How to Build Mobile Shelf Storage for Garage Totes

How to Make Mobile Garage Tote Storage

2/14/2024

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In this video, we are going to show you how we utilized some parts from previous projects, wood from the scrap pile and a few purchased materials to create a mobile storage unit.

Steph has a growing collection of outdoor gear for hiking, camping, and kayaking. She had been using a variety of totes and an old plastic shelving unit to store these things in the garage.

This old stuff was not working so she designed a unit that would hold all her stuff and would be movable.

Materials/Tools:

(3) 2x4-104 5/8” (Home Depot)
(12) 2x4 fence bracket (Home Depot)
Simpson Strong-Tie #8 x 1-1/4 in. #2 Phillips, Wafer-Head Wood Screw (Home Depot)
Sterilite 160 Qt. Wheeled Storage Box (Home Depot)
Everbilt 5 in. Red Polyurethane and Steel Swivel Plate Caster with Locking Brake and 330 lbs. Load Rating (Home Depot)
Kreg Multi-Mark Tool (Amazon)
Makita XDT18ZB 18V LXT Lithium-Ion Sub-Compact Brushless Cordless Impact Driver, Tool Only (Amazon)
Xena Steel-toe Boots (Xena Workwear)

For the tote storage unit we purchased three 2x4s from the home depot.

This is a "use what we have" project, but we did purchase three 2x4s for the projects.

We used Simpson Strong-Tie FB24Z fence brackets,.

We also picked up these 88 cents fence brackets that we will use to hold the 2x4s in place. By the way, I (Vicki) have to take credit for suggesting we check out Simpson Strong-Tie to see what kind of brackets we could use to aide in putting the unit together.

We are reusing this LEGO pallet table we made back in 2015. It had a nice run in the LEGO room, but was relegated to the garage when we overhauled the LEGO room where it languished without a real purpose!

We are upcycling a variety of materials to build the garage tote storage unit.

We sourced a variety of partial sheets goods from our scrap pile. There's plywood, MDF, and melamine. Quite the mishmash of materials!

Look for a pallet with the HT, heat treated mark.

We are reusing a pallet, but if we were looking for a new one, we would be on the lookout for one with the HT mark on it. HT for heat treated which is safer than the ones without this designation.

For really dirty pallets, you can pressure wash it like we did to this one.

Start the pallet storage base by adding heaving duty locking casters like these from Everbilt.

We added heavy duty locking casters to the bottom of the pallet.

Cutting the 2x4s on the Milwaukee miter saw for the garage tote storage unit.

We cut the 2x4 to a length to accommodate the size totes we are using. All the measurements for the storage unit are based on the size of our pallet and the dimensions of the totes we are using.

Putting the Simpson Strong-Tie fence brackets into place.

We turned the totes we are using upside down as they are wider at top than the bottom, to be sure we got our spacing for the brackets correct.

Adding the 2x4s to the Simpson Strong-Tie fence brackets.

After screwing the brackets in place, we added the first level of 2x4s and screwed them into the brackets.

How to make a mult-level rolling garage tote storage unit.

Next we added the middle shelf and secured the brackets into place.

Here are the three levels of garage tote storage.

Our hodgepodge of building materials. If making this from new materials, we would use 3/4 inch plywood.

Here's a look at the finished garage tote movable storage unit.

Finished! The totes are filled up and in place. That's an inflatable stand-up paddle board/kayak in the fourth space.

We got these oversize rolling totes at the Home Depot.

Use locking casters on your garage shelves.

The locking casters keep the unit in place.

Here's a look at the completed rolling garage tote storage.

These casters have been in use since 2015 and are still in great condition. Get the good casters!

The project is new, but has so much history! The pallet base we used was built to be a LEGO table that my then five-year-old grandson wanted back in 2015. The paint on the pallet base of this project is original to the LEGO table which he helped paint! He's a teenager now but still loves LEGO! (Well, so does Steph).

We were able to use up a lot of scraps in the project which was nice. It would have been easier with new materials, but what's the challenge in that?

Be sure to check out the original LEGO table build.

Please note: This is not a sponsored post.

We are not professionals, and we don't claim to be. This is what we found worked for our project. Yours may need a little different approach. Safety first!

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