Rack Sag :(

We built our rack maybe a year or so ago. It is built of the white-coated melamine that you get at Home Depot. Well, it is sagging a little.. the top tub is hard to get into place. Granted, this makes it nice and secure, but I miss being able to just open/close with one hand.
Any advice? I was thinking of maybe supporting it in the center (it has no central support; the sides are melamine and the bottom shelf is about 2 inches off the ground.) But I am not sure.. any ideas? We really don't want to build another one because this rack is just great in every other way.

I have the same problem with my melamine rack. I plan on putting center braces on each level. I have seen some racks just use a clear tube in the center. I plan on using just a board in the center painted white to match.
Trey

Cool idea :) I actually have some leftover melamine from when we built it that I could use.. but then again, maybe a wooden board would be better.. I had not even thought of that!

If you can add a board in the middle, then that seems like your only option. You will probably have to add one for every level. They pressure from the sagging shelf on your center support will push the next shelf down and so on. Just curious, what thickness did you use?

I think that it is about half an inch? Maybe thicker..

My mel rack is built out of 3/4" material and is only two adult tubs wide. Sometimes even with this setup I think I can see a slight bow but the levels that the tubs slide out easily in still do so...I have one or two that where always tighter. I think you have consider how much weight will be on each shelf and decide how wide to go with it. With this rack I could easily pull each shelf out, flip them, and slide them back in. They are not "fixed" with screws -a genius idea of my father in-law's.

One of the makers of pvc racks used to use a piece of perhaps lexan dowel rod right in the middle of each level for support on racks using 2 tubs on each level. It would be quite easy and inexpensive to use dowel rods made of wood and painted white with your melamine rack. This is just from a lazy mans perspective. It seems to me that it would solve your problem as well as a full board would with less work involved.

Mine is made out of 3/4 inch. It seems to sag as the snakes grow. Each level is 2 32 Qt tubs wide. I had 6 1000 gram females in the bottom three levels. I moved them to another rack. The rack didn't bow as bad but the animals I replaced them with are approaching 700 grams and I can see the levels starting to sag again.
The only problem with installing dividers is how to attach them to each level. Does the weight of the level above hold it into place? Trying to screw or nail each one into place is going to be very tricky.

If dowel rods were used, you could arrive at the proper length needed by inserting them and trimming as necessary and when satisfied just paint them and when the paint is dry glue them in place with a good furniture glue.

Melamine only sags when the shelves are too long. You might consider taking off the sides of the rack, and replacing them with melamine panels on the long sides of the shelves. Have the short ends facing out instead of the long ends. I have one of my racks set up like this and it works alot better, no sagging/binding.

Might be something to consider.