Did anyone read the title of this thread with a Mitch Hedberg voice?

Much to my own dismay, I've recently broken down and rented out a self storage unit. I always said I would never be one of "those people" who have so much crap (non music related, anyway) that they have to pay to store it somewhere. I guess that was before my DAS (Drum Acquisition Syndrome) took full effect. Clapping Happy2

The 10' x 15' unit is climate controlled (so it's accessed from an interior hallway), is individually alarmed, has 24/7 access and is only 1.25 miles from my home, so all in all it's pretty convenient.

I currently have 30 kits, and almost all of them are stored there. I have 16 old school trap cases on wheels (not the new SKB types) and another 14 plastic trunks that I keep all the hardware for each kit in. Not to mention I have tons of drums, obviously. I bought two plastic/resin shelves for my small toms. They are both the same width and height and each have 5 shelves, but one is 24" deep and one is 14" deep. I use the 14" deep shelf to hold all my 8" and 10" toms (three per shelf) and I use the 24" deep shelf to hold my 12" toms (I can fit 4 per shelf if it's slightly away from the wall, this is the one in the picture).

I am a little stumped on what to do with my floor toms and bass drums, other than to stack them on top of each other, head on head. Everything is in soft bags except for a few here and there (no hard cases except for cymbals). I'm also searching for a solution for my snares. The shelves I currently have won't work, because there is only 15" of clearance from the surface of one shelf to the bottom of the shelf above it. A standard 14" snare won't fit even without a case (on its side), let alone with one, so purchasing additional shelving units won't help. If I lay them flat like the toms in the picture, the shelves aren't wide enough to fit two snares per shelf (even two 12's are snug). And with only 15" of clearance to the shelf above, I can't stack two snares flat on top of each other in their cases either, unless one was a piccolo. I have looked for the plastic/resin shelving units online, but none have any more clearance between shelves than the ones I have. I like to stick with the plastic shelves, because the metal and MDF shelving units can be expensive, not to mention pretty heavy and a pain to assemble.

The shelving units I have are supported by 4 "poles" at each level, It's basically just black PVC piping, with one "regular" end (that goes into the shelf above it) and one "tapered end" that fits into the surface of the shelf below it. I took one of the poles to a hardware store to see if I could use regular PVC piping (along with a coupler on the non-tapered part of the existing pole) to be able to give myself more clearance between shelves. Unfortunately, it is a non-standard diameter (of course!), and I can't find any PVC couplers or piping that will work to make the existing poles longer.

What storage solutions do you employ? Do you have any suggestions? I would like to keep things as organized as possible in there, mainly so I can find what I need quickly and also so I can at least move around and load and unload without hassles.

A few things I"m doing now:

I have my floor toms and bass drums stacked on top of each other (like sized). I have them stacked about 4 or 5 high, and about two or three deep. Every two drums, I have "signboard" material (basically stiff poster board that goes over the metal prongs on yard signs) to help stabilize the stack. This is frustrating, because I never know what drum is where, and although I have each bag labeled on the outside as to what it holds, I have to move each one to see what it is (of course the one I need is always the one on the bottom, in the back!). I keep my snares stacked on my trap cases.

I also have my hardware trunks stacked three high. I don't want to go any more than that for fear of the bottom one caving in or being compromised. I was thinking possibly of putting some plywood every two hardware trunks as well like I do with the drums and the signboard. I would like to go up to 6 high. Do you think that would work if I put some plywood between cases 2 & 3, and 4 & 5?

I would really appreciate your thoughts and opinions. Obviously, shelving units make no sense for floor toms and bass drums, and I really wish I could find one with at least 17" of clearance between shelves for my snares. I thought about using the Proline Snare Drum Rack that Guitar Center sells, but that would only hold about 8 snares and you can't stack the units on top of each other.

Thanks for indulging me in this thread. We all know the easiest and best solution is: "Get rid of a bunch of your kits", but we all know how that goes LOL!

V