted the walls first, but I was in a hurry.

Here is a picture of my friends shelves he just put up in his new pole building. He put it in the corner and really is useful. Its nice to be in the corner cause it out of the way. And since it mounted to the poles you still got floor space. He used non treated 4x4s for the frame then used left over boards from a deck project. Its probably sturdier then the whole building! Hahaha

I would recommend you pour a floor underneath the area you want to build your shelves. It will give you a better platform on which to build your shelves; you can set stuff directly on the floor and it's a lot easier to do it now rather than after the shelves are built. Likewise, if you think you will eventually put in insulation and interior walls, do that now so you don't have to tear out the shelves later on.

My preferred shelves are made from 1/2" plywood, ripped in 16 or 24 inch widths. In order to fit between the poles, the shelves are trimmed or notched. Rip a 2x4 in half to make two 2x2 stiffeners. Screw the stiffeners to the bottom of the front and rear edges of the shelves.

Cut some 2x4 scraps into short blocks and attach them to the walls where you want the shelves to go, so the bottom of the rear stiffener will rest on the top of the blocks. If you didn't install interior walls you'll have to attach your blocks to the girts, but if you installed an OSB inner wall you can place the shelves anywhere. Attach the rear stiffener to the wall or girt with screws. The front edge is supported by vertical 2x4s, one on each end of the shelf and and one in the middle. If you don't have a floor to set the vertical 2x4s on, I suppose you can hang them from the roof trusses.

Here's some I put up. The shelves are from Menards, cantilevered, already made up, you just attach them to the wall. I didn't want to put holes in the wall, so I attached the shelves to 2x4's attached to the poles. I just split sheets of particle board for the shelves.

The white steel is the inner wall, there is 2 1/2" of Styrofoam insulation between the inner wall and the outer wall.

Shelves up to 2' wide can be fastened to the poles, totally not needing any floor support. Wider than 2' are hard to reach the back of the shelf.

Good ideas, I appreciate the input! Pictures helped a lot to understand what was going on. I can't get the floor in this year because I am just about done in from all the work I have done to date. Plus the floor needs more fill and time to settle in before concrete. Thanks again!

Here are the shelves I built in the corner of my shed. They were full of parts within a couple of days after being built :lol:

>Shelves up to 2' wide can be fastened to the poles, totally not needing any floor support.

Sure, the shelves don't need any support, but I think he wants to store stuff on them.

The shelf in the back of this barn was installed prior to the cement floor and walls being finished. It is 4' wide and totally attached to the 4x6 posts. It is 2x6 construction and has 2 4x6s angled from the leading edge to the base of the 4x6 wall posts. There is an awful lot of weight up there and it has never sagged.

I use pallet racks, very nice and hold tons of weight. Literally tons.
I also built a loft along the back. I will try to add pictures tonight.

One thing I see you said, your floor needs to settle more before concrete.

I would seriously consider compacting/tamping the floor before you pour, not just let it settle.
Maybe you already are, just figured I would mention it.

(quoted from post at 08:44:20 10/21/15) I used industrial pallet racking in my barn. I have about 5 sections in there with 3 shelves on each section that are 3 feet deep. They're so easy to put up and take down and strong enough that you could store engine blocks on them all day long on each shelf. I even bought a couple of extra sections and use them for scaffolding if I need to repair a roof on the house or barns. They're super strong, affordable, and easy to put up and take down in a few minutes.

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I did the same thing. Pallet racks are very strong, easy to configure the shelves and move if needed. They come in various heights, widths and some are heavier made than others depending on the weight of what you intend to store.