The last time you looked around your warehouse, did you notice it was a little…flat? 

Sure, most warehouses are, but the implicit or explicit focus on maximizing horizontal space could mean you’re missing out on potential opportunities to expand your current storage capacity.

A lot of warehouses try to fill up every available square inch with storage but often forget about the space above them. With the proper shelving, taller warehouses can find ways to create additional storage without taking up valuable floor space.

Here’s a few tips to help you make the most of the upwards space in your warehouse:

Vertical Warehouse Storage Ideas

Take a look at your tallest items

Warehouse space can be quickly taken up by longer, more cumbersome items. If your warehouse deals in things like furniture, lumber, piping supplies, or construction materials, your current storage methods for these goods might be getting in the way of the other items your team needs to access.

Instead of taking up precious space on pallet racks and other standard types of shelving, install some taller cantilever racks and free up both floor and storage space. The increased verticality of these shelves will let you lay longer items down flat, and while you’ll need the use of forklifts and other equipment to retrieve them, the space it saves in the rest of your warehouse will be more than worth it.

Keep an eye out for dead space

“Dead space” in a warehouse refers to any area where there’s space that can’t be used (or is otherwise unavailable) due to floor space needs. Think about the last time you noticed a space in your warehouse that was too small for pallet racking or other larger shelves, but still wasn’t being used to the full extent it could be. 

Vertical shelving solutions, even something like five shelf wire shelves, can help you turn your dead space into a usable storage area. Look into shelving or storage options that are taller than they are wide, and use plastic shelf bins to organize whatever goes onto these shelves to keep them clean and tidy.

Add a little overhead

But what if you’re just out of usable floor space? Our advice is simple: look up!

In-plant mezzanines can add a great deal of usable storage and workspace to your warehouse with a minimal impact on your floor space. Consider it a second level – it has the weight support to add new shelves and storage space, but still gives your team a space to get work done that doesn’t require a massive overhaul of your total layout.

Hopefully, any combination of these tips lets you make the most of your upwards storage space, and get your warehouse a little more under control!