All About Prefabricated Metal Shelving

Storing a large number of different things in a limited area is a task that requires the use of shelves in several "floors". If the number of storeys of such a structure is quite significant, a solid structure is predictably required, preferably made of metal. At the same time, it is desirable that we are not talking about a cabinet of a stable size - it is worth choosing furniture that, if necessary, allows you to add additional shelves or remove existing ones. We were not the first to think of this simple truth - such pieces of furniture are used not only in large warehouses, but also in many private garages. This type of furniture is correctly called a prefab metal shelving.

Collapsible racks differ from an ordinary cabinet in that they do not have anything standard and predetermined - the number of shelves and their exact dimensions are determined only by the collector himself. Similar there is no concept of a specific size of the structure - and it, and even the shape, is determined by the parameters of the room used and the vision of who will use the furniture.

In fact, an iron rack at the stage of sale is not even a piece of furniture, but rather a constructor similar to a child's toy... You probably played with this in childhood, when you have a set of parts from which you can assemble ready-made crafts, while fully using your own imagination.

The practicality and convenience of the shelving parts depend on the choice of the buyer - he must understand that even the parts that seem to be the same are not always equal. For example, the manufacturer may deliberately round the corners of the shelves to reduce the likelihood of injury to workers during rapid loading and unloading.

The material can be different, a reliable anti-corrosion coating can be applied to it. The thickness and strength of the metal must be specified in the technical data sheet - from there you can get information about the permissible maximum load. High-quality perforation and correctly selected hardware make it possible to quickly assemble and disassemble the structure, without doubting its one hundred percent reliability.

In recent decades, prefabricated metal racks have experienced a real boom in demand, and this is not surprising - they have a number of advantages that allow them to meet not only industrial or commercial, but also domestic needs. That is why such products are in demand today.

• Elementary assembly. Even if you are not very used to working with your hands, surely every man has experience playing with the simplest construction set - here it will be the same, only on a slightly larger scale. Especially for beginners in this business, manufacturers produce whole sets - for example, 2000x1200x300 mm. In fact, this is already closer to the cabinet for self-assembly, but the consumer, realizing how simple everything is, in the future can easily buy individual parts and add, say, another 900 mm wide section.

• Excellent lifting capacity. Steel structures are predictably the most popular type of shelving unit because of their superior strength. Even with deliberate exposure, the metal is difficult to damage, and by chance it will not work out all the more.In terms of withstanding the load, quick-assembly cells generally beat all records - on average, one shelf can be placed from 90 kg, although this point should be clarified in the product data sheet.

• Affordable cost. Metal is not an expensive material, but it is sold all over the place. It is relatively inexpensive to purchase a set for assembling a rack, and it will cost less than buying a full-fledged cabinet of the same size.

• Security. Metal, unlike wood, which is the most common competing material, does not burn at all, and for warehouse visits, libraries, and so on, this is great news.

• Durability. Metal shelves of all kinds, under normal operating conditions and proper care, are capable of serving the owners for many decades. Actually, leaving is not difficult - all you need to do is protect the structure from direct contact with water or periodically renew the protective layer of polymer dye.

• Aestheticism. If you, having learned about the use of such furniture in warehouses, immediately imagined the most nondescript version of such furniture, we hasten to assure you that no one bothers to choose racks and shelves of brighter colors. Thanks to this, the rack will not only fit into the interior, but will also delight the eye.

Collapsible metal racks have different areas of application and therefore even can be classified by purpose into several classes.

• Warehouse (industrial). So to speak, "heavy artillery" in the world of shelving is the largest and most durable structure designed to withstand a weight of many centners. Their dimensions are truly gigantic - along the entire wall of the room, with shelves up to 1 meter deep. Such structures often reach the ceiling of the warehouse in which they are standing.

• Trade or exhibition. If the above category is just for storage, then these racks assume that their contents can be easily inspected. Such products are often found in shops or the same libraries, at exhibitions and in museums. Their height usually does not exceed 1.5-2 meters - the person looking at their contents should be able to see everything up close, or even pick it up. In many cases, shelves of this design are specially equipped with a lower plinth - a price tag is attached to it. Many specimens are equipped with casters for quick unfolding.

• Archival. In essence, they are similar to exhibition views and are also equipped with wheels. However, all the load that is assigned to them is folders with documents and papers, because the sections here are made relatively small. The design load is also not too high.

• Office. They represent the same archival racks, since they are also focused mainly on storing documents (and sometimes small equipment).

• Household. They are used to organize the storage of any household items in a relatively small area. They can be used to place books, kitchen utensils, tools, and so on. Since it is difficult to determine the weight of the cargo in advance, a priori they must be strong and reliable, as well as roomy, because there is no way to arrange a spacious storage in an apartment or garage. For increased security, they usually suggest the ability to mount to a wall. It is imperative that the racks meet increased aesthetic requirements, since they will become an integral part of the interior of the living space.

Above, we have already partially touched on the topic of classifying prefabricated metal racks, but have not yet considered all the criteria for dividing into classes.So, supporting structures and shelves can also be distinguished by the specific material of manufacture used - there are aluminum, galvanized, chrome-plated and other structures. However, there is an even more extensive classification of the types of such products.

This design is a complex technological equipment that freely moves ordinary racks around the room, leaving the ability to move them and push them apart. This is necessary in order to occupy 90% of the space with shelves in a very limited space, leaving only one passage between the numerous rows. As needed, knowing where exactly the necessary things or goods are stored, the operator closes the unnecessary aisle and opens the rows so as to gain access to the required rack.

Equipment of this type is significantly more expensive than ordinary shelving, but it allows you to radically increase the practicality of the warehouse. In view of this, such systems are intensively used in large storage facilities, be it banks, archives, headquarters or large-scale libraries.

This type of prefabricated shelving is exactly the type of storage furniture that most readers immediately imagined at the beginning of the article. This design is extremely simple and occurs as often as possible. - it consists of the same type of parts, which are interconnected by one of the common types of fasteners using an ordinary wrench.

The selection of the frame, beams, lintels and shelves is carried out by the assembler himself, they do not necessarily correspond to each other perfectly and do not always have to be of the same type, if only they can be put together. Most often, the cells are left open, but you can additionally protect the contents by storing them in boxes or boxes - they are usually plastic, not metal.

If part of the structure is not involved and interferes with movement, it can be dismantled - in this form, it takes up much less space. In addition, it allows you to conveniently transport the "cabinet" from place to place.

The hook-type design is designed specifically to assemble and disassemble metal racks in a warehouse even faster. At first glance, such a set is very similar to an ordinary shelf set, but there is a difference, and it is significant. So, for the assembly, neither any separate fasteners nor a special tool for working with hardware is required, because the parts have special hooks that can be quickly threaded into special holes on other parts. In fact, we are dealing with a tongue-and-groove mechanism that allows assembly in the shortest possible time, literally with bare hands.

This engineering solution allows you to change the configuration of the structure and its dimensions extremely quickly, which is very convenient and allows you to quickly recoup the cost of the product. The absence of bolts does not in any way affect the strength of the rack, which in some cases can be built up to tens of meters in height.

At the same time, there is one most important caveat - the hooks are held in their grooves only due to the force of gravity, their own weight and the absence of shaking. If the rack is put on wheels and will be transported from time to time (and this is usually the case), then the flooring of the warehouse should be perfectly flat, better self-leveling. Otherwise, any unevenness that the structure bumps into at speed can cause the rack to collapse.

In some cases, a potential buyer of shelving realizes in advance that the load on his future property will be much more significant than is usually the case in similar situations. In this case, it makes sense to pay attention to special reinforced racks - these are usually produced only for the needs of large warehouses and large storage facilities. In appearance, it may be a frame of the usual type, however, in terms of quality, it compares favorably with its counterparts - a more durable and reliable metal is used here, additional stiffeners are provided.

At the same time, there are fundamentally different types of reinforced shelving. In addition to the usual frontal and deep systems, which differ only in the depth of the shelves, it is worth highlighting other types. For example, gravity systems, where instead of horizontal shelves, roller tracks with a slight inclination are provided, which, as it were, push the outer boxes towards unloading on the opposite side. Also note cantilever racksspecially designed for storing long items - they are divided into one-sided and two-sided structures.

In the case of many products, an inexperienced consumer, not wanting to go into the details of choosing a product for specific characteristics, prefers to choose a future purchase, relying on the authority of the manufacturer. In many cases, this is not a bad solution, but it usually does not work with prefabricated metal shelving.

There are simply no recognized brands in this industry - products are made mainly by local workshops, which extremely rarely can offer something unusual for an extremely simple design. Large buyers even more often order racks to order for the required size and shape. The business of workshops is focused specifically on this consumer, so you will definitely not find “branded” foreign products.

At the same time, there are several popular models that can theoretically be manufactured at the nearest enterprise at your request. Among such advertised shelves, we will single out MS-152, TSU, "Light-2535", T-12/1, "Astek". They all have different characteristics. Therefore, before making a purchase, you should carefully study the technical data sheet of the kit and think whether its price is justified, taking into account the application that you intend for this product.

Most consumers looking to use prefabricated metal shelving in their home will not pick up parts on their own. As well as they will not want to place an order with the manufacturer with the detailed parameters of the future product - instead, it is much easier for them to choose one of the ready-made sets.

Fortunately, suppliers are ready to work in the interests of small consumers, but the latter must take into account some criteria that will help them not to make a mistake in choosing a particular product.

• Dimensions and shape. A shelving that does not physically fit into the room where it is planned to be installed cannot be considered a good choice. It is quite obvious that in an apartment and even in a spacious house there is much less free space than in a conventional warehouse.

• Number of shelves. A separate point is the capacity of the structure, which strongly depends not only on the size of the cells, but also on the size of the stored items. Obviously, ideally, each cell should be filled almost completely - only in this case we can talk about the efficiency of space use. If flat items are stored on each large shelf, on which nothing can be placed on top, then even the largest rack will not be enough.

• Manufacturing metal. It is quite obvious that different metals have different properties, so it would be wrong to equate all prefabricated metal racks.For example, steel is characterized by increased strength, and aluminum is good because it is very light in itself and does not create additional stress on the floor. It is also very convenient to transport it due to the low weight of the structures.

• Metal coating. Paint, if any, should not be perceived purely as an aesthetic addition - in fact, it, among other things, is also designed to protect metal surfaces from corrosion. If your conditions do not imply contact of the rack with moisture at all, and no special aestheticism is required, you can save enough to take an unpainted structure at all. If you do take painted parts, then make sure that the paint layer is of high quality and durable, because a peeled rack will look ugly and cannot be considered protected from corrosion.

• Color and design. Choosing a rack for a room that is not a warehouse or industrial, the consumer is simply obliged to take into account the stylistic requirements of the interior design. Agree that the simplest and most rude version of the design, without any paint and decorations, will look harsh in an apartment. This will fit only into the loft style, in other cases turning the home into an incomprehensible garage. Realizing the need for the presence of shelving even in residential buildings, manufacturers have long mastered the production of stylish and beautiful products that do not violate the atmosphere of comfort at all.