STOP ASKING

"How Much Can the Rack Hold?"

START ASKING

"How Much Can My Trusses Hold?"

Answer: Far Less Than You Think — and Not Safely.

An entire industry has kept silent about the hidden danger of ceiling-mounted racks.

If you’re trying to figure out how much weight an overhead rack can hold, you’re asking the wrong question. The real limit is your ceiling — not the rack. Most garage trusses can hold a dead load at 10 pounds per square foot (psf). Rack companies brag about “700-lb tests,” but ask yourself… Did they test your ceiling? Of course not.

Here’s the truth:
Trusses are built to hold drywall, light insulation, and electrical — not hundreds of pounds of storage and a person in the attic.

If ceiling rack installers EVER brought this up, you wouldn’t buy a rack.

⚠️ The Garage Ceilings Are the Weakest Link

Trusses are thin 2x4s. Many are already compromised before you ever move in.
Builders often sub out framing work, and crews:

lift trusses wrong,
store them wrong,
skip proper bracing,
leave them exposed to moisture.

When this happens, gusset plates bend, joints crack, and the wood loses strength long before you ever hang a single box.

The damage is usually hidden — until you overload the attic or hang a ceiling rack loaded with bins.

🔴 The Real Problem: POINT LOADS

When you bolt a rack into a truss, you create a heavy point load — all that weight pushing down on one small spot. You’re not “adding storage.” You’re stressing the weakest part of your roof.

Your roof is built from truss triangles. A triangle is the strongest shape in construction. But pull the bottom out of a triangle, and what happens?
The whole thing collapses.

That’s exactly what you’re doing when you load up a ceiling rack:
you’re pulling on the bottom chord of the triangle that holds your roof together.

You’re overloading the weakest part of your roof.

⚠️ Hidden Risk Homeowners Never Think About

The danger isn’t the rack breaking. It’s your ceiling giving way slowly over time — sagging, cracking, pulling apart at the gusset plates.

That’s why the real question isn’t:

❌ “How much weight can the rack hold?”

It’s:

✅ “How much weight can my ceiling safely handle?”

And the only honest answer?
Far less than you think — and not safely.

STAY SAFE — FREESTANDING OVERHEAD STORAGE

So if ceiling racks are a gamble… what’s your option?
The answer is right in front of you: a system that doesn’t attach to your ceiling at all.

Meet ARackAbove — the only overhead storage that stands on its own four feet.
No drilling. No damage. No guessing. Just a rock-solid, engineered frame that holds 2,000lbs of the weight from the ground up — exactly where strength belongs.

💥 The Serious Risk: A Ceiling Collapse

If you push past that small weight limit, you risk big problems:

The whole ceiling could sag or collapse.
Your drywall will crack and nails will pop.
Your home insurance or warranty could be voided.
Worst of all, someone could get hurt by falling storage or a ladder fall.

Defense: "But They Hang Garage Doors from the Trusses!"

True — but that’s engineered.

Garage door rails are spaced, load-distributed, and installed by the builder to handle a moving door. It is engineered to work.
Hanging 700 pounds of dead weight from your trusses?
That’s an afterthought—installed by you or some “professional” in a pickup truck.
No engineering. No permits. No safety margin.

Discover The Only Safe Alternative

Wall shelves are safer because they put the weight on solid wall studs. However, if a screw misses the center of the stud—or worse, never hits one—the load is no longer supported by structure. It’s hanging on drywall and hope. For true overhead storage without risking structural integrity, there’s only one choice - ARackAbove.

ARackAbove is the only true freestanding overhead system.
It’s engineered like a structural beam — built to hold up to 2,000 lbs and it never damages your ceiling.

ARackAbove (Safe)	Ceiling Rack (Risky)
Transfers weight to the garage floor.	Puts all the weight on your weak ceiling.
Holds up to 2,000 lbs.	Limit is just 40 to 80 lbs per truss.
Needs no drilling into the ceiling or wall.	Needs to be drilled and anchored.
No damage, no permits needed.	Could hurt your warranty or require special approval.