How much weight can pallet rack hold?

There is no single capacity: beam capacity is per pair, per level, while frame capacity depends on height and beam spacing. We size beams and frames from your heaviest pallet, and capacities go on load plaques.

How long does it take to get and install pallet rack?

Standard teardrop sizes often quick-ship, while high-density systems and non-standard sizes take longer; lead time is confirmed on the quote. Installation time depends on bay count and site readiness, and we schedule it around the approved layout and your operation.

What type of pallet rack do I need?

Selective teardrop rack is the default for mixed SKUs; pushback is two to six deep, LIFO by SKU; pallet flow is for FIFO or dated stock; drive-in is for bulk storage with few SKUs. Cantilever holds long loads, and carton flow serves case picking.

What aisle width do I need?

Aisle width is set by the lift truck: counterbalance trucks typically need about 12–13 feet, reach trucks about 8–10 feet and very-narrow-aisle equipment about 5–6 feet. We confirm actual truck specifications and load dimensions; aisle width has a major effect on storage density.

Lancaster, Ohio

Drive-In Rack in Lancaster, OH

Drive-in rack gets asked about in Lancaster when an operation is sitting on a lot of one SKU — bulk buffer stock or a seasonal item — and the floor space going into aisles between pallets starts to feel wasteful. Wholesale suppliers and industrial manufacturers around Lancaster Industrial Park and the River Valley area are the ones most likely to carry that kind of load.

A forklift drives directly into the rack structure and sets pallets on continuous rails rather than individual beam levels, so one lane can hold pallet after pallet at the same elevation with no aisle between them. Opening a single end of the lane gives the most positions per square foot but runs last in, first out; opening both ends gives up a few positions in exchange for first-in, first-out access.

614-379-4436

Why Lancaster Warehouses Work With Us

Buildings along the US-33 southeast corridor carry different column grids depending on when they were built, from older shells near Memorial Drive to newer spans closer to Ety Road, and drive-in rail depth has to be set against the actual column spacing rather than a standard lane length.

Lancaster's wholesale suppliers and industrial manufacturers around Lancaster Industrial Park and the River Valley area typically carry large volumes of a small number of SKUs, which is the load pattern that makes drive-in rack worth the trade-off of only accessing a lane from one or two ends instead of every position individually.

Based in Fairfield County, the rail depth, column spacing and forklift clearance for a drive-in system get checked against the real building before steel is ordered, since drive-in lanes are unforgiving of a layout that's off by even a few inches on rail width. We keep site notes and measurements on file after the first visit to Lancaster, so a follow-up visit or a later phase of the same project does not start from a blank sheet.

Free warehouse consultation

CAD layout with position counts

Installation by trusted installation partners

Drive-in pallet rack lanes fitted with continuous rails

Drive-in warehouse racking loaded with bulk pallets

Operations We Rack Around Here

Nearby areas we work in regularly include the US-33 southeast corridor, Lancaster Industrial Park, River Valley, Memorial Drive corridor, Ety Road.

Glass and ceramics

Industrial manufacturing

Wholesale supply

Packaging

How Drive-In Rack Works

Storage lanes replace internal access aisles. Forklifts enter the structure to handle bulk pallets.

Continuous rails, not beams

Pallets rest on rails carried by upright frames rather than individual beam levels, so a lane accepts pallet after pallet at the same elevation.

The truck enters the lane

The driver travels inside the bay to place or retrieve each load. Lane width, rail height, and mast clearance get dimensioned to that specific truck, not a generic one.

One open end or two

One open end gives LIFO and the highest density available. Two open ends give FIFO with slightly fewer positions, since each lane now needs clearance from both sides.

Guarding built into the design

Guide rails, column guards, and rail-end protection are part of the spec from the start, because lift trucks enter the structure during loading and retrieval.

What a Lancaster Drive-In Rack Project Includes

A drive-in rack project for a Lancaster building starts with the pallet load: dimensions, weight, how many SKUs need bulk lanes, and whether the operation can work with last-in-first-out access or needs both ends open for rotation. Those answers set rail depth, lane count and column spacing.

The forklift drives into the structure and sets pallets on continuous rails rather than individual beam levels, so a lane accepts pallet after pallet at the same elevation with no aisle taking up space between positions. Driver clearance inside the lane has to match the forklift actually in use, since a mismatch there is the most common cause of rack damage in drive-in systems.

For buildings around Lancaster Industrial Park and the River Valley area, lane depth and column spacing are drawn against the building's clear height and existing grid, then compared to a selective layout on the same footprint so the position density gain is visible against the loss of per-pallet access.

Installation crews anchor frames and rails to the floor, verify rail alignment down the full lane depth before loading begins, and label each lane with its rated capacity and access direction. Later changes to lane count or depth are drawn off the original layout rather than measured from scratch. Any revisions to the layout after the initial walkthrough are priced and documented before steel is ordered, so the scope stays tied to what was actually measured on site.

High volume of a small number of SKUs

Seasonal or buffer inventory held in bulk

Cold storage and freezer rooms where cube matters most

Product too fragile to floor-stack more than two high

Buildings where floor space, not height, is the binding constraint

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Recent Installations

Racking projects completed for warehouses across Central Ohio.

Drive-in pallet rack system installed in a warehouse — Drive-in pallet rack

Carton flow rack bays with gravity roller beds — Carton flow rack

Tall selective pallet rack rows with wire decking — Selective pallet rack

Warehouse aisle of selective pallet rack with wire decking — Selective pallet rack with wire decking

Newly installed pallet rack rows in an empty warehouse — New warehouse rack installation

Long rows of green and orange selective pallet rack — Selective pallet rack rows

Wide view of a warehouse racking layout with wire decking — Warehouse racking layout

Multiple rows of pallet rack in a distribution warehouse — Pallet rack rows

Cantilever rack with orange arms installed against a warehouse wall — Cantilever rack

Push back pallet rack carts and rails installed in a cold storage room — Push back pallet rack

View More Projects

Get a Drive-In Rack Quote for Your Lancaster Warehouse

Send the basics and we will follow up with a layout and pricing. Prefer to talk it through? Call 614-379-4436.

Columbus Pallet Rack

4551 Wright Ave.

Unit #2092

Columbus, OH 43213

614-379-4436

Monday - Friday: 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM

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