Five Tips for Stabilizing Your Pallet Racks

Maximizing the use of your warehouse or other storage spaces can be a tricky balancing act – literally!  It can be tempting to try to use every foot of available vertical space to store more items without having to expand physically. Unfortunately, as you add height to your pallet racks, you increase the chances of them failing or becoming unstable.

With decades helping to improve warehouses through the use of wire mesh products, we have a few tips on how to keep your pallet racks stable.

Five Ways to Stabilize Your Tallest Pallet Racks

1. Know the formula

One of the most common causes of rack instability is when the racks’ depth is too narrow to support the weight of the structure as it grows taller and more packed with items. 

Fortunately, the Rack Manufacturer’s Institute (RMI) has a simple formula for determining whether your racks’ depth is sufficient to maintain stability at a given height: Divide the height of your racks by the depth.  If the result is less than six, you should be safe.  However, of course, the chances of instability will rise as that number approaches six. 

2. Install larger base plates

Larger base plates will provide more stability to the rack overall, although there is still the risk of the top section becoming unstable. Nevertheless, this can be an excellent way to hold larger racks in place.

3. Install cross-aisles

Another good option is to add cross-aisles that link two rack units together.  Then, they effectively become a single unit, and each rack helps support and maintain the other rack.  These cross-aisles can be added near the top, out of the way of workers, without diminishing their effectiveness.

4. Anchor to the walls

If you don’t want a rack to move, anchor the upper portions to the nearest wall.  This will make it almost impossible to shift.  Then you can utilize cross-aisles to spread that stability to neighboring racks.

5. Utilize pallet racking protectors

Pallet racking protectors, such as steel mesh cages, are excellent at preventing instability due to any accidental impacts from machinery, or similar mishaps.  The mesh cages can also help keep items in place and add a little extra structural integrity. 

Our Team at Cal-Wire Can Help

Cal-Wire is one of the nation’s leading providers of metal wire and wire mesh products.  We can help keep your warehouse safe!  Contact us to learn more about our products.