Milk Crate Storage for Dummies

milk crate shelves

It's not uncommon for us to come across what seems to be a reasonable answer to a fairly random question and then, after thinking for a moment, realize that it's just plain wrong. If we were talking to friends or family, we might just politely point out the error, but when some freelancer published bogus information just to collect a few bucks, it kind chaps our collective hiney. That's how eHow.com contributor Racheal Ambrose and her post, "How to Hang Milk Crates Securely On a Wall," ended up on the nomination podium.

Ambrose assumed, probably correctly, that the OQ wanted some "cheap" storage¹ and, to that end, suggested that,

"By attaching milk crates to the wall, you can store lightweight books, pictures, clothes and other items. You can hang the milk crates so their backs face the wall, like if you wanted to display items, or so the crate sits upright to hold items. Milk crates come in a many [sic] colors and sizes."

Racheal's instructions are pretty simple. She penned 168 words plus a list of "things you'll need" and managed to come up with four steps (one more than Demand Media Studios demanded):

1. "Use a stud finder on the wall, according to the device's instructions... Find another stud across from the first one. The two studs should line up with the back of the milk crate."
2. "Drill two holes into the wall, one per stud."
3. "Screw the hooks into the holes until they sit securely. The hooks should face upwards."
4. "Tilt the milk crate upwards. Slip it onto the two hooks. Slowly lower the milk crate against the wall to move it into place."

We see one major problem with Ambrose's suggestion (besides the ambiguity of "Find another stud across from the first one"): depending on the wall construction, studs are spaced 16 or 24 inches on center. Racheal's two-stud "solution" might work if you have a 17-inch milk crate instead of the standard 13" x 13" model. No way you could mount a 13-inch crate to two studs 16 inches apart! Either way, you couldn't hang two crates side-by-side. A more realistic answer would be to use hollow-wall anchors.

We note, by the way, that neither of Ambrose's "References" says squat about mounting crates on the wall...

We aren't convinced that the "two-hook" idea is secure – it depends on the strength of the hooks and of the plastic used to make the crate. It puts all the weight of crate and contents on a couple of strips of a plastic whose tensile strength is unknown.

We think a more reasonable solution would be to put up a pair of ledgers on the wall long enough to mount all the crates. The boards can be screwed to studs instead of using hooks. Mount the crates to the top ledger with screws that run through a short length of wood, through the mesh of the crate, and into the ledger. The bottom ledger keeps the crate from flopping around. That sucker's gonna stay there as long as the wall remains standing. We think that's a more secure and more useful idea than the two-hook idea our Dumbass of the Day published. But maybe that's just us... ¹ We aren't sure why Racheal thinks it's cheap storage, since milk crates cost anywhere from $6 to $22 each, while buying a couple of shelf standards and a six-foot board is much less expensive.

copyright © 2018-2022 scmrak

DD - STORAGE