Tote rack plans for your totes

How we work it out

The totes hang by their lip on wooden runners and slide in like drawers. Between every column of totes there's a pair of 2x4 uprights, front and back, with a runner strip screwed to each face.

opening = lip width + wiggle room

runner gap = opening − 2 × runner thickness

The lip has to pass between the uprights, and the body has to drop between the runners. With ¾ in strips and ½ in of wiggle room, each runner carries ½ in of lip, and the body must be at least 1 in narrower than the lip. Makers only publish the size across the lip, so measure the body of one tote just under the lip before you cut.

Lumber is dressed size: a 2x4 is 1½ × 3½ in and a 1x2 is ¾ × 1½ in. We pack every cut into 8, 10 or 12 ft boards, allowing ⅛ in per saw cut. Heights treat the lip as the top of the tote, so the rack comes out a touch tall rather than short.

A ceiling rack runs its top plates across the joists, screwed up into every one, with a short 2x4 block at each joist holding the runners. The International Residential Code (Table R301.5) designs uninhabitable attic floors for 10 lb per sq ft without storage and 20 lb with limited storage, and trusses carry whatever their drawing says, so weigh a full tote and check before you load it up.

Tote sizes are the outside dimensions each maker publishes. None of them says whether the height includes the lid, and two totes with the same name can differ (Sterilite sells two different 27 gallon Industrial Totes), so measure the one you own. The storage tote sizes page lists them side by side.