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Like many residence woodshops in North America, mine is about up in a two-car storage. Just like different suburban houses, our storage has two metal columns within the center, supporting the bedrooms above. These load-bearing spherical metal posts, widespread in ranch-style and plenty of different one-family homes, are sometimes present in garages, basements, and unfinished areas. Full of concrete to reinforce their rigidity, these columns are strictly off-limits for drilling or invasive mounting. Nonetheless, with the precise clamping strategy, they’ll function steady helps for buildings like my hanging shelf system with out compromising their structural integrity.
With restricted wall house, I wanted further storage, so I considered suspending a shelf between these two metal posts. The thought was to construct a protracted, double-sided shelf broad sufficient for instruments and provides that will make the most of solely the present metal columns for help, with out extra carpentry.
To safe this setup, I designed cross-beam brackets that hug every column. Every bracket consists of a protracted and brief 2×4 section joined to type a cross-like construction. The shorter section is lower with a vault-like notch, padded with a thick rubber liner, to securely match across the column. I drilled by these beam items after which bolted every unit to its counterpart on the alternative facet of the put up. When the bolts had been tightened, the cross-beam bracket gripped the put up firmly, making a steady load-bearing construction.
After repeating this on the second put up, I connected 2x4s between the 2 cross-beam items and laid plywood on high to finish the shelf.
Under is a sketch of our storage structure, exhibiting the 2 metal posts dividing the 2 bays.
Here’s a top-view sketch of my cross-beam system: one lengthy 2×4 is glued to a shorter 2×4, with a vaulted part lower into the shorter piece, lined with ⅛-inch rubber. Discover the precise high illustration exhibiting the connection between the cross-beams and the longer 2x4s that help the shelf load. 
In my subsequent put up, I’ll present how the work progressed and share how this new storage resolution helps open up my workspace. I hope this idea evokes you to create comparable storage between the posts in your storage or basement.
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