"Homemade" rack: Metal garage shelving?

[Indigo]

My husband and I were wandering around Lowe's for some reason or other, and came upon the area where they have the shelving units for in-home and garage. We saw a metal garage-type shelf unit, with about the size I'd need for the tubs. Jason was instantly inspired, telling me these would be perfect if we put plywood or something similar on the back and sides to hold some heat.

Now I've never seen anyone on here talk about using something like this, so I was wondering how good of an idea this was. It seems like a good idea to me, both cost-effectively (it's a lot easier to trade for something like this than a bunch of melamine (we are the barter masters)) and just for simplicity's sake. But I'd like input from people with more experience. I don't want to haphazardly go for this and then it not be effective or safe.

Here's a picture of the unit we saw. (Sorry about the ad, it's an Imageshack thing...) Input is much appreciated.

[Mike Cavanaugh]

What are you thiking of doing? using tubs with the plastic tops? how will you build the heat into it? how will you keep the heat in it?

I would recomend you do make a COMPLETE shopping list of all the things you will need. (the shelves, wood, flexwatt, tubs, and everything else) Then get a good picture in your head of what it will end up looking like. Think about how hard it will be to regulate the temperatures on each level... keeping them all right. think about the total cost

Then go to rbi and check out their ready to go, heat built in racks that include free shipping. 9 times out of 10 when you consider all the costs involved, the RBI racks are a little more expensive. but look at the difference in what you end up with at the end.

just my two cents.

[Argentra]

I saw that same shelving unit at Lowes and had the idea to turn it into a series of cages using plywood attached to the frame. It was just the right dimensions at 36x18.
But, since it was $75, I decided to just build the whole cage unit out of ply and save some money.

As for a rack, did you consider building one yourself out of plywood? I did my rack like that and it works wonderfully. TONS cheaper than any premade: @$40 for the wood, $15 or so for the hardware, and $20 for the paint...more or less.

[Indigo]

We did think of plywood, and we were pricing it while we were at Lowes. It was our original plan, but when we saw the metal one we figured it'd be easier to trade for or get one used cheaper. Just saving a step, really.

I thought of RBI, or some other pre-built rack. It all depends on how things go and if I'd be able to save enough vs getting all the bits together myself.

[snakewrangler]

I purchased three of these metal units over the past few years to use as stands, shelves, and racks. I seriously can't wait to get rid of them. If I end up bringing them with me to my new house, they will go into the storage room to hold my newspaper and paper towels.

They are flimsy, wobbly, and have no cross-bracing. I tried to steady it a little bit by placing something heavy on a middle shelf, but it only caused the sharp metal feet to dig into and destroy my hardwood floor.

You could probably mod these to make some sort of reptile rack, but I would advise against it. I'd go get some plywood and do it myself before I ever fooled with one these ever again.

[Mitch21]

I also saw these when I was trying to get a mental plan before I built my rack. But when I really got down to the details, I figured out that this would not work that well. It definitely COULD work but it's not what I was looking for. With this rack, unless you make some serious modifications, you would need to keep the lids on the tubs. There are lips on the underside of the shelves that don't let you slide tubs. You'd also need to put wood on three sides to keep in heat and darkness. Hope this helps in your decision!

Mitch