Mounting to basement wall insulation


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Old 12-15-14, 09:05 AM
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Question Mounting to basement wall insulation

It's been awhile since I visited and I'm hoping the community can help!

Our basement isn't finished and there's a 2" foil-coated rigid insulation covering the poured concrete walls. I'd like to add some shelving to this, but I'm not sure the best way to go about it.

We have a water distribution panel (incoming water line then into a bunch of PEX spaghetti) that appears to be partly set into the insulation and it's then mounted to the concrete wall with concrete screws. But this isn't a heavy load.

Our ceilings are 9' tall in the basement, and I guess I could run a board across the ceiling floor joists, then vertically attach beams to this for the beginning of the shelving (the vertical supports). This way all the load is handled by the concrete floor. But I don't know about you, I don't plan on having items 7-8'+ up, if I don't need it.

Any other way if I just wanted to have a smaller section of shelving and not be required to get a bunch of 10' 2x4s? Mounting directly onto the insulation will require quite a long concrete screw, and the perpendicular load to the screw doesn't seem too strong. Thoughts?

Thanks!
 
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Old 12-15-14, 09:11 AM
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Why are you adding shelves to an unfinished wall? Not that you can't, but my thought would either be to bring in a free-standing shelving system or put up the stud walls and attach to that.
 

Last edited by stickshift; 12-17-14 at 07:28 AM. Reason: typo
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Old 12-15-14, 02:49 PM
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Red face Thanks.

Thanks for the reply. I guess I didn't want to make anything official, just something quick and dirty to keep stuff off the floor. Free-standing shelves aren't typically big enough or when they are they're fairly expensive and I'd like to limit my investment. I already have a bunch of existing 2x4s (not the ten footers that I need to go floor to ceiling), so I was hoping to just use that. It's going to be a LONG time before the basement gets finished too, so creating the wall now isn't a good investment either.
 
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Old 12-16-14, 07:36 PM
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I recommend build the freestanding shelf(s) out of 8' 2x4 and plywood/MDF. Might want to put something on the bottom of the 2x4s contacting the concrete to prevent moisture damage, can just cap them with metal 2x4 track (one piece for like $5 will be way more than enough. Or use a wood sealer or something because they should be pressure treated contacting the slab.
 
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Old 01-02-15, 02:39 PM
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Wink Solution

Thanks for the previous responses. Instead of building something big and bulky I went to my local big box store and bought a metal cleat and then hung shelf rails from this. The cleat is mounted on the rigid insulation and screwed into the concrete and feels incredibly sturdy. Sure, it's not a finished wall, nor a super strong self-supporting behemoth, but this should work for what I need.
 
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Old 01-02-15, 03:01 PM
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Hopefully the fastener that is not into solid material (in the space of the insulation) will not bend. Not sure what "cleat" you installed.
 
 

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