Currently I have my ammo stored in .50 & .30 cal. cans stacked on each other on a cement floor. I've been looking at some shelving to make getting a can of ammo less involved when I go to the range.

The issue I'm wondering about is stress on the cement floor. As it is now, the weight is spread out via the multiple cans. My concern putting everything on shelving is that the pressure of all the weight will go from the wider area of the can bottoms to the much smaller area of the shelving feet. Although shelving would make access much more convenient, I certainly don't want to risk cracking the basement flooring.

Am I overthinking this? Are there other options I should be looking at but don't know about?

If your shelves can hold it I doubt your floor will care.

^^^^This. Unless you are talking revolutionary quantities of ammo and Amazon warehouse capable shelving, anything you build in your basement will collapse before the floor lets go.

Your concrete slab likely has a compressive strength of at least 3000 psi. Your shelves won't hold anywhere near what the concrete will.

FYI, 1000 5.56 in a can weighs less than 30 lbs.

Unless something very unusual* is involved, your shelving would splinter long before the weight it holds would crack the concrete supporting the shelving.

* very unusual being defined as huge amount of ammo onto heavily reinforced shelving with tiny feet.

If you are truly worried about this, you could put something down under the feet of the shelves, like a long board, to spread out the pressure across a wider area than just the feet of the shelving.

Yeah - couldn't hurt to get some scrap plywood or 1x wood and stick it under the shelving feet. Even just spreading the force out a few more square inches for each shelf foot. then you'll sleep better whether it was ever gonna be a problem or not...
You can tell yourself that you're protecting the shelving from any moisture that might someday wick through the concrete.

You can put 1 sqft. 3/4 in. plywood pads under each shelf foot to spread the load if it helps you sleep better, but it's hardly necessary, IMO.

Thanks guys. These are the shelves I'm looking at getting, although I did see some with wire decking that might be a good solution as well.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Mu...-UR-185PBB/305553549

Each shelf can hold 500lbs. and best guess of what I've got in total might be that much.

Putting anything under the feet would be a waste of time.

quote:

Originally posted by sigarmsp226:
Marksman - Do not purchase this shelving - ask me how I know. The pressboard they call shelves will start to bow within a couple of months from the weight and within 8-12 months you will hear a loud noise when the shelf giveaway.

Spend the extra and get shelves that have wire supports. You can use as is or add a thin ply board on top to allow your ammo cans to sit and slide more easily….

A friend gave me that shelving when he moved out of the area and I've got all 5 sheles stocked with bullets.

At least 500 pounds on each shelf if not more and it's been sitting there for almost 2 years with no bowing of any kind.

Hi Marksman,

It appears you have a problem that many citizens in America would love to have. I don't think you are overthinking your situation. I think a shelving system is a fine idea. It will sure help to keep you from pooping out before you get to the range. You can purchase a shelving system designed to be anchored to a wall to keep it from tipping and to sit atop steel sills to distribute the load; or, you could build one to your design. If your floor is reinforced, sills aren't necessary: but, there is certainly nothing wrong with using them.

I bought quite a few sections of this shelving. It has great weight capacity, doesn’t bow, and goes together quite easily. I highly recommend this for something that weighs as much as you plan on storing. It is less expensive and far superior to what you are ordering from the Homely Despot.

https://www.uline.com/BL_4025/...-Duty-Steel-Shelving

As long as your shelves can carry the load there should not be any issue unless you expect you could drop something extremely heavy on the concrete and have the one of the ammo cans land on its corners.

Most garage floors are poured using ready mix concrete (3,000 to 5,000 psi strength range) and can accept exceptional compressive loads. At worst you might scrape the concrete surface if the shelf were to move.

If you are really concerned about it place some plywood or 2"x4" blocks underneath the legs.

Thomas H. Bordelon, PE

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:

quote:

Originally posted by sigarmsp226:
Marksman - Do not purchase this shelving - ask me how I know. The pressboard they call shelves will start to bow within a couple of months from the weight and within 8-12 months you will hear a loud noise when the shelf giveaway.

A friend gave me that shelving when he moved out of the area and I've got all 5 shelves stocked with bullets.

At least 500 pounds on each shelf if not more and it's been sitting there for almost 2 years with no bowing of any kind.

Yeah, I'd be surprised if the shelves bowed under load.

I bought three of a similar product at Lowe's a year back, for the garage. With those full-width and -depth rails around the perimeter, it's hard to see how they'd bow.

Flash I have the same shelves. I replaced the chipboard with 3/4” plywood and I can put anything on it now. But I don’t store my ammo on it. My ammo sits in 50 &30 cal cans in the MBR closet. I keep one empty can for loading stuff into for range days vs carrying an entire 50 can full is 9(kind heavy)

sigarms - I like the frames but was wondering about the pressboard shelves. It does get humid here and I had a feeling that I might have the same experience as you so I expect I'll cut some plywood to replace the pressboard on the garage shelves in the next year or two.

Fortunately the ammo is stored inside where I can control the temperature and humidity so the pressboard should hold up for a decent while - I hope.

Beancooker - those U-line shelving units are very nice. Unless I'm reading the sheet wrong, though, the same size unit from U-line is over $450, which is a bit out of my price range at the moment. I have saved the link for a future purchase, however, so thanks for that.

I have industrial shelving in my warehouse and the 24 x 48" shelves are rated at 400 lbs. ea. The stuff you buy at Home Depot isn't anything close to that.

I've never had anything other than a rust stain under the feet. As already mentioned, 4 feet, each covers about 4 square inches of 3000 psi concrete, that's around 48,000 pounds on the slab if spread equally for each shelving unit.

That's a lot of dollars in ammo, even at today's prices.

quote:

Originally posted by sigarmsp226:
Marksman - Do not purchase this shelving - ask me how I know. The pressboard they call shelves will start to bow within a couple of months from the weight and within 8-12 months you will hear a loud noise when the shelf giveaway.

Spend the extra and get shelves that have wire supports. You can use as is or add a thin ply board on top to allow your ammo cans to sit and slide more easily….

I wish I had pictures of the three sets I had that I used for various items. All warped and with you being in the south they will warp even faster, even if used in an inside area….. All three sets were trashed and I replaced them with the following shelf units and they are rock solid….

https://www.lowes.com/pd/edsal...ving-Unit/1001326526

This is the one I got. It’s great! Most of the weight is on the bottom two shelves ,I weighed each ammo can and have 1000lbs on each of the bottom 2 shelves. Mostly boxes of magazines and holsters on the top.

I've got some of those that KML linked. You could store engine blocks on them if you wanted.

The lengths some people will hi to brag about their ammo stash...