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When you’re setting up shop in your home garage, it might be challenging trying organize your space while making room for all of the things that are also stored there. These things might include tools for the home, storage boxes, exercise equipment, Christmas decorations, and the list goes on. If you have kids, this can be much more challenging.
These Whalen Industrial Racks caught my eye while I was at shopping at Costco as it looked much more sturdy than the more economical garage storage racks that I’ve been used to seeing. Rather than using thin steel angles as a frame, these racks use thicker steel members and a more sturdy design, which results in a must stronger set of racks.
Whalen Industrial Racks
Whalen Industrial Rack, 77” x 24” x 72”
Various Tools Needed For This Project
DEWALT 25′ Measuring Tape
Rubber Mallet Hammer With Fiberglass Handle–16-oz
Other Similar Looking Garage Storage Racks
There’s a few other garage storage racks that look like the one from Whalen. However, be aware of what you’re getting by reading the reviews and checking them out in-store. I’ve only been able to see the Husky ones from Home Depot in person and the quality is much worse than this one.
If you’ve seen or felt the high quality of the Whalen Industrial Racks at Costco, you’ll be able to tell the difference when seeing the other ones up close. So be cautious as there are alternative ones out there that look just like the Whalen ones, but may be sub-par in terms of quality.
Assembling and Installing the Whalen Industrial Racks
First off, if you buy these from Costco, they’re pretty darn heavy. If you don’t have another person there to help, you might struggle if you’re transporting them yourself. At the store, I had a push cart and had to shimmy the box off the stack of boxes in the store and slide it onto the cart.
You will also need a truck to transport such a heavy and long item such as this. If you don’t want to deal with transporting it home, you can always order online and have it shipped to you home, however know that they are typically a bit more expensive online than in the store to cover shipping.
The easiest way to assemble the rack is to open the box while it’s still on the truck and unload the parts one-by-one. This way, you’re not dealing with moving the entire heavy box off of the truck.
First, remove the wire racks and removing the protective wrapping. Then the frame pieces need to be taken out.
You will then have the two end pieces which are the heaviest pieces in this box. Take the two ends and bring them to the location where you intend on installing the racks. Remove the beams that are wrapped in cardboard and set them aside. Stand up the two end pieces right-side-up to their final position (the two ends of the racks) in preparation for the installation of the girders.
When you bring in the girders, make sure they are installed in the right orientation and insert them into the slots as described in the instruction manual. It’s basically impossible to install them upside down due to the way the slots are oriented. You will first install the top and bottom girders for the front and rear of the rack. This will leave you with the main frame up and a stable structure to work on.
To install the girders, slide them onto the desired slots on the ends pieces and use a rubber mallet to hit the girders down to lock them in place.
With the top and bottom girders installed on the front and back of the rack, you will have a sturdy and freestanding frame to work on. Then install the rest of the girders based on where you want each shelf level to be. Next, install the small beams which sit in the slots of the girders– this will provide the support and stability for the shelves.
The last part is to place all the wire rack shelving on each level.
The quality of the shelves are just top notch and the whole unit is sturdy as hell. I placed large 27-gallon storage bins at each level for storage and it looks really nice in my garage.
After installing the two Whalen Garage Racks, I realized that we needed even more storage room. I liked these racks so much that I bought another two sets and installed them back-to-back with the other ones I already installed.
I’m very happy with the Whalen Industrial Racks from Costco. They work great for storing bins– even very heavy ones. The racks are incredibly sturdy and feel like they can last a lifetime. The hardest part of installing these racks is getting them to your garage, but once you get them home and are able to unbox them, the install goes pretty swimmingly.
If you are planning to store individual containers such as spray bottles or smaller containers with chemicals, it won’t work too well due to the larger openings of the wire racks. You will probably need to put down some thin plywood veneer for a sturdy base to place those smaller items. However if you only plan to store larger items, you don’t need to do anything more after assembling the storage racks.
