Build Your Own Garage Storage – This is the fastest and easiest way to build garage shelves. At about $10 a linear foot to build for four shelves, up to 8 feet tall and 2 feet deep, you can add a ton of storage and organization to your home for a great value. Build with just a couple of tools.
Need more storage in your garage, basement or utility room? You know, to fit all those totes and camping gear?
Build Your Own Garage Storage
You’ve found it – our most favorite utility shelf plan – that’s been built thousands of times. This anyone can build with just a couple of basic power tools and 2x4s and some plywood.
Best Diy Garage Shelves (attached To Walls)
So start with your wall. It should be a wall that you can screw into studs or otherwise anchor into the wall. If you don’t have this type of wall, maybe check out these plans.
Mark all the studs in the wall and add a 2×4 in the desired shelf length to the studs in the wall, where you want a shelf.
You can also use 2×4 pieces (for example, use two 2x4s that are 8 feet long instead of one 16 footer) – make sure to attach them to the studs in the wall.
Use 3″ or longer screws (depending on wall construction). Use a level to make sure you hang the 2×4 level with the wall. I highly recommend self-tapping wood screws to make driving screws easier.
How To Build Diy Garage Shelves
TIP: Consider making your shelves 8, 12, 16 or 20 feet long to optimize the use of plywood and wood.
Once you have the first one, you can simply measure from it to hang your remaining shelf boards.
May I suggest you calculate the height of the shelves to fit the totes or what you can store in these shelves?
TIP: You can cut two scrap wood 2x4s and use them as spacers to find the height between the 2×4 boards.
Best Garage Shelving Of 2023
Next, cut the legs of the 2x4s to the height of your top shelf, and screw them to the second 2×4 with 3″ or shorter screws.
You want a leg on each end, and then middle legs depending on your span. The 2x4s can span about 8 feet, so we added a leg for this 16-foot shelving unit.
Now unscrew those screws that attach the second 2×4 to the first ones, and remove the entire front of the shelf.
This is not necessary, as the plywood on top connects the second leg to the first, but it can help the assembly. We cut 2x4s to 3″ less than our plywood shelf pieces, Kreg Jigged pocket holes on one side, and attached to the first shelf boards. If you don’t have a Kreg Jig, get one, but until then, you can drive screws in. at an angle in that first row of 2×4 boards.
Tips, Tricks, & Ideas For Organizing Your Garage
TIP: To optimize the use of plywood, plan your shelving to be 12″, 16″ or 24″ wide. Then you can tear your plywood into four 12″ wide strips, three 16″ wide strips or two 24″ strips with no waste. This means that the 2×4 studs will be 9″, 13″, or 21″ long, respectively.
We placed studs near the middle and ends, and where we knew we would have a plywood seam, avoiding areas that overlapped the legs and are difficult to screw.
TIP: If your floor slopes or is uneven, like most basement and garage floors, you can easily nail it under the legs to level your shelves. We shimmed with metal washers to bring the wood a little off the garage floor, allowing water drainage around the legs, hopefully preventing the bottom of the 2×4 from any rotting (and mitigating the need for use treated wood).
We tore the plywood into 15-3/4″ strips so that it would easily fit inside the shelves and also account for the width of the saw blade, and placed the plywood on top of the shelving. We used plywood 1 /2″ for 16″ wide shelves – maybe go up to 5/8″ or 3/4″ if you are making 24″ wide shelves or have especially heavy loads intended for these shelves.
Diy Storage Shelves With 2x4s And Plywood
TIP: If you don’t have a table saw or a truck to haul full sheets of plywood, just have your home improvement store rip the plywood for you – accuracy is not essential in this project.
So we just screwed all the plywood. I think we used 1-1/4″ screws (we burned whatever we had left in the shop). You don’t need a ton of screws, just hold the two 2×4’s together and the shelving plywood.
So quick and easy, we ended up making three different shelving units – and we’ve built countless versions of this shelving unit.
We love how one of our readers CarolinaL used these plans but added doors to update her garage shelving.
Adding Storage Above The Garage Door
For your convenience, we’ve also put together plans for 8 ft. long x 6 ft. high shelves with three shelves to help you get started.
Plans as shown are for 12 feet long, 6 feet high, 2 feet deep – can be easily modified
Use a level to mark the entire stud, vertically, on the surface of the bucket with a pencil.
Attach 2x4s to the wall where the shelves will be placed with 3″ screws into studs in the wall, two screws per stud in the wall.
How To Build Easy Diy Storage Shelves
Tack the second 2×4 on top of the first in two places, using 3 “screws, avoid the ends and the middle where the legs will be attached in the next step.
Attach the legs at the ends and in the middle with 3″ screws. Use a level to make sure the leg is attached plumb.
Attach 21″ long 2x4s in between the front of the shelving and the back. Use a Kreg Jig if you have one, or screw at an angle to attach. These DIY garage shelves are cheap and easy to make, and give you a lot of storage. in a small footprint! Get these garage shelving plans and start building!
Garage shelving doesn’t have to cost a fortune! These DIY garage shelves are super easy to make yourself, and each set of 4-foot-long shelves will only set you back $30! I have included three different configurations in my woodworking plans, so you can choose the best size and shape for your garage.
Garage Storage Cabinets: Smart Organization Meets Modern Style
You may remember these DIY storage shelves I made for our backyard shed a few years ago. They are the perfect size for those giant plastic bins, and are great for storing camping gear and Christmas decorations.
While this is great for off-season things that we don’t use very often, we don’t want to be out in the yard all the time. So our furnace room off the garage continued to be a dumping ground for all things! When our water heater sprung a leak and soaked everything on the floor, I knew it was time to clear the clutter and build some new garage shelves!
This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. Purchases made through these links may earn you a small commission at no additional cost to you. Please visit my disclosure page for more information.
I customized my garage shelves to fit these smaller, clear boxes for the bottom shelves and these larger ones for the top shelf. Obviously, you can change the dimensions to fit your own space!
Thrifty Diy Garage Organization Projects
There are two 4-foot-long shelving units joined to create corner shelves on one side of the furnace, and a longer 6-foot version along the other wall. I have included both dimensions, plus details on how to make the corner unit and suitcase storage area, in the wood plans.
To make this project as inexpensive as possible, I used 2x4s and OSB instead of plywood. You can’t even buy a set of plastic shelves for the price of these sturdy 2×4 garage shelves! You can use plywood instead and make them fancy with edge banding, but it will cost you $$$!
Don’t forget your safety equipment when working in wood! Here are my recommendations for safety glasses and watch protection. No excuses!
If you don’t have a table saw at home (or don’t have the room to cut huge sheets of OSB like I do!), pick up those pieces cut at the home improvement store instead. This also makes it much easier to transport everything home! For a set of shelves 4 feet long, you will need three strips of OSB.
Custom Garage Storage
The 2x4s are easy to cut with a miter saw or circular saw (you can use a circular saw guide or the Kreg Square Cut to help make straight lines).
48 “pieces. The blade cut away about ⅛” (which is called the kerf), but it’s nothing to worry about in a rough construction like this. No one will notice that your sides are 1/16″ off!
You don’t have to build these garage shelves with pocket holes, but the final product will be much stronger if you do. If you don’t have a pocket hole jig, you can just drill the front and back pieces and into the end grain of the shorter pieces with 3″ screws.
Drill two pocket holes in both ends of each of the shorter pieces. The thickness of the edge should be
Budget Friendly Diy Garage Organization Ideas
Build your own garage gym, build your own garage door, build your own garage shelving, build your own garage, build your own car garage, build your own garage kit, build your own metal garage, build your own garage cabinets, build your own garage cost, build your own overhead garage storage, build your own garage workbench, build your own shelves garage