Industrial shelves for a building can be very hard to find. It is because the industry where those shelves come from do not actually call them “shelves”. What the material handling industry calls those units is pallet rack. It is called a pallet rack because that is primarily what it holds. It holds the pallets that manufacturers send their products on to businesses around the world. Therefore, the official name of these industrial shelving units is pallet rack. It also explains why you have a hard time finding the product anywhere. It is because search engines think of shelves as consumer units and pallet rack as industrial shelving. You may have some bleed over if you get far enough into those search results but it does not happen within the first few results. It can make searching for the shelves you need for your business very frustrating.
You may be wondering if you should just use the versions that you see online or in the store at major retailers. The truth is that the designation of industrial-strength may not be as industrial as you need. Even the strongest of these units hold around 800 pounds. It sounds like a lot to a person who does not do a lot of ordering or buying on an industrial level or business level. However, the acquisition of these shelves may cause you to have to buy multiples of them over time. They are not set up for the use case that you need them to be able to handle. A standard pallet rack can handle 2500 pounds per level. Keep in mind this is just a level of the pallet rack. If you contrast that to the 800 pounds that a whole shelf can hold, as far as a consumer version is concerned, then you can see how these units are not good for business use.
“Therefore, the wood gets weaker over time. Any person who is near the rack when it finally gives out is in trouble. Especially if it has 2500 pounds or more on it when it happens. You may as well save yourself some time headaches and possible litigation by getting a steel or metal base rack instead.”
You may also ask yourself if you can save a few dollars by getting a wood-based version of these products. The answer would be that it might not be a great idea. It is because wood is not as strong as its metal counterparts. The 2500 pounds per level you would get by using a pallet rack is going to be less because of the material type change. It is possible that someone could manufacture something that would give up to that level but it would probably be very bulky and a lot larger than a metal-based pallet rack. You also have to keep in mind that wood tends to react to water. Pressure treatments do help but, as talked about in other articles on the site, the University of Massachusetts stated that treated wood is good against bacteria, fungus, and other types of things like that but actually does not protect against water.
Pressure-treated decks:
It is why you see pressure-treated decks being thrown out after a few years instead of lasting the 40 years that the pressure treatment says that it can offer. The wood actually soaks in the water and loses that water over time. It is that fact which causes the expansion and retraction of the wood. Therefore, the wood gets weaker over time. Any person who is near the rack when it finally gives out is in trouble. Especially if it has 2500 pounds or more on it when it happens. You may as well save yourself some time headaches and possible litigation by getting a steel or metal base rack instead.
Does your building need industrial shelving units? Get your pallet racks here. Call at 503-640-5666 if you need any help figuring out what racks you need for your business.
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