Hey everyone! Last week I decided to clean out my garage. It had started getting a bit out of control and wasn’t making projects very easy to complete. It was time to finally clean things up, so it spent a day cleaning and organizing things. One of the things getting out of control was my lumber pile. I’m a bit of a hoarder when it comes to lumber scraps. If it’s longer than 12″, I always figure I can find a use for it somewhere. 
Here’s what our messy garage looked like before I started cleaning up. Part of the stuff crowding the space was from a concrete project my husband had been working on. But you can see my messy lumber pile. I could never find anything in it and most of the time it was pretty unstable, so pieces of wood would always fall on my feet, which didn’t exactly feel all that great.
I found these plans recently from Rogue Engineer and it seemed like a perfect solution for my lumber problem. When I saw the plans, I loved that I could organize the wood by size, but it was also mobile, which meant I could move it anywhere I wanted. You can find the full printable plans and cut list here.
I cut all of my wood and drilled my pocket holes before getting started. The plans didn’t call for pocket holes on the rungs of the rack, but I decided I wanted to go that route vs. wood screws through the side rails. Either way you choose will work just fine.
I began by assembling each of the ladders with 2 1/2″ pocket screws. Since this is a lumber rack, I wasn’t really too worried about the pocket holes showing. It doesn’t have to be pretty:)
For the bottom of the lumber rack, I assembled it with 2 1/2″ pocket screws and then attached the casters. I found mine at Harbor Freight for about $3.99 apiece.
I clamped the ladder pieces to the base and attached it with 2 1/2″ pocket screws.
I built the top shelf with pocket screws and then attached it to the top of the rack with 2 1/2″ wood screws. This picture only shows one screw in each rail, but I added more after I took pictures.
I loved being able to load up my lumber rack and organize my wood by size. And it’s really easy to move it around the garage. I realized after loading up the top shelf that I have a lot of shorter cutoff pieces and I’m probably just going to build a rolling crate to hold those smaller pieces. If you want to build one of these yourself, be sure to stop by Rogue Engineer for the printable plans.
Looks great!! I also want to get some old tires for planters from an earlier post.
This is so awesome Katie! I need one of these! It was so great to meet you at SNAP!
Mindi recently posted…Leather Belt Crate
Thanks Mindi! And it was so great to meet you, too!
LOVE this and need this in my garage. ASAP. My collection of scrap wood is out of control and it would be so nice to have it all organized and portable. Great job!
Thanks Stacy! It definitely is one of those simple projects that makes life so much better! I love being able to sort my scrap wood and move it around:)
A good idea! I am also a wood hoarder .I will build myself one right away.
Great idea. I’ll give it a try to make something similar in the next couple of weeks/months.
Thanks for sharing.
This is exactly the solution i need, most other racks are vertical or fixed in place.
I’m thinking about making the base slightly larger but keeping the tower the same size. Then i would screw a couple 2×4 scraps to the overhanging part of the base. I think I could lean plywood against the tower.
Thanks for the guide
Yes, this is exactly why I love it. I have commitment issues when it comes to my shop, and I don’t want anything permanently fixed in place. I have leaned up to 1/2 sheets of 3/4″ plywood against mine and full sheets of 1/4″ plywood against it.
I was looking for the wheeled cat condo (a family of semi-feral cats took over my garage and like to climb to higher places, including my car, leaving paw prints on my windshield and hood). I’m stealing your lumber rack plan/idea for the cats’ movable condo. Thank you.
That sounds like a great idea to modify this design!