Replace shelves in metal storage racks, by Rob

Description

In our garage there are three linked metal storage racks, which we once bought at the hardware store and which are still for sale. These are supplied with chipboard (or MDF) shelves (0.9 cm thick, 91.0 cm x 45.0 cm). The rack itself is extremely strong and does not even rust. The shelves, on the other hand, soon after purchase without being overly loaded, sagged enormously in the middle and tended to crumble a bit at the edges. Time to look for a material that does not sag and is resistant to damp areas: Plywood Okoumé Waterproof. We chose 1.8 cm as the thickness because we have had good experiences with this in other applications. Because the hardware store is currently very busy (and the cutting work is not always precise), we ordered on OPMAATZAGEN.nl. The shelves are exactly sized and made of very good quality sheet material (actually too nice for a garage). Result: beautiful, strong and quick upgrade of our storage rack system.
Photo 1 = old and new; photo 2 = chipboard edge; photo 3 = deeply curved shelf; photo 4 = the new custom sheet material; photo 5 = the result

Replacing shelves

Execution was very simple. Since we connected three storage racks together with bolts, washers and nuts, only in the middle section (bolts on both sides) the bolts had to be removed first in order to remove the old shelves and install the new ones. I hesitated for a long time about the type of material to use. The choice ultimately fell on Multiplex Okoumé Watervast. Not the cheapest solution, but certainly in combination with a thickness of 1.8 cm is a sustainable solution given the reuse of the existing rack.

Custom wooden shelves

15 shelves of 0.9 cm thick, 91.0 cm long x 45.0 cm wide