Hello - I am getting ready for a major garage renovation, which includes custom cabinets and a slatted wall. Since I need to house 2 vehicles, I want to build a shelf railroad along one 20' wall and on a 12' wall. In doing the design with the contractor, he is doing the cabinets so that the train can use the top part of the slotted wall. I'm thinking of making the shelfs 18" wide and using HO scale. Has anyone ever used a commercial slotted wall to support a model railroad?
Herendeen,
To The Forums.
I don't see any reason why not. Lath plaster walls still have studs that the wood lath is nailed to. Just find the studs, 16'' or 24'' on center. I lived in an old apartment that had them, with a shelf layout 20'' wide, with brackets screwed into the studs in a very large pantry on two walls, in an ''L'' shape. When I moved, I just filled in the screw holes with spackle and painted it and you never knew the holes were there.
Take Care!
Frank
Edit: My age is showing...LOL after reading Dave's reply...I was thinking of a completely different material, than what You were asking...My bad...I would still find the studs though and use those for Your brackets for support, rather than the slat wall openings.
Herendeen:
Welcome to the forums!!
Having worked in retail for many years, I have seen my share of slatted walls. I don't think that the weight of a model railroad shelf 18" wide would come anywhere near overloading the wall. Keep in mind that the load will be distributed fairly evenly over the length of the slat wall. Of course, it would be wise to limit the weight of materials so, for example, I wouldn't use plaster cloth for the scenery and 2" foam over 3/8" plywood would weigh less than a 3/4" plywood base. One caution I would offer is that you don't want to put your weight on the shelving, or at least as little as possible. Also, make sure that the slat wall is firmly attached to the studs. Don't skimp on fasteners.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Thanks...it gets a little more involved...we are putting both upper and lower cabinets in the garage, with slat wall material in between. I'm wanting to use some sort of commercial hook or bracket that fits into the slot to hold the "benchwork for the railroad, so it will almost be like a floating shelf. My "mental" idea is to have about 12" from the bench work to the bottom of the upper cabinet and still have about 3' of space between the railroad and the top of the lower cabinet.
I see there are 16" brackets, at least. So the 18" width should be supportable. That's the size I use for 18" shelving. That way, there's no metal projection. I am NOT using slatwall. In this case, I'm using brackets and standards:
I use the above system for shelving in my shop. It is surprisingly "supportive".
BUT.
I'm a bit worried about the weight of the layout when using the slotwall. I recommend getting a piece of slatwall and some brackets and load testing it. Or perhaps someone's already done load testing for this system. It'd be a real shame to have a failure after you've done a lot of work.
Other than that, it looks like a very elegant system!
Ed
He's talking about this type of wall system...
http://ubercustomstorage.com/images/garage-organization/slider/4.jpg
If it's strong enough to hold up cabinets filled with tools, it should be enough for a layout.
Steve S
The wall system should have brackets meant for basic flat shelves - this would be what you use. Somethimes they are slightly angled so the shelf leans back against the wall and stuff doesn't roll off the front - not much, but enough to be annoying for a layout, so you may need to use thin shims under the shelf to make it perfectly level. I don't see why this wouldn't work, I've built layouts using the metal shelf brackets and the verticals screwed to the studs and never had an issue. The slat wall systems are more than strong enough. Biggest issue is probably going to be dirt. Especially with constantly running cars in and out, it's not going to stay nice and clean like the promo pictures for the slat systems. Perhaps rigging some sort of plastic that folds down over the layout shelves when not in use would be a good idea, help keep the layout clean and keep the dust and other junk out.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Awesomeness...the initial plan is based on a ATSF & SLSF junction in my hometown of OKC, which means it can be flat with almost no major scenery short of the buildings. I think we are going to go with Gladiator for the slatwalls who makes a 16"x48" shelf unit that will support 50lbs. In looking at the drawings, it is 2 brackets that are mounted to the wall then the shelf slides into it and is fastened by 2 screws on each end. I'm thinking of using either a blank board with a 1" dado channel into it for wiring and perhaps a 1.5-2" fascia along the edge. I've been out of the model railroad scene for a while...would it be best to try DCC or stick with the traditional wiring. I'm not going to have room for much of a control panel.
I appreciate all the advise and help...I'll post pics as this progresses.
Steven S He's talking about this type of wall system... http://ubercustomstorage.com/images/garage-organization/slider/4.jpg If it's strong enough to hold up cabinets filled with tools, it should be enough for a layout. Steve S
I can't tell from the photo whether or not the cabinets filled with tools are hanging from the slatwall or are screwed to studs in the wall.
But I suppose I worry too much. It ain't my layout, after all.
Even metal slatwall is only 50lb per foot.
'only' How much does a foot of your layout weigh? Are you building it in 1/2" scale or something? So you can;t use the layout shelves to climb up the wall, I think the weight capacity will be plenty to hold up anything short of possibly using cement and depleted uranium for the scenery. I can't imagine the single slat metal shelf brackets I used are rated to hold much more than that. I didn;t even use modern lightweight methods on that one - I used a high density particle board type material - a 2x8 shelf was quiet heavy, even heavier than an equivalent piece of 3/4" plywood. I had a second shelf on top of that stacked end to end with MR and books, too.
Was thinking more of the lean factor.