My off-site storage locker is 8 feet high, 4 feet deep and approx. 27.5 inches wide. This size has a stated capacity of 52 cases, where a “case” means a standard wood Bordeaux-style crate. My problem is that I don’t buy a lot of wine by the case, at least not in OWCs, so I have a lot of individual bottles. I’ve acquired some empty wood boxes, but most bottles don’t neatly fit in boxes that they weren’t intended for.
I’d like to make the entire back wall of the locker a rack for individual bottles. This would leave room on one of the sides for some wood crates, but still allow access to the back. What I need help with is what to use for the storage rack, the only requirement being that it has to be free-standing (i.e., I can’t build anything into the walls of the locker).
I was thinking I could just build modular storage racks to fit the back space. Something like this would hold six bottles across and up to 24 bottles high for about 138-144 bottles total:
Does anyone use these? The concern would be tipping over, especially as this gets up pretty high towards 8 feet. It wouldn’t shift left-right, and couldn’t tip back, but might tip forward (but the weight of the wine bottles would be in the back of the rack by design). Like Lincoln Logs for grown-ups.
Then I stumbled upon X-RAX, a UK site, that has a similar, although much more stable-looking solution (albeit at a much higher price):
Has anyone used these? Do you think it would solve my stability concerns? But worth the price? Any other solutions I haven’t thought of?
If you can at all find a locker that is wider than deep (the reverse of your dimensions), you will be MUCH happier in the long run. All three of my lockers, at 27" deep, are much easier to work with than my friend’s locker that is in the range of yours.
There is always the custom built cages like they have in the annex!
I’m actually running into the same problem at said storage, where the actual number of bottles that can fit is much less that advertised due to the size of the storage boxes/size and shape of the bottles.
I would be interested in hearing what you finally decide on and how it works, as I may opt to use a similar setup.
Trouble is, all those approaches waste a substantial amount of the usable volume. So it really depends on how you answer the question: do I have more than enough room in the locker for my current and future wine plans? Though if your locker has no shelves, you’re in a tough spot, since dealing with multiple stacked cases is a real pain.
I sent Leslie a PM but haven’t heard back yet. I like the cardboard tube idea, but I’m mainly interested in dimensions now – what diameters for various bottle sizes (I have little to no mags or halves, so not a concern, but want to be able to store Champagne, Burgs, etc. that have large bases), what thickness to use (I might have over 20 rows and don’t want the cardboard to collapse), etc.
Also, if my locker is, say, 27.5 inches wide, in the interest of stability should I just divide it by 7 and use that as the diameter so the rows will fit snugly (at least the first row and alternating thereafter)?
Go with PVC. It is very sturdy and will fit the depth of your locker perfectly. 3 bottles deep and you can keep track of bottles by row letter and column number in cellartracker. My 1st row and 1st column is bin “A1” in the cellartracker database. I have yet to find a 750ml bottle that will not fit in the 4" width. You can also leave space at the top for magnums and smaller boxes. In my locker I put 375ml bottles in every other last column tube because the opening is partially blocked by the 2x4 wood frame of the locker.
Here is how to do it:
Buy 10 foot lengths of 4 inch PVC pipe at Home Depot or similar store. Sometimes they are located in the garden section. Cut them into 4 equal pieces about 30 inches in length. This will fit 3 bottles end to end. I stacked them in my locker in a honeycomb pattern with the row above offset from the row below it. With three bottles deep I am able to reach in the tubes with my arm and pull out the deepest bottle.
For off site storage, aren’t you looking for long term “I don’t want to touch this for x years” situations?
I made simple wood cases with a finishing nailer and some wood. That way, I can custom make “riesling cases”, “champagne cases”, etc. They stack easily, transport easily, and you don’t have to muck about with individual bottles.
I too have used the PVC option - and have kept them in a 2 deep configuration. I have discovered, however, that over time the PVC has been crushed by the weight above (maybe I’ve been to ambitions with my stacking) and getting the lower bottle out can become a problem. I’m looking at thicker walled PVC but that stuff gets expensive. So, caution on how high you stack bottles if using the thin wall PVC.
Did the PVC in my basement space, which is 2 roughly 4X6 spaces and deep enough for 2btls per section. If you are concerned about weight, use the stronger PVC piping for the bottom rows and add thinner outdoor drainage PVC pipes for the top rows. May also buy you space for an extra row.
I will change out my ‘bottom’ rows, what a great idea! One of the things I like about the PVC is that the burgundy bottles fit without any problems. Of course, I add to the weight problem by stacking 1.5’s on the top of the PVC stack.
How high did you stack your PVC, and how long did it take before the bottom ones began to get crushed?
It looks like they sell pre-cut Sch. 40 PVC with 4" diameter in 2’ lengths at Home Depot, which would be perfect for my locker and save me the trouble of ordering custom tubes, etc.
I have a rack exactly like your top pic, except in a 6 x 8 bottle size. It’s okay for what it is, but the interconnecting pegs tend to loosen up and the whole thing needs to be shoved back tight now and then (thankfully it has never actually fallen apart). I suspect the issue would be worse the larger the assembly. So I would advise against using that product (or at least someone glue the pegs in, if you do).
I have about 10 1/2 rows, alternating 7-6-7-6, etc. The top 1 1/2 rows are drainage grade.
The precut PVC tubes are about $1 per section more expensive than cutting it yourself from 10ft pipes. A bit dusty and time consuming, but not hard to do if you have a good power saw with a long enough blade. Just be sure to sand down the ends with the smoothest cut to put to the outside. Looks better and you don’t scratch your arms digging for the ones in the back.
An update: I decided to go with cardboard tubes, thanks to the suggestions in the other threads referenced above. I used a company called Rigid Paper Tube in Wayne, NJ. I measured the width of my locker and divided by 7 to get the outside diameter of the tubes. Then I worked with Michael at Rigid to determine the wall thickness based on how much interior diameter I needed to accommodate most bottle sizes and how thick I needed the walls to be to stand up to all of the weight. We went with 3.9" OD and wall thickness of .185" of high density paper, leaving me with 3.53" ID, which is enough to hold all but the bulkiest bottles (such as Champagne, but I left room at the top to store those and magnums). A little more than half of the tubes are one foot long, and the rest are two feet long to accommodate two bottles. The reason for this was to leave an indention so that I can store wood boxes in front on one side of the locker. The total cost of the tubes was about $400 (156 tubes, 216 bottles total capacity). If anyone else is thinking about doing something like this and has any other questions, please let me know. Here’s a link to some photos of the completed installation (this morning!):
Nice solution. Is there room on the 2 deep side for additional cases? If your experience is like mine, in 2 years you will have boxes from floor to ceiling.
