Customer Reviews for Gladiator GearLoft Hammered White Adjustable Height Metal Overhead Storage Rack (48 in W x 96 in D)

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] This is a very nice addition to my garage storage. I had been putting some heavy Christmas boxes in my attic and putting them lower will require a lot less muscle and pain. It's rated at 500 pounds and I tested it by swinging from one rackt with no issue. I'd rate the hardware a 5 but the instructions and time it takes to install a 3. I have moderate DIY skills and wound up deciding to hire my neighbor and handyman to help me finish the project. I spent 2-3 hours unpacking, sorting, labeling parts, coming up with a plan and starting the install by myself, and about 1.5 hours when the two of us revised the plan and installed it successfully. It will be much quicker if your beams are unobstructed and you pay attention to some advice. Let me offer some tips for the instruction writers and you. * First, make sure you have good tools. I have a mediocre stud finder; make sure you have a good one if you have drywall. (Part of my garage is attic and part goes higher, to the bedroom floor above, and the beams in the install area went in the opposite direction as the attic, which changed my plans.) Also, it helps to have an impact driver (with a 3/8 or 1/4-inch adapter) instead of just a socket wrench or open-ended wrench unless you want a workout driving a dozen lag bolts 3 inches into solid wood. While a second person is not essential until you hang the racks, it helps to have a second ladder and a partner unless you want to be climbing up and down ladders a lot or you can store a lot of tools and parts on your ladder or toolbelt. * Read the instructions carefully from beginning to end. Trying not to overwhelm my memory, I read just the first few and that was a mistake. Understand each step and how it might limit/affect your layout before you determine the layout and start drilling. For instance, I thought I could secure the rack even better and save some space by tying directly into the edge where the ceiling and side wall met, but you need at least an inch or two away from the wall to attach the vertical supports with the nut and socket-head screw. Because I had a light in the way to complicate the 48-inch measurement, we reversed a few steps to make sure the fit was right. This meant holding a pair of rack overhead with a shoulder press and head for several tiring minutes until several screws could be inserted and tightened. Don't try this unless you want an intense shoulder workout. I would suggest the initial instructions be enhanced with some tips and cautions on determining the layout. The instructions for both regular and optional configurations focus on drawings that should show the brackets and beams and should add more text to help you understand what works best. For instance, it should be obvious but it would help if it spelled out that if you want to use the "parallel layout" your studs should run perpendicular. * The racks are connected together with screws. Bolts and nuts would be quicker and easier. Try standing the racks upright, knock off burrs and then thread down into the rack in steps 3 and 4. * In steps 6 and 7, you're attaching the lower vertical supports to the racks themselves. As mentioned earlier, don't make my mistake of attaching the vertical supports together and then trying to put all the screws into the rack while you hold it overhead. I hope this helps. You'll be happy when you're done!

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I received this product and began to install. I was immediately impressed with the quality and strength of the frame. This is designed to be overhead in a garage so it needs to be strong. Product went together well- suggest using a clamp which helps align some of the pieces as that is the biggest challenge. Also note it will take two strong adults to hold the product while it is being mounted to ceiling. Overall very happy with a quality made product

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I recieved this storage unit a few weeks ago. The unit is an amazing use of storage area if you have the space for a ceiling mounted system. Everything is packaged very well. Protected and well organized. Installation or the system is straight forward. The most time consuming part is planning how you want to do the settup and orientation of the unit. I only had one issue during installation. Two of the ceiling joist bolts sheared off (see photo attached) even with the pilot holes drilled to the length of the bit provided. Once installed the unit feels extremely secure. It feels like it will easily acomodate or exceed the 750lb payload capacity listed.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] My garage was getting pretty full with items that took up a lot of floor space. I had a lot of wasted space above the floor, so this overhead storage fit the bill. All the pieces felt of good quality and fairly heavy duty. The directions were fairly easy to follow at first. It took me some time to get all the brackets screwed into the ceiling supports. I was working by myself, so it took a lot of time to get them exactly where they need to go. After I got a few of them installed I found out that I was like an inch off somewhere, so I had to take them down and reposition them on the ceiling. I did have two of the lag screws break on me, but fortunately the box came with one extra and I had an extra bolt very similar to it lying around. This is probably because I was using an impact wrench, which made it go faster. Once I got the ceiling brackets installed I moved onto the shelf surface itself. The directions have to connect two of them together using predrilled and tapped holes. I, for the life of me, could not find out how to connect them. I don't know if I got defective pieces, but the holes were tapped so the thread patterns were opposite to each other, and the supplied bolts were not long enough to go through. It seemed like the shelves were supposed to have alternating holes and tapped nuts, but all of mine were the same. I couldn't figure it out, so I just drilled my own holes, and used my own nuts and bolts to connect all four shelves together. Once I got all the shelves bolted together, it was a breeze to bolt all the hanging brackets on the shelves. I then loosely bolted the hanging brackets on the ceiling supports, and then got ready to hang the entire system. This part I got my wife to help along with a ladder. We slid one side of the unit onto the ladder to hold it up while we slid the hanging brackets into the corresponding brackets on the ceiling supports. They kept wanting to come apart, so we used the little pins to keep them together. Once that side was up, we hung the side that was being supported by the ladder. Then we connected to two middle brackets. I didn't feel comfortable using just the little pins to hold everything together, so I used some extra nuts and bolts to keep the hanging brackets from coming apart. I also went around and tightened up all the bolts. After final assembly everything looked and felt really secure. We then placed a lot of items on it and it didn't budge. Right now its not super organized, so I'll probably shift everything around so we can fit more on. I doubt I have the 750lb weight limit on there so far. In the end I was happy with how it turned out. My only gripes were the bolting together of the shelf pieces.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I installed this on a Saturday morning, and I'm impressed! The overhead storage rack added useful space where there was just ... space. The amount of storage is huge! I was worried whether it would fit but it works perfectly, If there is an issue, you can use fewer sections, but the full 4x8' area is awesome. Also, it's rock-solid - the sections are secured to each other and the hanging mechanism is just like the Gladiator shelving (you can see it in the background). Installation: They recommend 2 people - I agree. I did it myself in one morning, but two people would have been helpful. I absolutely recommend it - the perfect place for storing Christmas stuff!

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] Everything arrived in great condition. All individual items packaged well. No scratches, bent, or missing pieces. Assembly was easy and didn't take too much time. The hardest part was figuring out where to hang in the garage and then pre-drilling and hanging the support brackets. After hanging the support brackets I tried to attach the upper center supports as close to 48" as I could to the corner supports to make mating to the lower section easier. Although the EZ connect feature on the supports makes hanging much easier, it still took two strong adults to lift the entire 4'x8' lower section up to mate with the upper supports. I would recommend attaching one 4'x4' lower section at a time to the corner and center supports to make the job much easier and safer. Once installed I was impressed how stable the rack was. Barely any wobble or shake after everything was tightened. Definitely recommend if you're looking for an overhead garage storage solution.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] The review of the Gladiator Overhead Gear loft. Overall packaging was better than what I usually receive from other vendor’s extra strap to ensure the box remains closed. Overall content was organized with a little shipping during the shipping process. There was slight damage to the product the on one rack was bend slightly but easy repair to straighten it out. On first inspection I was impressed with the limited number of pieces and each individually bagged and a drill bit included which saved a minute or two searching for the right size bit to drill starter holes. The content of the box matched the instructions inventory and was easy to read. The instructions were surprisingly easy to follow and the design of the parts eliminated the incorrect assemble for the most part. Installation is very straight forward easy to follow directions and simple distance measurements with some latitude if measurements are slightly off. I did the install by myself and would not have been able to do so if I was not able to do it in smaller sections. Even with two people the ability to hang the four panels at once may be challenging so it would be a recommendation to do it two panel sections, makes it much safer and manageable. I did a regular 2 panel install than changed out the corners supports the center supports one at a time than added the second two sections to complete the installation. The easy connect support for the racks were surprisingly easy to connect and locking pins simple to install and adjust as needed. The adjustability allows for great flexibility in your garage to allow for maximum storage or lower clearances. I have bought and installed other types of ceiling racks and this by far is the most versatile and ease to install of them all. This is a large rack system ensure you have the space for it before you purchase it or you may not be able to utilize the full size however the flexibility of using less panels allows for the lack of space but now you will have to store the extra panel(s). The only issue i had during the entire installation process was one lag bolt broke while I was screwing it into the rafter, examination of the bolt showed it may have been defective but luckily there was an extra in the package. Overall GREAT product, excellent quality, sturdy, easy to install, easy to adjust, and provides significant amount of storage. I would highly recommend this rack.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I just completed installing my Overhead gear loft storage rack, and I'm very happy with the results. I was able to get a lot of smaller lightweight items off the garage floor freeing up a lot of space! I went with a 4x6 configuration as it better suited my needs. I installed it in a single car garage in about 3 1/2 hours over 2 days. The rack came in a box weighing 62 pounds, and all parts listed in the contents were included. There were some challenges installing the Rack but nothing horrible. I would recommend getting at least one other person to help with the installation. I spent a lot of time attaching the ceiling brackets due to locating the studs that were covered by drywall. I found working above my head with a drill and socket wrench was quite tiresome. I snapped two of the lag bolts during this part of the install, but was lucky enough to have a few on hand so I didnt have to run out to get more. Connecting the racks was simple using the socket head cap screws. I sped up this step using avariable speed drill fitted with a allen head bit. I ran into a problem when one of the socket head cap screws pushed out one nut out of its seat. I just used one of the extra rectangular nuts to fix this issue. I used the Perpendicular mounting option for the center supports. Mounting the rack system to the overhead overhead supports went much smoother than I expected. I would strongly recommend getting two or more helpers to lift and position the rack overhead to the final position.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I got this overhead storage rack for my drywall-finished garage ceiling to get clutter off the floor. Like other Gladiator products I have used, this does not disappoint. First off, everything is packaged very securely so that it does not bang around against other parts during shipping and arrives in pristine condition. Gladiator even includes a drill bit of the correct size so that you can drill pilot holes for the lag screws. This probably will not mean much to some people, but it shows the attention to detail and thought that Gladiator puts into their products. There are 2 basic ways to install this rack in the 4 foot by 8 foot configuration. The first is parallel to the ceiling joists and the second is perpendicular to the ceiling joists. I chose the perpendicular way as it fit my standard size garage bay better and I wanted to see how much more complicated it would be. It was not complicated at all to install. This rack is very forgiving if your measurements are not precise or your house is like mine and was built by contractors rushed the build. My joists were not evenly spaced and I had to make adjustments on the fly to hit the wood behind the drywall with the drill bit. I do recommend snapping a chalk line to mark the joists as it makes things a lot easier to mount the ceiling brackets. This is a well-made product and as such, it is heavy. The box says it weighs 80 pounds but it will hold 750 pounds of balanced weight. I have just started to load it up with seasonal chairs and ice chests but my kids and I tried hanging from it and it supported all of our weight with no problem.

Very well made, multiple height settings and easy to install.

It is a well built shelf! It can hold the weight advertised!

Very sturdy and looks great installed in the garage. Product is great as advertised.

Easy to follow install and great product quality.

Added tons of space to the ceiling of my garage. Matches the look of all my Gladiator storage products.

Quality built and designed for heavier loads than the cheaper overhead storage shelves. Easy to install ( with 2 people). Worth the money to do it right the first time.

Excellent product. Great instructions. Excellent build quality.

Glad i made this purchase. This is an excellent product. Great build quality and great design. Putting it together was pretty straight forward and simple thanks to the design. The finished product was very sturdy. I had no problems with the instructions or installation. I like that it provided instruction for parallel or perpendicular installation. If you have finished walls, i highly recommend the white. It blends well with the ceiling and walls.

Easy to install. Attractive and functional

Great rack and works for my needs. I liked the options you get for installing it. It allowed me to modify it to fit the unusual stud placement made by the builder. I would highly recommend that you have a second person help you to install, especially the first panel.

Good quality and clear instructions!

Good quality and easy installation instructions. Well built very sturdy.

Once I found my ceiling studs, everything mounted perfectly. I’m ordering more.