Using shelves as a permanent ladder?

April 3, 2012 12:12 PM

Funky closets & the need to climb: do you know of any shelving that can be also used as a ladder, but which is NOT "ladder shelves" (that is, not the kind that lean against the wall at an angle)?

For various tricky reasons, it would be beneficial if I could outfit a closet with shelving that could also be used as a ladder by an adult male (say, up to 250-300lb applied at the lip of the shelf, in case I happen to be carrying something heavy while climbing).

In other words, the shelves would be used as normal shelves, but able to withstand someone using them as a ladder from time to time.

For the sake of argument, let's assume the closet is 5ft by 5ft by 12ft tall; it would be better if everything were vertical (inclined shelving would eliminate the space to stand).

Thoughts? The surrounding walls are drywall, but I can bolt into the studs. I can also bolt uprights into the floor and potentially elements of the ceiling.

Ever used Elfa this way? I'm concerned about having the struts rip through the channels. Should I go with industrial racks? Build something myself? Err, I should probably also point out that I do not care about the strict building-code legality of this, but I do care about not falling to my doom.

posted by aramaic to Home & Garden (11 answers total)

I think your best bet is an industrial wire-type rack that can be bolted to the floor and wall. I know that I climb my shelves at work on a regular basis.

Try to put heavy things on the bottom shelf for additional stability.
posted by Night_owl at 12:20 PM on April 3, 2012

I love Elfa, it will not support a human. I think you want free standing industrial shelves that are bolted to the studs.
posted by saradarlin at 12:27 PM on April 3, 2012

Oh, and watch the weight ratings as you will need a very high limit since you want to put 300 lbs in a 3" by 3" area (pad of foot). So a whole shelf that supports 1000 lbs may not be enough.
posted by saradarlin at 12:29 PM on April 3, 2012

Lee Valley sells several types of heavy duty lumber storage shelves. You may want to use at least 3 standards.

That said, it the shelving is perfectly vertical, it's going to be hard to keep your hands gripped unless you install some kind of lip, which is going to make it harder to get stuff on/off the shelves. To be honest, this sounds like an accident waiting to happen.
posted by bonobothegreat at 12:33 PM on April 3, 2012

The problem you're going to run into with this is that 5' is a pretty wide span, so that a material and size that would easily support your weight in an 18" ladder would fail almost immediately when you stepped onto the middle of a 5' section. If you built a narrow ladder like structure into one side of the structure you'd be able to get away without using 4x4's or such as your structural members but it would be more like attaching a ladder to your shelves than shelves that were also a ladder.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 1:16 PM on April 3, 2012

What about a ship's ladder type thing? You can build it at a slight angle - meaning the lowest shelves have the most depth. That design also has the benefit of splitting the 5' span.
posted by PorcineWithMe at 2:20 PM on April 3, 2012

Response by poster: it would be more like attaching a ladder to your shelves

Suddenly this seems like perhaps the best plan barring the sudden appearance of low-cost high-capacity industrial wire shelving.

Build shelves, then attach a ladder in one corner. Each structurally-independent but visually connected so load on the ladder is not transmitted to the shelves and moving anything on the shelves doesn't affect the ladder.

Curse these funky lofted crawlspaces! So much space, so tough to use!

Thanks everyone!
posted by aramaic at 2:26 PM on April 3, 2012

Probably too pricey, but maybe you could use one of these library sliding ladder kits. Google shows some places listing the components seperately, so maybe you could rig something up with gas pipe fittings and urethane fixed castors.
posted by bonobothegreat at 3:10 PM on April 3, 2012

Alternately, I would look at plans for wooden stairs—I could see there being a good plan out there that would also work as shelves if modified a bit.
posted by limeonaire at 6:08 PM on April 3, 2012

Totally vertical ladders are surprisingly awkward to climb, even if they have good rungs you can get a good grip on and even if you're not carrying anything. 10° of rake makes a hell of a difference.
posted by flabdablet at 7:31 PM on April 3, 2012

I used 2x4 lumber to build a shelf across my closets. I put it in low enough to clear hanging clothes, high enough to provide decent storage underneath. It provides a very strong step up to the high shelves in the closet. Paint them to dress them up, but it is a closet after all. Super cheap too. You may need a center support if the closet is wider than 4 feet, or set the lumber on the 2" end to add rigidity.
posted by recurve at 3:22 PM on April 5, 2012