Plywood shelf disaster at my buddy's garage taught me a lesson

I was helping my friend Mike build heavy duty shelves in his garage last month using 3/4 inch plywood. We followed some online plans and didn't support the middle spans enough. After loading them with about 200 pounds of tools and bins, the whole middle section bowed and cracked within two days. How do you guys figure out span limits for plywood shelves without making them super thick?

3 comments

3 Comments

olivia_white931d ago

oh man, that exact thing happened to me with some garage shelving last year. i used 3/4 inch plywood over a 4 foot span and loaded it with paint cans and old car parts. by week two it was sagging so bad i had to empty everything out and brace it with a 2x4 in the middle. now i just use 2x4s as the frame and cut the plywood to fit on top like a deck. never trust those online plans that say "just use plywood" without telling you the span limits. learned the hard way too.

barbara_jenkins661d ago

That plywood sag brought back memories of my old workbench collapse. Not the same but close. @olivia_white93 you probably saved your garage floor a good dent by catching that sag early.

simonk986h ago

ngl i used to be all about just slapping plywood on anything and calling it a day. but after seeing how fast that stuff bends under real weight i had to change my mind. now i'm team "overbuild it or don't build it" cause that sag is no joke.