Refrigerator Platform

We have a really small garage.  Well, it is a 2-car but with my van, my husband's Prius, 6 bicycles, golf clubs, tennis racquets, basket balls, footballs, baseballs, etc. oh, and 2 huge trash cans--its packed.  We were trying to figure out a way to add a full-sized refrigerator and I had an idea.  I can't say its an original idea because I saw something like this in my friend Erica's garage (hers was beautifully built, ours would be a purely diy job).

Here is the situation.  You can see my huge van and how I have to squeeze it in.

Here is a better "before" picture, minus the vehicles:

After getting the measurements for the refrigerator we wanted to buy, it seemed like it could fit in the corner to the right of the door.  It would be tight but it really, really seemed like it would fit.  Worth a try.

Time for some destruction.  The small wall had to go.  I didn't have a crowbar so I used my hammer and the really long tree clippers which acted like a crowbar.

There's my guy!  Didn't there used to be something here?

Time to build the platform.  The plan was to build 2 U-shaped supports with 2x4's, hereafter referred to as the "U"s.  Here they are completed.  We used two 2 1/2" screws at each corner.  At first we tried the screw without drilling a pilot hole but it was real difficult, almost impossible, and the wood started to split.  So we used pilot holes.

 

I went to Home Depot and had them cut some 3/4" plywood into 4 pieces.  One piece of plywood was secured to each U with six 1" screws.

I didn't get pics of the next few steps.  One U was placed on each side of space where the platform is to go.  A few nails were used to attach U's to the wall.  The final step was to secure the top of the platform to the supports and the top step.  We ended up using 2 pieces of plywood on top of each other, using the screws to hold everything together.

Strong enough?

It was really, really solid!  Two days later the refrigerator was delivered.

It works!  Yes, a tight fit but really convenient and we weren't using that corner of the garage. 

Linking to:

Stories of A to Z

The DIY Showoff