Wire Decking for Industrial Pallet Rack Storage: Basic Wire Decking Options Wire decking is a basic accessory to pallet rack storage systems. Installing wire decking in your pallet rack system is very easy, cost effective, and provides wonderful benefits for storing pallets safely. The most common reason for including wire decks with your pallet rack system is to create a uniform storage level on the pallet rack shelves. This allows forklift operators to set a pallet on the rack safely without falling through the beams if not placed correctly. Especially at higher shelf levels, this gives a much safer and secure area for the pallet to rest while in storage. Wire decks provide safe and effective storage of pallets, boxes, totes, drums and other items. Pallet wire decking improves fire safety as well. They allow sprinkler water to flow through the rack system. It also helps protect empolyees and products, making it easier for forklift operators to load and unload the pallet rack safely. There are many options for wire decks. Size and capacity are critical in selecting the correct shelf decking. The most common size wire decks are listed below along with number of support channels per deck and capacity per deck and even how much each deck weighs. I have also listed the price per deck for reference. The capacity listed is for a uniform load over the entire area of the deck size. Also you always want most of the load of the pallet to be loaded over the horizontal load beams. The load beams of the pallet rack are designed to carry the weight. The channels in the wire decks also carry some weight and keep the wire deck rigid and from deflecting. Part Number Description Size Channels Capacity Per Piece Weight Each PRICE EACH WD-2446 24” Deep X 46” Wide 3 3,280# 11# $20.00 D3646AA3B1 36” Deep X 46” Wide 3 2,700# 19# $18.00 D3652AA3B1 36” Deep X 52” Wide 3 2,700# 20# $19.00 3658A4 36” Deep X 58” Wide 4 3,900# 24# $30.00 D4246AA3A1 42” Deep X 46” Wide 3 2,700# 22# $22.00 D4252AA3A1 42” Deep X 52” Wide 3 2,700# 23# $24.00 D4258AA3A1 42” Deep X 58” Wide 4 2,700# 28# $26.00 D4846AA3C1 48” Deep X 46” Wide 3 2,500# 25# $26.00 D4852BA3A1 48” Deep X 52” Wide 3 2,500# 27# $32.00 A48584 48” Deep X 58” Wide 4 2,630# 32# $38.00 The most common size of pallet rack is 36” deep, 42” deep, and 48” deep so that is why you see in the chart above that those sizes of decks are readily available from our multiple warehouse shipping locations. Also you can note the 46” wide, 52” wide, and 58” wide wire decks are most common to accommodate the following beam sizes. 8’ long beams require (2) 46” wide decks, (2) 52” wide decks fit on 9’ long beams, and (2) 58” wide wire decks fit on 10’ long beams. You use (3) 46” wide wire decks to go on 12’ long beams. Many other sizes and capacities are available depending on the application. There is another key ingredient to note when selecting wire decks. You must determine if you have step beams, or box beams, or structural c channel beams. The most common roll formed step beams such as teardrop style pallet rack beams will require a standard channel wire deck. The support channels of the wire deck fit in between the steps of the rolled beam and rest on the step to create the support. If you have box style beams or c channel structural beams then you will need a flared channel wire deck which provides and flattened piece of steel to rest on top of the beam since there is no step on these type beams. Most wire decking is either powder coated industrial grey color or some manufacturers have a galvanized finish on their wire decks. Both finishes work well for pallet storage. Install the wire decks are very easy. Once you have the pallet rack installed and the beams secured, you simply drop the wire decks into and over top of the beams. The wire decks rest there. You can tek screw the wire decks to the rack beams if desired. Wire decking is a very cost effective way to improve pallet rack safety. It also helps keep you product safe and secure in the pallet rack system. I always include wire decking in my pallet rack storage projects unless a customer requests otherwise. Shipping locations are available all across the US. We ship from Greensboro, NC, Lincolnton, NC; Denver, NC, Tennessee, NY, IL, SC, TX and many other locations across the country to get the decks to the job site quickly and at great pricing. Call or email anytime to get a quote or order wire decking at phil@pstrouth.com and 336-362-1639 https://www.pstrouth.com/wire-decking www.pstrouth.com Check out this YouTube video on the Basics of Installing Pallet Rack and Wire Decking.

Do Pallet Rack End Protection Kits Really Work Against Forklift Damage? Absolutely!! The most economical and easiest way to protect your pallet rack investment is to install Rack End Protection Kits at the end of your pallet rack rows. Forklift aisles are the most likely areas where pallet rack upright damage occurs because the forklifts travel these areas the most and hit and damage the uprights to create an unsafe situation for your warehouse. Install post protectors in front of the upright columns and you have an initial guard that the forklift will hit first instead of the pallet rack frame. This helps keep the upright from being damaged and lets the forklift driver know to stop. Also at the end of a row or in tunnel aisles you want to protect these areas even more. With our rack end protection kit you can easily install two post protectors that protect the upright frame and then our rub rail guard rail that protects the exposed horizontal and diagonal bracing on the uprights. See how we do it at https://www.pstrouth.com/Pallet-Rack-Protection Our most common size pallet rack protection kits can vary based on the depth and size of your pallet rack. Since our rack protection kits use only 2 parts we can mix and match to make it work for your application. The most common are 12” high x 42” long, and 18” high x 42” long. Basically this provides (2) 12” or 18” high heavy duty post protectors that you anchor into the concrete in front and back of the upright. Then you simply bolt the C4 channel end rail to the post protectors and now you have a pallet rack end protection kit. These work best on the ends or your pallet rack rows and in tunnel aisles and on rack installed around dock doors. Mainly in areas that you have the most forklift traffic in your warehouse. We also can do 24” high units and 48” long or even 96” long for back to back rows. We can make our rack end protection kits to fit around any size rack system you have. See how this rack end protection kit did its job in one of our warehouse installs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVPUZpynVUk Call or email anytime to get a quote or order our pallet rack end protection kit at phil@pstrouth.com and 336-362-1639

Do You Need End of Aisle Rack Protection??? You Bet You Do! Is it necessary to add end of aisle rack protection to help protect your pallet rack in your warehouse? You bet it is!! Most rack uprights are damaged at the end of aisles. Why? Because you have forklifts making turns and coming in and out of the rack rows at different angles making these high traffic areas and more likely to be hit by the forklift. There are different forms of end of aisle rack protection on the market and most of these work well. Any protection is better than no protection. After many years of looking at and replacing damaged pallet rack, I think I have come up with a very simple yet effective end of aisle pallet rack protection system. In the majority of damaged uprights we have replaced over the years it seems most of the damage occurs 12" down at the bottom of the upright. This usually is a case of the counterweight of the forklift hitting the upright. The counterweight sticks out the most at the bottom of the forklift and when the operator turns or backs up that is usually what hits the upright frame. Also I have seen forks or pallets hit the uprights and cause damage. Therefore I designed and fairly standard post protector. The post protectors are the style that have a base plate that we anchor to the concrete in front and around the upright column. The plate will accept (4) 1/2" x 3.75" long anchors. We use a longer footplate on the post protector to help disperse the impact on the concrete anchors. Once the post protectors and anchored in place we use a C4 channel structural beam mounted between the post protectors. One bolt holds the structural beam (we call it a Rack End Rub Rail) on each end that you impact directly to the post protectors. We have bolt holes on the post protector on each side to accept the rack end rub rail no matter if it is left hand or right hand side. This creates a solid end protection of the entire exposed side of the upright frame from being hit by the forklift. We can do the rack end rub rail in 42", 48", and 96" as standards but we can make it to any dimension needed. This makes the end of your uprights less likely to be damaged by a forklift hit. Our system is quick, easy, effective, and less expensive than most other end of aisle pallet rack protection systems. As always I am available for questions or design to help protector your rack investment. https://www.pstrouth.com/Pallet-Rack-Protection phil@pstrouth.com Or Call Phil or Ty at 336-362-1639

Recently we had a customer who had a teardrop style beam get lifted up and ripped out of the teardrop upright. The question to repair or replace the upright was approached. After considering the application we decided to replace the upright with a 16' high x 42" deep new upright and the 10' long beam that was connected. One main reason for replacing was due to cost and lead time. We shipped the new upright to our customer in 3 days and the cost of the new heavier duty upright was $250.00 including freight. We also shipped in a new 10' long load beam and a new 42" deep x 58" wide wire deck all within one week. The repair kit would have cost almost exactly the same but would have taken an extra few weeks to get and also the main reason is the damage on this upright was at about 6' high. Usually the repair kits we install are 24" high - 36" high. We have installed 48" and 60" high as well but they get more expensive as you use higher repair kits. Once our crew arrived on site and our customer had the 4 shelf levels unloaded on each side of the damaged upright, it took about 2 hours to complete the job. This system also had load stop beams and wire decks. We had to park a scissor lift to the end of the aisle of the rack because this was the second upright in the row so we did not want the rack with beams to fall after we slid out the damaged upright. Our crew quickly put the new upright in place and connected the 10' long load beams and load stop beams back in place. Then we anchored the new upright and installed a seismic post protector because the new upright has a 5"x 8" foot plate. We also placed the wire decking back in and the customer was ready to load the pallet rack system with product. We provide turn key solutions on pallet rack upright repair or replacement in a quick and safe method. We can also help our customer's decide on the best option. Phil Strouth