How to best support garage storage suspended from slanted ceiling?

Question

Fairly new to handyman work here so I'd love to have some of your expert help! I've looked all around for ways to suspend garage storage from a ceiling but none of them are dealing with a slanted area as shown in the photos below. There are several options for where I can suspend the storage as well (see 1, 2, and 3 in the photos below). One seems to be for the roofing but not sure what the other one is designed for and another one spans perpendicular across them. My thoughts were:

1. to use either chain or steel wire to suspend the open side with eye hook
2. I'm unsure as to whether or not to use an eye/lag screw vertical into the support or a eye bolt through the support horizontally; I've seen both used/recommended
3. I'm not sure where to put the screw/bolts. Number 1 in the photo spans the whole planned storage area horizontally parallel with the storage. 2 and 3 both span perpendicular to the storage but I don't know if they are strong enough to support storage weights.
4. use a turnbuckle to get everything at the right height

Any thoughts on how to do this setup? I'm not looking to put anything terribly heavy up there other than your typical stuff in storage boxes but I want it to be safe and also not cause any structural issues, especially with the roof (don't want it sagging or anything). Thanks so much for all of your help!

Answer 1

Use your “2” for hanging shelves. The 2x6s are designed and installed to support weight (the roof), and are also strengthened by being attached to the roof boards and to each other by the #1 bracing. The #3 2x4 ties are just attached at the ends by nails, not resting on anything at least at one end, and not meant to support weight. You can drill horizontally through the center or vertically into the bottom, depending on what hardware or system you end up using.

You can buy metal garage shelf kits that use L-shaped steel bars full of holes that you could just screw to the rafters (to their sides). If you don’t already have the materials and want to do something quick, cheap and easy, I’d recommend that. Buy an all-metal kit and hang it from the #2 rafters.

If you want it to have more of a home-made look, you can use chains per the other answer or 2x4s, similarly hung from the rafters, to support the shelving.

To make the shelves level you have to design it in a way that allows you to make adjustments in place as you go. For example if you’re hanging two ends of a shelf from a chain at each end, screw the chains to the rafters, attach one to the middle of the support at one end of the shelf, then use a level to level the shelf and mark where the other end should be attached to the chain. Use similar techniques depending on what materials you’re using and how your project unfolds.

Here's what I did with a sloped ceiling. Not quite your situation. My ceiling was finished so I used lag bolts to attach a small piece of 2x4, then I hung a vertical piece of 2x4 from that with more lag bolts. The wall rails were already there and I wanted deeper shelves on the left and shallower on the right, so I put up that vertical support then built around it, marking the attachments to the vertical piece as I went along to keep things level. I also rounded the exposed corners of the deeper shelves.

To answer some of your specific questions:

• Turnbuckles add unnecessary cost and complexity. Use them if you design and want the whole project with a "nautical" look but otherwise use the technique I described above.
• Chain or wire or wood supports? Up to you. Use what you have. If you have to buy, go for low cost or for the look you want or for the materials you are most comfortable working with.
• Vertical or horizontal through the rafters? If you use chain or wire it really doesn't matter. If you use wood or steel hangers, horizontal attachment through the side of the rafter will be easier.

Answer 2

1. Chain is very convenient as it doesn't require clamps or dealing with painfully sharp wires. It also looks pretty sweet. Use the lightest size that meets your load requirements, or something heavier if you want a different aesthetic. Cut with a hack saw or rotary cutoff wheel while securely clamped.

2. Either type of eye is fine, though bolts through the rafters could put enough torque on the grain to split it. I'd use 3/8" x 3" eye screws from below, properly piloted. I tend to pilot for a very short depth at just under the thread diameter, and full depth at or slightly under the shank diameter. This makes starting the screw easier and prevents surface bulge.

3. The rafter ties may be robust enough to hold your loads, but the rafters are connected to adjacent structure through the sheathing. This makes them more robust and stable. I'd lean in that direction, but if you can tug on the rafter ties and they feel sound, they probably are.

4. I'd skip the turnbuckles. They're expensive and unnecessary, and you may not really have room for them anyway. Cut your chain to length, erring on the side of long (within one link's length, of course). If you need to adjust height, you can either run your eye bolt in a bit or twist the chain, or both.

Protips:

• I use "quick links" (individual chain links with a threaded sleeve one side) to make the connections to the eye bolts. They're inexpensive and super slick to work with. You could also use open hooks, but I like the security against accidental lift-off that this arrangement provides.

• Be sure to plan well so your chains end up plumb. Leaning chains ruin the appearance of a job well done. Take into consideration offsets due to the eye bolts, for example.

• Make any lumber splices between chains, not at them. That way the boards carry load through cantilever and won't tend to sag as much over time at a hinge point.

• It can really help to lubricate the screw threads with something like wax or soap. They're difficult to spin in, especially with older lumber. Use a steel rod as a lever through the eye, such as a long socket extension.