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

Excellent product. This is a very strong and well finished overhead steel storage rack. It matches my Gladiator cabinets. I installed it very close to a wall which I later realized made it very hard to connect the vertical rails to the overhead supports. I had to use a stick to guide the rails but was able to pull it off. It also complicates loading items towards the back of the unit since I can only load from the front which is 4 feet away. My recommendation: try to install it with at least 2 feet of clearance so you can work all around it. Ideally install with 3 or more feet clearance around the unit. Also, you'll need 2 or 3 assistants to guide the unit when you lift it in place.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] Good packing and I loved the quality of the product. The hammered finish of the paint looks great and should hold up well. I was in a bid after laying out the product in my garage and came to the realization that my ceiling was just going to be to high. Using a ladder to store items was not a family friendly ordeal. I decided to hang this in my utility room in our basement. We did not have space to go 4'x8' so I just used the two panels and went 2'x8' which turned out great. My biggest problem with this design is first getting the layout on a ceiling square and spaced perfect. Have a simple cage to assemble first and then just screw up would have been easier. The other is attaching the bottom section to the hangers. I needed two people to lift and also two more to attach each hanger. I would advise a short video showing the best way and I can't image holding a 4'x8' section in the air you will need to have some sort of support. Overall a successful project and install.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I had a home-made storage rack that this replaced. It took a few helping hands to maneuver the rack over the existing garage door for install. Once up it is very solid and holds boards, bins and whatever else will fit. I will likely get another one to move more stuff off the floor.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] To begin with, this ceiling is VERY sturdy!! Solid as a rock! The assembly was very easy to follow, took a few minutes to assemble. Just a couple of bolts and nuts. The majority of time was spent on finding the rafters and planning where to anchor the ceiling minting strips. In my installation I had to contend with a garage door, ceiling lights and a rack, so the planning took much longer. I highly suggest two people to lift and install the rack, this is not a one man job. The anchor bolts are large, with an aggressive thread, once in they will not slip out. I already had another ceiling rack from another company installed, but this rack truly stands by Gladiator's name. It's is a superior product.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I received the Gearloft in a well packaged box. The finish is very nice and durable. Overall it went together well. In the instructions though, it shows putting a bolt and nut in 4 places with the shelves against each other. I was unable to get the bolts in the outside areas due to them both having nutplates welded on them. Other than that, it is a very strong and well built unit that should last a long time. Versatile with the height and mounting options.

[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.

Great product & lots of storage.

Perfect garage expansion. Super strong lots of square footage

I love this garage shelf! Super solid and I really like the way its height is adjustable. I’ve got it loaded up with several hundred pounds of boxes and totes and it’s totally stable and secure. I’m buying another one.

Wonderful storage solution product. I put this together as an amateur. I needed help from a few others to complete the placement of the base when hanging to the ceiling brackets. If I can do it - you can too! Having your own effective tools will be helpful but not necessary. Sturdy materials with quality feel.

Recommend at least 2 people (3 is ideal) to lift storage rack into place. The overall construct is solid - allow proper time to ensure storage location accommodates the rack's ceiling brackets. Seems straightforward to install, but found could not easily attach the rack support brackets to the ceiling brackets due to interference with bolt heads. Had to adjust ceiling brackets to allow proper installation. I allocated a couple of hours to install, but it took longer due to the bolt interference issues noted earlier. Would have rated this product higher except for bolt interference problem and the fact it wasn't highlighted in the instructions. Overall - pleased with the product.

Nice unit, does what I bought it to do and looks sharp. Difficult for two short people to install, but otherwise easy to assemble.

The storage rack was easy to assemble. It took two people to install. The hardware that came with the product was adequate.

Looks good and works great. Very sturdy.

Easy to install and fill up quickly!!

Very nice sturdy storage rack, I would purchase this again. it takes at least two people to raise it up to the ceiling. The assembly was pretty easy.

Very difficult to put up. The bottom has to go up in one piece due to the grates being permanently installed ( Non Removable ) and it takes at least 2 guys to put it into place. I have put up other brands and they were much easier to install. Overall, it is solid, after install, and does the job.