** My Garage Shelves Just Got Smarter (and WAY Cooler) **

hello Internet this video is all about my smart shelves 2.0 now this video is part of the dream garage playlist on Scott's garage where I've been transforming an unfinished 40-year-old garage into a finished garage and for what is for me as a project person a dream garage and these smart shelves 2.0 are a big part of it now the first smart shells that I built were 3 years ago in my garage in Texas and in that video on that project it blew up my channel it's still my number one video over a half million views and I'll put a a link up here if you want to watch the the original video on that now what makes Smart shelves 2.0 and the original set of smart shelves smart are three things first of all this the location it's it's hung in an area in the garage that normally is not utilized for storage between the rail for the garage door and the wall so there's there's plenty of stories why not utilize that space that otherwise is not used secondly these shelves hang securely from the ceiling and that means that the the floor is all open and and I prefer that uh if I'm working on a project and and I have to blow dust out or whatever I like the the floor clean and access to the floor if I want to epoxy the floor likewise it it's easy to do that I don't have to contend with the shelves now what really makes this set of smart shelves and the original one smart is that there's space behind the shelves a lot of space you can store 4 by8 sheets of anything and and that's really convenient now in this video I'm going to give you seven reasons why these smart shelves 2.0 are smarter than the original and then I'll go into great detail on how I I made smart shell 2.0 in case you want to build some for yourself now the first reason that these smart shelves 2.0 are better and smarter is that the overall project costs less I was able to build these shelves for less than $100 and I know with the original smart shelves it was around $125 $130 now the second reason the 2.0 shelves are better is that they're Stronger by far and that's because of the material I used on these in the original smart shell I used 5/8 in MDF board now in on these shelves I used 23 302s 7 panel plywood which is almost 3/4 of an inch thick which makes these much stronger now the third reason that the smart shs 2.0 are better is that even though they're stronger they're lighter weight and that's because MDF board weighs a ton the plywood was lighter even though it was thicker and stronger and and secondly I scale back the depth of most of the shelves the original smart shelves the Shelf depth was about 72 inches now for for these I made most of the shelves 6 in I did leave the bottom shelf 7 in because that's the the right depth for a can of paint but it lightened up the shelves considerably now the fourth reason that the smart shelves 2.0 are better is simply the overall placement my original smart shelves I built 3 in from the outside wall and for garage repair people who watch the video they just said that's a horrible idea way too close to the outside wall and for for newer garage doors the spring is right there and there's a lot of criticism and rightly so so for these shelves there's a good 3 and 1/2 ft between the shelves and the outside wall so that makes these shelves better now the fifth reason that the Smart Styles 2.0 are smarter is that I I made these shelves to be detachable it's kind of hard for you to see it right now but there are couplers up here and if you watch the rest of the video I'll show you the detail of how I did that but if ever I wanted to take the shelves down If Ever I wanted to move them to a different garage I can easily do that and that makes these shelves smarter now the sixth reason that the smart shelves 2.0 are smarter than than the originals has to do with the outlets in my Texas garage I hung those shelves way too close to an outlet it was hard to get to it and I made sure that I did not repeat the mistake for this one now the seventh and final reason that the smart shs 2.0 are smarter than my original ones is that I gave more space behind them there's a full 8 in of space back here I've already tried it but I can even store my ladders now behind the smart shelves that makes these better now let's get into the detail of how I built these shelves I about all the supplies at Home Depot could not believe it $54 for what is basically a 3/4 in piece of plywood 7 ply I had them cut it I don't have a pickup truck yet so I had them take 2 ft off the end and then the remaining part they cut into thirds now if you want to look for the threaded Rod 10ft threaded Rod you look at the electrical section of Home Depot or Lowe's okay I I took those cut pieces from Home Depot and basically RI them down on my table saw to 6 in for the most part there was one board that I cut to 7 in because I knew the bottom shelf would be 7 not six okay I marked the threaded Rod to 76 in which should give me about an inch and a half to spare at the bottom of the shelves I put my metal blade on my compound miter saw had my safety goggles on let's make a cut as you can see I made nice straight cuts using the compound miter saw and the metal blade having said that every Rod has metal Burrs on it where where I made the cut and no matter how hard I would try I could not get a nut on there now I've worked with threaded rods now for years and I've always wrestled with this you know what's the best solution for this and what I used to do is is put the nut on first then make the cut and then back thin a nut off and and and that does work however I've come up with a foolproof solution to this problem okay here's a solution I come up with it's called an external camper tool and I'll put an Amazon affiliate link below for your convenience and if you use my link it's it cost you the same on Amazon but eventually a small portion of the sale will be sent to me now it's a camper tool it's meant to attach to your drill and as you can tell it is cone shaped it has carbide steel blades on on the on the inside and it will it will knock the burs down and it'll put a nice camper Edge on your threaded Rod you can also use this if you cut off a bolt and you know you want to easily thread the nut on so let me show you how it's done now the thread of Rod is going to want to spin as you're using this tool I sometimes put it into a vie that's probably the better way to go uh today I'm going to use some some leather leather gloves here and try to get a firm firm grip on this voila so my smart shs here in Montana similar to the ones in Texas are going to be hung on the west wall and between the rail for the the garage door and and the wall uh between these two outlets uh this time though I'm going to have plenty of room on this side about really about 3 and 1/2 ft there and if you saw my video on on hanging the OSB on the ceiling you know that I put in place already some prehung bolts and and couplers you can see them up there they are uh each pair is is four feet from the other and like like on the left side up here that's it's about 5 inches apart I want to explain that to you there's a couple different ways of attaching the the thread of the rod uh this is the option that I chose now let me explain it first of all in explaining it the OSB on the ceiling is attached to uh some Rafters that that run this way they are 16 in apart and I simply screwed the the OSB on them I have a separate video on that now before I did that I cut some 2x4s very similar to this one so you can see that I I drilled two holes in this 2x4 38 in drill bit and these are 6 in apart centered on the 2x4 and what I did is I used bolts exactly like these these are 5 1/2 in in length same thread count as the threaded Rod over here I put a washer on top and simply push the the bolts down next I added these couplers screw them in halfway I Carri the 2x4 up in the attic again the ceiling had not been attached yet and simply put the 2x4 on top of the rafters uh and plac them in the position exactly where I wanted them to be attached with with some screws the 2x4 to the rafters and then basically when I built the ceiling and and used the OSB I worked around the bolts and the couplers now my reason for doing that was that I knew it was going to take several months before I would build the smart shelves I didn't want the threaded rods hanging down it would just look bad uh the the other way to go and and I've done this is simply do the same thing you put your 2x4 on top in in in the attic and and then from the bottom side you run your full threaded Rod drill a hole through your ceiling you know put it through there you have to put a washer in a nut and then thread lock and then basically have the full threaded Rod um hanging down having said that this is the method that I prefer and the the beautiful thing about it is that this basically acts as a disconnect and if you ever wanted to take the shelves down this would be a much easier way to disconnect them okay this box I call a cubby it's a cubby space and I made it out of extra osbs there's nothing fancy about it whatsoever uh I did paint it and what I'm going to do is suspend this on a ladder Center to where I'm putting the shelves and then I'm going to use the threaded rod with some nuts already screwed in to the right location from the bottom and I'll basically thread in the rods and then I'll tighten them and then I'll be attaching this cubby box to the wall and to the ceiling and then the smart shelves will will hang below them okay you can see the cubby in place the cubby box I had no problem lifting it up the thread of rods are holding it in there securely in addition though I sunk several screws through the cubby through the OSB into the 2x4s behind the OSB and it is firmly in place it's time now to build the rest of the smart shelves okay so I've marked 14 in from there to here and then the width of the board I've done it all the way along the panel here the shelves will be 14 in apart and I I've set this on my compound miter saw the depth and so it goes not quite halfway through and I'm just going to use the compound minor saw basically to to cut down and I'll do that with with all the grooves for the [Music] shelves now on to the second side okay don't be distracted by the tennis ball that's uh from the ceiling that's for pulling my daughter's car in U what I'm going to do now is I have a/ quar inch thick piece of plywood that is exactly 4 feet by 6 feet it it's square and I'm going to use that to make sure that the the sides of the smart shelves are perfectly square and so what I'll be doing is using these little screws uh from the bottom from under here and uh the sides that I can get to and and then I'll I'll slide it over and you know likewise just making sure it's square and then I'll start building the shelves so I decided that a small pilot hole would be better uh before putting the pan screws in so here I'm putting the shelves in and once I get all the shelves in place I will be putting a pilot hole pre-drilling if you will um two holes for each side on each shelf and then putting in an inch and a half wood screw cinching it up [Music] [Music] now I've already painted most of the cut plywood I just have a few pieces left here and the paint that I use in my garage is the valbar cabinet furniture paint it's oil enriched so if you're using a brush or a roller um any brush stroke will eventually just even itself out you won't even see the brush strokes this is a satin finish and the color for this garage it seem to match the colors is is called Soft Panther and I'm just going to finish just a couple more pieces here and most of the painting will be done I want to show you some of the detail of the bottom shelf so the first thing to notice is the bottom shelf is is wider it's actually 7 in where the other shelves are 6 in I'll explain the rationale of this here in a few minutes uh but the bottom shelf is is 7 in and the sides are only 6 in and and so I I rounded it just so there's not an Abrupt Edge right here um I I also created what is called a a rabbit joint basically a Groove that that's cut and it's just halfway uh through the plywood and the reason for that was that I I cut the/ Quin ply would at exactly well it's 4T wide and then 6t and I should have allowed another inch on both sides and and I I forgot to do that so it's it's flush right here and I don't want there to be a gap as you look in to see a gap so I I cut again the the rabbit here and it just fits in nicely like like so let me give you a closeup of that there we go so again nice uh nice nicely fitting I have some touchup paint here towards the end I'll be touching up all that and then from this front angle top angle uh there there's no Gap there again it it U it overlaps a little bit and it's nice and clean and this is the the top shelf it's only 6 in wide but likewise in order for there there not to be a gap uh with the the plywood in the back uh just a little rabbit joint right there and that took care of the problem you can see here I flipped the shelves over and I marked on the quarter inch plywood the the center of each of the shelves going across and what I'm doing here is I'm using my nailer and adding inch and a half brad nails all over the place through the quarter inch plywood into the thicker 3/4 in Plywood And I can't emphasize this enough this is really important these little Brads add add tremendous sheer strength to the overall shelves it will help prevent the the shelves from sagging and it just adds tremendous strength okay what I'm doing here is attaching two studs they're 2x3x 52 in I pre-drilled them and the thread of rods go through the holes there's a washer and a nut and and and basically these two studs will support the all the shelves and then the nuts will cinch the smart shelves to the Cubby which is attached to the ceiling in the wall that's some help and easily lifting them up into place and what I'm doing here is using a ratchet simply tightening the nuts and it puts a lot of pressure then onto the cubby nice and firmly attached well here they are my smart shelves 2.0 hey if you got any value at all from this video from this project please reward Me by right now giving me a thumbs up it costs you nothing but is of Great Value to me and we'll see you in the next video and that's going to be to insulate and to beautify these old garage doors see you next time

Channel: Scott's Garage

Views: 208,222

Keywords: garage storage ideas, garage organization tips, how to build shelves for small garage, garage organization ideas, garage shelves, garage shelves diy, threaded rod, smart storage, assembly, best garage shelves, creating storage space small garage, smarter garage shelves, elevated shelves, hanging from rafters, hanging from ceiling, garage storage, garage storage shelf ideas, using threaded rod, hanging shelves, Plans for shelves, space saving ideas, declutter your garage

Id: Zbag0X4wugU

Length: 21min 26sec (1286 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 29 2024