Hey friends,

I gotta ask for some advice for all you record collecting geeks...

What kind of storage do you use for your LPs? I bought one of those IKEA 25 cube wall units a few months ago and it fits perfect, but last night at 4am the whole thing gave way and collapsed!! The thing is literally particle board with honeycomb CARDBOARD inside it!! Piece of shit!

Luckily no LPs were harmed in the collapse...

Any suggestions??

Thanks in advance!

I just noticed the ones at Home Depot are actually 18" deep. That's a little deeper than I would like to go for LPs, so I did some research online and found that Amazon.com actually sells a better unit: Gorilla Racks. Check this one out. It's black (not gray like the Home Depot Workforce shelves) and comes in 12" or 14" depths (that one is 34" wide by 14" deep by 72" tall), which would be much better for LP storage. Also, weight capacity is perfect at 250 lbs. per shelf. They also have one that is 30"x12"x60". I think I'm going to order one of these myself. And, again, you would just cut 1"x12" pieces of wood to fit in the sides (you can get these at Home Depot and can cut the wood for you there, too) to hold your records in.

Yeah I used the wrench provided and seemed sturdy enough. I have friends who swear by them and one who doesn't.

I think I'm going the Kopper route and getting the Home Depot ones. In fact my brother is going to give me a few of them... his company is getting rid of some - what perfect timing!!

Now I can get my LPs off the floor and start organizing again! I removed them in a mad panic at 4am and just got them away from the collapse before they got damaged...

I wish I would have taken a photo of it. I'll take a photo of the collapsed "side" and post it.

kopper said:

I highly recommend the heavy-duty garage-style shelves from Lowe's or Home Depot like this one, but I think we found 'em for about $35-40 each. Maybe they were just on sale back then, who knows. These are the ones that have particle board platforms and the rest is a sturdy black metal frame. They are about 14-15" deep and they're rated at 500-600 lbs per shelf, so there's no fear of 'em bending or collapsing. The ends are open, so you take a 12" x 1" boards and cut pieces to fit in the ends to hold the records in (so they don't fall out the sides). So, yer records are only against wood, so the spines/edges are fine. They're about 3' wide, so they hold a couple hundred LPs per shelf. The top of them fits 7" storage boxes (the long white ones...like comic book boxes) perfectly. Depth is perfect and four fit across perfectly. If you have multiple shelves, they're even sturdier when you bolt them together.

Those are almost exactly the same shelves that i've got my records on....had them for at least 20 years, maybe more and they've held up amazingly. Even had a flood many years back, and the water came up to the bottom shelf (talk about luck!!) and all that happened was a little bit of rust on the bottom of the support legs...you can see pix of the shelves in the pix on mypage...

I highly recommend the heavy-duty garage-style shelves from Lowe's or Home Depot like this one, but I think we found 'em for about $35-40 each. Maybe they were just on sale back then, who knows. These are the ones that have particle board platforms and the rest is a sturdy black metal frame. They are about 14-15" deep and they're rated at 500-600 lbs per shelf, so there's no fear of 'em bending or collapsing. The ends are open, so you take a 12" x 1" boards and cut pieces to fit in the ends to hold the records in (so they don't fall out the sides). So, yer records are only against wood, so the spines/edges are fine. They're about 3' wide, so they hold a couple hundred LPs per shelf. The top of them fits 7" storage boxes (the long white ones...like comic book boxes) perfectly. Depth is perfect and four fit across perfectly. If you have multiple shelves, they're even sturdier when you bolt them together.

That sucks!

I have one of the smaller units from Ikea... no problems yet. I think I'll keep using the smaller ones instead of upgrading to the larger style... It may not be the highest quality piece of furniture, but it sure beats a lot of other record storage shelf systems that cost three times as much!

Bloody swedish crap!
Saying that I do have one myself, (4x4) its full with LP's, getting nervous now it might collapse......

I'm kind of glad to hear about this.... I've been using several of the smaller expedit units for a while now and was considering getting one large 25 cube unit to replace them. Maybe I should put those plans on hold, huh?

For a long time I had my LPs set up on a couple of sturdy tables in painted/collaged peach crates. It looked fairly nice and had that record store flip through feel. Unfortunately it took up a lot of space.

Wow man, that is ruff! My condolences.
I have an Ikea 25 cube Expedit unit which is completely full with records, and I've never had any problems with it.
Take photos of the damage, and bring the pics and receipt back to Ikea. Sounds like you might have ended up with a defective one.

I really would go complain at Ikea... something musta been flawed for the shelf to flake so soon. they are usually real good about appeasing unhappy customers. Just be unfailingly polite while explaining your situation... :)

glad to hear that the collection survived in the collapse!

Gra Fiend said:

Yeah the Expedit range is just the perfect size for LP's. If want stability your better getting a few of the smaller ones. Bit pricey but really sturdy. The larger version can flex a bit when fully loaded because the sides are not solid (which causes the sides to give way) and it's a good idea to secure them to a fixed wall with some "L" brackets to create a more solid piece of furniture. It's additional work but at a quarter of the price of solid wood shelving. I'm just pleased to hear your records are OK.

Yes, I even bolted them to the wall as well... I guess the LPs were too heavy for it. When it collapsed - one L bracket was still stuck in the wall connected to some particle board the other one came right off.

Steel shelving for a garage or storeroom with each shelves carrying capacity rated to 180 kilograms each.
Also they flat pack into a car and assemble in 10 minutes.

Yeah the Expedit range is just the perfect size for LP's. If want stability your better getting a few of the smaller ones. Bit pricey but really sturdy. The larger version can flex a bit when fully loaded because the sides are not solid (which causes the sides to give way) and it's a good idea to secure them to a fixed wall with some "L" brackets to create a more solid piece of furniture. It's additional work but at a quarter of the price of solid wood shelving. I'm just pleased to hear your records are OK.

Hey Mark,

Yes that's the exact one! I meant particle board - not pressed wood... the inside of the outer boards are stuffed with honeycomb cardboard!! The right outer board literally just snapped last night/this morning and the whole thing gave way. I can't repair it. I have to throw it all out. I'm so fucking pissed!! I might as well just lit $150 on fire. I have friends who have these as well and most are happy with them. I have one friend who's unit busted as well about 2 years ago - same thing (one of the outer boards gave way).

I now have a mess of LPs on my floor with nowhere to put them... I'm pissed!

This one? I've had mine for about 8-10 years now and its never been an issue. Mine is made of particle board, but no honeycombed cardboard. I even picked up the smaller 2 X 5 as a floor model a year ago and it was made the same. But then mine haven't busted apart either, maybe it's made the same as yours. Most people I know swear by these.