Completed 41 qt Sterilite Rack

[Russ Lawson]

Finished a 10 level 41 qt Sterilite rack I've been building last night, and moved a few of my bigger girls in. I'm fairly pleased with it, but there are things I could have done better which I will correct next time I build a rack. Anyway, I'll give a little walk through on how I put it together, and how much it cost me to build.

I've seen a lot of people build them long, which is cheaper, and makes for more of a display, but I chose to build mine deep, so I could fit more along the wall in my snake room as I continue to expand my collection. For the extra $50 or however much it may have cost, I think it was worth it to do it this way.

I bought pretty much everything except the thermostat and heat tape at Home Depot. Cuts there are now free, so that saved me a little bit of money over what I was expecting. I did end up spending more than I have listed here because when I purchased the heat tape and connectors, I was planning on doing belly heat on each level, but decided against it since it would be extremely time-consuming, and back heat works fine on my other racks. I figured I could save a lot of time and materials if I stuck with it this way, and I'm not displeased. Anyway, I'll break down the costs now.

Construction Materials:
5/8" x 4' x 8' melamine particle board: 4 x $33 = $132
50' (2 x 25') iron on siding: 2 x $11 = $22
1 sheet white Laminate panel board (for the back): $13
Construction Subtotal: $167
(2" drywall screws and foil tape are also needed, but I had both in my garage)

Plastic Bins:
Sterilite 41 qt bins: 10 x $8 = $80

Electrical:
Ranco Thermostat & power cord (incl. shipping): $71
5' FlexWatt & connectors (incl. shipping): $34
Power strip: $4
Electrical Subtotal: $109

Grand Total: $356

The melamine was cut to the following sizes:

2 - 35" x 72" (sides)
11 - 17" x 35" (levels)
1 - 3" x 17" (kick plate)

The panel board for the back was cut to 18 1/4" x 72".

Here are the cut pieces of melamine:


As far as construction goes, it was fairly simple. I marked a grid on the sides for drilling holes with a chalk line, and drilled holes accordingly. (Make sure to triple check your measurements before drilling. I only double checked this time, and I still managed to get it wrong, which was extremely frustrating, and cost me a couple hours).



After that, I got holes started on one side of each of the levels by lining them up with the sides and drilling through the holes that I already put there (This actually made it quite a bit easier when putting the rack together because I was able to stick small nails in the holes to hold up each level while connecting the other side).





And pretty much from that point on was assembly. I screwed the whole thing together by hand because I didn't want to risk messing up the holes with the drill. I put the kick plate in the bottom first (and used another piece I had cut the same size as the kick plate so I could line up the bottom level right and make sure it was square). The assembly of the bottom level took the longest, but after that it went fairly quickly...



...Until I noticed that my levels started to be a bit off with respect to the bin I was using. The first level I noticed this on was about 1/8" too high, then the next about 1/4" too high, and so on. So I took those couple of levels out, and instead used the bin and a clipboard as a spacer to get each level where I wanted it. (Next time I'll probably only pre-drill the bottom level, and just use the bin and a spacer to get a measurement, and drill the rest as I go to avoid this sort of screw-up again). The top level lined up perfectly, go figure. I later filled in the screw-up holes with caulk, which slightly masked them.

Using a bin to check and see that each level is the right height.


My blatantly obvious screw-up...


The next step was to connect the ends to the heat tape, and use the foil tape to secure that properly on to the back (only one side was laminated, so I faced that side forward). I was able to use 5' (which is actually a bit more than 5') of 11" FlexWatt for this rack. After that, I drilled the holes in the back and screwed it on (I used 1 1/4" screws I also had in my garage). Then I wired the thermostat, and made sure that was working properly, plugged the heat tape into it, and drilled a hole in the back on the 5th level down for the probe. Cleaned everything up, ironed the melamine edging on, put the bins in each level, and had myself a completed adult rack!

And here's the finished product:

Look, the holes are magically gone!


My 3 biggest girls moved in to their new homes (there's only about a 1/4" gap at the most above any bin).


I'll probably see if I can find white screw covers to sort of hide the screws on the sides.






For my first rack construction, I think I could have done worse. Thanks for looking!

[jben]

Really nice write-up. i also built my own, feels good.

[Russ Lawson]

Thanks! Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'll continue to build more as I need them instead of buying them any more. I get a nice feeling of accomplishment when I get projects like this done. Plus it's nice to be able to build them to my specifications.

[Ralphieeeee]

Nice rack I'm hoping to start building mine soon, but none of the Home Depot's around my area carry the 5/8" melamine I'm going to see if I can special order it this week.

[PyroPython]

Not to mention building your own means no waiting for delivery! And you can customize to suit your needs.

[Russ Lawson]

Nice rack I'm hoping to start building mine soon, but none of the Home Depot's around my area carry the 5/8" melamine I'm going to see if I can special order it this week.

That's odd, mine didn't have any of the 3/4" melamine, which is what I'd seen most other people working with; not that this bothered me since the 5/8" is just as sturdy, and in the end weighs less. Good luck finding some!

[jben]

i used 3/4", it's a little heavy : )

[saber2th]

That sure came out nice! That will be my next one that I build!

[Herp_Herp_hooray]

Good Job, we went for deep also!!!

[DrLew]

Honestly? I think that little shelf area at the top is pretty handy!
Rack looks great!