How to build vertical storage for timber, pipe, duct, or any off-cut lengths

Keeping a building site tidy and safe, whilst reducing waste, is a challenge this post aims to help address. It describes a quick and simple construction for building a mobile store for timber lengths, pipe etc.

This mobile store has the advantage of reducing waste and increasing productivity by keeping useful offcut material ready to hand, and is particularly suitable where space is at a premium, as it has a small footprint and can be wheeled out of the way to keep the site clear for work to progress.



This example is deliberately rough & ready, such as might be done for a temporary store on a building site using whatever scrap materials are available. e.g a keen labourer could make one to help tidy up, but may need some further guidance as these instructions assume some basic skills and knowledge.

Step 1: determine what is the range of length of timber to store. The maximum is about double the minimum. For this example we'll use length range 30"-60". Adjust the figures in the other steps if making a store for other lengths.

Materials needed are:
6 lengths of 30" timber
6 lengths of 15" timber
3 castering wheels 
some board adding upto about 30" square
suitable fixing screws

Step 2: take 3 lengths of scrap timber about 30" long, and screw onto them any scrap board (thin ply shown here) to form a triangle.



Step 3: Add wheels to the three corners:



Step 4: turn the unit over and to the middle of each side of the triangle screw 3 more 30" lengths of timber vertically, slanting them slighting inwards. They will flap around looking silly for a while but this will sort itself out in the following step.



Step 5: cut 3 lengths of timber about 15" long. To each length fix 2 screws - one at the end and one in the middle. Then fix these screws through to the top ends of the timber from the previous step



Reinforce with extra screws if needed:


Step 6: cut 3 more lengths around 15", and screw these to the ends of the lengths from the previous step, setting them roughly parallel to the base triangle




Ok that's it, ready to use! The store provides 4 compartments which can be used to organise offcuts.

Feel free to comment feedback below, as this is a prototype so tweaks and improvements are expected.


 Ok it may look a bit like a 3-pronged swastika, but apparently that was a good luck symbol before it took on bad connotations.