EMT for lumber rack?

[Jon Endres]

Thanks, Wayne, for your 'test'. As non-scientific as it is, that's pretty much what I suspected. I used a pair of 5' pieces of 1-1/2" EMT for handles in a post-hole digger and they are indestructable so far.

There is a couple of thicker-walled electrical conduits available, I think one is GRC or galvanized rigid conduit. It's heavy enough to thread, apparently. Also expensive.

A single 5'-6", 1-5/8" OD fencepost at the nearest Lowes is the same price as a 10' length of 1-1/2" OD EMT, so that will probably sway me toward the use of EMT.

[Jon Endres]

I wanted to reply to my own three-year-old thread with an update. I did indeed decide to use the 1-1/2" EMT for my lumber rack. The rack is 12' long, 10' high and 5' wide and takes up a large portion of the center of my 16' x 20' shed. I have nearly 4000 board feet of lumber sitting on it, and it could easily hold another thousand or more. The EMT conduit has held up perfectly fine, with absolutely no noticeable sag, bend or deflection. I am currently in the process of designing and building a much smaller version of the rack, with smaller diameter (I'm thinking 1" or 1-1/4") EMT for my basement shop. Something that will fit in an 8' long, 7' high and 32" wide space and hold a couple hundred board feet of short stock.

The FWW design said to wrap the pipes in duct tape to hold them in place. Hah. I dare anyone to come move one of these pipes. They won't budge when loaded. At worst, a tiny wooden wedge would do well to hold them in place to prevent longitudinal movement.

Someday I'll remember to find a bright sunny day (it's dark in the shed) and take some photos to post of this lumber-holding monstrosity.

[Stew Hagerty]

Sounds great Jon. Love to see the photos when you get them.