WOOHOO! Good weather = time to build

[Gary S]

I think the biggest advantage to painting the underside of the shelves is that paint will seal the wood to keep the humidity from causing warping or distortion.

That's true Russ. With the old layout in the garage exposed to the humidity and temp changes, I never had a single issue with warping or bending. The track stayed in gauge with no kinks too. The good results came from four things I think:

1. I used a table saw to rip 3/4 inch good quality plywood into strips that I used for the benchwork instead of the normal dimensional lumber.

2. I painted all the wood.

3. I used contact cement to attach the 2" thick faom to the top of the benchwork. I'm sure the foam helped stabalize everything.

4. The shelves were "free floating" on the shelf brackets, meaning they were not attached to the walls. This allowed a bit of room for expansion and contraction.

I'm planning on doing all of the above for the new layout too, even though it is in the new building which seals out the elements and is climate controlled.