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Like many home woodshops in North America, mine is set up in a two-car garage. Similar to other suburban homes, our garage has two steel columns in the middle, supporting the bedrooms above. These load-bearing round steel posts, common in ranch-style and many other one-family houses, are often found in garages, basements, and unfinished spaces. Filled with concrete to enhance their rigidity, these columns are strictly off-limits for drilling or invasive mounting. However, with the right clamping approach, they can serve as stable supports for structures like my hanging shelf system without compromising their structural integrity.
With limited wall space, I needed extra storage, so I thought of suspending a shelf between these two steel posts. The idea was to build a long, double-sided shelf wide enough for tools and supplies that would utilize only the existing steel columns for support, without additional carpentry.
To secure this setup, I designed cross-beam brackets that hug each column. Each bracket consists of a long and short 2×4 segment joined to form a cross-like structure. The shorter segment is cut with a vault-like notch, padded with a thick rubber liner, to securely fit around the column. I drilled through these beam units and then bolted each unit to its counterpart on the opposite side of the post. When the bolts were tightened, the cross-beam bracket gripped the post firmly, creating a stable load-bearing structure.
After repeating this on the second post, I attached 2x4s between the two cross-beam units and laid plywood on top to complete the shelf.
Below is a sketch of our garage layout, showing the two steel posts dividing the two bays.
Here is a top-view sketch of my cross-beam system: one long 2×4 is glued to a shorter 2×4, with a vaulted section cut into the shorter piece, lined with ⅛-inch rubber. Notice the right top illustration showing the relationship between the cross-beams and the longer 2x4s that support the shelf load. 
In my next post, I’ll show how the work progressed and share how this new storage solution helps open up my workspace. I hope this concept inspires you to create similar storage between the posts in your garage or basement.
Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop. We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality.
