Article
Cantilever Racking: Applications Beyond Lumber
By David Scelfo, Director of Marketing
Cantilever rack has a reputation as a lumber system, and it earned it. The open, column-free front that makes it easy to load a 16-foot board with a forklift is exactly what long material needs. But that same design, arms extending from a vertical column with nothing blocking the front, makes cantilever the right answer for a much wider range of products than most people realize.
If you store anything that's long, bulky, heavy per foot, or simply won't sit on a pallet, cantilever is often the system that handles it when selective pallet rack can't. This guide covers cantilever applications beyond lumber and how the system is configured for each.
Why Cantilever Works for More Than Lumber
Three features make cantilever flexible across product types:
No front columns. A forklift, crane, or person can approach the load from the front along its entire length without working around uprights. That's essential for anything you load lengthwise.
Adjustable arms. Arms relocate up and down the column without structural modification, so the same rack reconfigures as your product mix changes. A rack holding 4-foot bundles today can hold 12-foot material next quarter.
Configurable support. Arms can be left open for long stock, fitted with lips or stops for round goods, or topped with decking to create a flat shelf for sheet material and furniture. That adaptability is what extends cantilever well past lumber.
Pipe, Tube, and Conduit
Pipe, tube, and conduit are classic cantilever loads, but they behave differently from lumber in one important way: they roll. A cantilever system for round goods uses arms with raised ends or lips, or vertical stop posts between arm levels, so material can't roll off the front or migrate sideways.
The other difference is weight. Metal pipe is heavy per linear foot, so a pipe rack is usually engineered with structural steel arms and columns and closer vertical arm spacing than a lumber rack of the same height. The arm capacity, spacing, and stops all follow from your pipe diameter, wall thickness, and bundle weight.
Steel Bar Stock and Structural Steel
Bar stock, angle, channel, beam, and other structural steel are dense, heavy, and long, which is squarely in cantilever territory. These are typically the heaviest cantilever applications, often running structural steel construction with arm capacities toward the top of the range. Service centers and fabrication shops use cantilever to keep full lengths accessible and organized by size and grade, with a forklift or overhead crane pulling stock from the open front.
Sheet Goods: Plywood, Drywall, Particle Board, and Sheet Metal
Flat sheet material is one of the most common non-lumber cantilever uses, and it's where decking earns its place. Plywood, drywall, MDF, particle board, glass panels, and sheet metal sag or bow if they bridge open arms, so cantilever systems for sheet goods use deck panels laid across the arms or much tighter arm spacing to provide flat, continuous support.
The result is a flat shelf with the column-free front access cantilever is built for. You keep the easy front loading while giving sheet material the full-length support it needs.
Furniture and Bulky Boxed Goods
With decking across the arms, cantilever becomes an effective system for furniture, appliances, and bulky boxed goods that don't fit standard pallet bays or that you want to store individually rather than unitized. Furniture retailers, manufacturers, and distributors use decked cantilever to store sofas, casegoods, mattresses, and oversized cartons on open, accessible levels. The adjustable arms accommodate tall and short items on the same rack, and the open front makes individual pieces easy to retrieve without digging.
Rolled Materials: Carpet, Fabric, Textiles, and Vinyl
Rolled goods are long, heavy, and awkward, and they roll, which makes them a poor fit for almost everything except cantilever. Carpet rolls, fabric and textile rolls, vinyl, geotextiles, and similar materials store on cantilever arms with stops or in cradles that hold the roll. Flooring distributors and textile operations rely on cantilever to keep full rolls accessible and off the floor, where they're easier to inventory and far less likely to be damaged.
Other Oversized and Non-Palletized Product
The pattern by now is clear: if it's long, bulky, or won't palletize, cantilever is usually the answer. Other common applications include:
- HVAC ductwork and ducting stored in full lengths
- Doors, windows, and millwork kept flat or on edge with stops
- Molding, trim, and extrusions in long bundles
- Solar panels and glazing on decked or close-spaced arms
- Agricultural and irrigation inputs like pipe, posts, and rolled materials
- Furniture and upholstered goods such as couches and sectionals on decked arms
If you can describe the load, it can almost always be configured for. The system adapts to the product, not the other way around.
Configuring Cantilever for Non-Lumber Loads
The reason cantilever covers so many products is that a handful of variables get tuned to each one:
- Arm length is set to the product's depth, with enough length to support the load and enough clearance to retrieve it. Longer arms carry less, so length and capacity are decided together.
- Arm capacity and construction (roll-formed for light and medium duty, structural steel for heavy) follow from the heaviest individual load, not an average.
- Arm spacing is closer for sheet goods, heavy metal, and anything that needs more support points; wider for tall or bundled items.
- Stops, lips, and decking are added for round goods, sheet material, and furniture so loads stay put and stay supported.
- Single- or double-sided configuration depends on whether the rack sits against a wall or stands freely with access from both sides.
For the heaviest applications, the difference between a system that lasts and one that fails is matching all of this to your actual inventory rather than a catalog assumption. We design cantilever around your real product dimensions and weights.
Indoor, Outdoor, Single- and Double-Sided
Cantilever's flexibility extends to where it lives. Single-sided systems mount against a wall or fit space-constrained runs; double-sided freestanding systems give access from both faces and double the storage per footprint. For outdoor storage, common in building-material yards, pipe storage, and agricultural settings, systems are specified with hot-dip galvanizing or industrial coatings and engineered for wind loads and outdoor anchoring.
Code and Permitting
Cantilever rack requires standard building permits, with the engineering level driven by height and load capacity. Tall or heavy-duty systems require stamped structural calculations, and outdoor or seismic-zone installations add wind and seismic considerations. Our warehouse racking permits guide covers the full process, and we coordinate permitting and compliance as part of every installation.
Industries That Use Cantilever Beyond Lumber
- Manufacturing: bar stock, sheet metal, tubing, extrusions, and raw materials staged near workstations
- Warehouse and distribution: building materials, furniture, and long-format product stored alongside palletized inventory
- Agriculture: irrigation pipe, posts, rolled materials, and oversized inputs
- Building supply and flooring: drywall, plywood, trim, carpet, and vinyl in long or rolled formats
Many of these facilities run cantilever and selective pallet rack side by side: cantilever for the long and bulky product, selective or drive-in for the palletized inventory in the same building.
Getting Started
Cantilever is one of the most adaptable systems in the warehouse, but that adaptability only pays off when the arms, capacity, spacing, and supports are matched to what you're actually storing. The same rack that's perfect for 20-foot pipe is wrong for stacked drywall unless it's configured for it.
We design cantilever systems around your real inventory dimensions and weights, add the stops, decking, and structural capacity each product needs, and handle engineering, permitting, and installation nationwide. Request a consultation to spec a system for your product, or explore our cantilever rack solutions for configuration details. You can also model your palletized storage with our capacity calculator.
Frequently asked questions
What can you store on cantilever racking besides lumber?
Cantilever rack handles almost anything long, bulky, or hard to palletize: pipe, tube and conduit, steel bar stock and structural steel, sheet goods like plywood and drywall, furniture, rolled materials such as carpet and fabric, HVAC duct, doors and windows, and oversized or odd-shaped product. With decking added across the arms, it also stores smaller or flat items that would otherwise fall between the arms.
How do you store pipe and round materials on cantilever rack?
Round goods roll, so cantilever systems for pipe and tube use arms with raised ends or lips, or stop posts, to keep material from rolling off the front or sides. Because metal pipe is heavy per linear foot, these systems are usually engineered with structural steel arms and columns and closer arm spacing than a lumber rack of the same length.
Can cantilever rack hold sheet goods like plywood and drywall?
Yes. Sheet goods need flat, continuous support so they don't sag or bow between arms, so cantilever systems for plywood, drywall, particle board, and sheet metal use decking laid across the arms or tighter arm spacing. The deck turns the open arms into a flat shelf while keeping the column-free front access cantilever is known for.
What is the weight capacity of cantilever rack arms?
Cantilever capacity has two separate ratings, and confusing them is a common mistake. Per-arm capacity, what a single arm holds, typically runs from a few hundred pounds up to around 3,000 pounds on standard systems, with heavy structural arms rated higher. Column (or total) capacity, the cumulative load of all arms on one upright, is much higher and commonly reaches up to roughly 20,000 pounds per side on heavy structural columns. Per-arm capacity also decreases as arm length increases, and both have to be engineered to your actual loads.
Can cantilever rack be used outdoors?
Yes, with the right materials. Outdoor cantilever systems use hot-dip galvanizing or industrial coatings for corrosion resistance and are anchored and engineered for wind loads. This is common for building-material yards, pipe storage, and agricultural inputs stored under cover or in the open.