Plywood Thickness For Garage Shelves

Plywood is a necessity in many diy and construction projects but not every type of plywood works for every project.

Plywood thickness for garage shelves.

Standard sheets of plywood come in 1 4 inch 3 8 inch 1 2 inch 5 8 inch and 3 4 inch thicknesses. Plywood also has another big advantage. You can build your own garage shelves from scrap 2 x 4s and plywood ones that will hold all of your tool cases. This type of shelf is based on the engineering principles of a torsion box.

Plywood for shelves should be 3 4 inch thick or thicker. If you plan to run plywood up a wall and attach brackets and shelves to it then 3 4 for sure and be certain it is well anchored to the wall. It also results in extra dimensional stability plywood doesn t swell or crack like solid sawed lumber. The type of plywood you choose will depend on economics how much exposure to the elements the wood will get and whether looks are important to you.

There are a few plywood grading systems out there but most of them follow an a d classification with a being the best. I also used inch thick plywood for the shelving surface with the smoother side of the plywood facing up. Plywood panels over 3 4 inch in thickness are usually special order products. 3 4 feet long is probably the maximum length for normal household storage shelves.

My shelves were about 21 inches deep so i was able to get two 8 foot long pieces out of each sheet. Another way to add thickness to a shelf without using expensive thick lumber is to make a hollow shelf 1 to 1 1 2 in. Even then the height is not the issue it s the lenth of the shelf and the weight of the material you plan to store. Lowes will rip cut the 8 4 ft sheets of plywood for you to save you some time.

I m building a bunch of shelving in our garage using stud mounted metal tracks brackets with plywood shelves. I d like to get 4 foot spans with 20 24 depths but i want the shelves to be sturdy enough to carry 200 300lb loads evenly distributed. The thickness is my favorite part they look like they cost a lot of time and or money even though that isn t the case. Thick from thin plywood and strips of solid wood fig.

This guide will explain the different uses of plywood as well as popular plywood sheet sizes and its rating and grade system so that you can choose the best plywood for your project. Plywood is also classified as exterior exposure 1 exposure 2 and interior. The many types of plywood can differ in materials number of layers rating and grade. Garage storage and shelving solutions are abundant but the prices can be shocking.

Also side note this tutorial is for floating shelves that are attached to the wall on three sides. Thinner sheets of plywood can be glued together laminated to make a thicker panel for cutting sturdier shelves. This cross banded construction gives plywood great strength in all directions. Use it to carry very heavy loads.