How to Repair Warehouse Rack - TPC Automation

By Simon Walker, President of TPC Material Handling

Someone, but no one in particular, damaged a rack upright in the warehouse. He hit it good. You need immediate rack repair.

The rack is so damaged that you have told the team to unload the racking and cover the bays with caution tape so that no tries to load pallets into the damaged bay. There is so much black and yellow tape, it looks like a police crime scene. Now, you are online searching for someone to help you fix the problem.

How to Fix Damaged Rack

You may have heard of pallet racking repair kits. Repair kits have been around for a long time, but are only now becoming popular. These kits look simple enough, but are they engineered and safe to use? How do you install them? Is there a company that can come and repair the warehouse racking safely with certified installers?

All good questions.

If you want to speak to one of our material handling experts about rack repair, filling this short form. Or continue reading below…

Pallet Rack Repair Kits

Rack Repair – Step by Step Guide

Step 1 – Inspection

It is easy to repair pallet racking, but it is not simple. To fix your rack, you will first need to invite a TPC Automation storage specialist to visit your warehouse and assess the damage. This involves filling out a site survey, taking detailed measurements, photos and checking for paint matching.

Two men inspecting the warehouse pallet racking system — Rack Repair Specialists inspecting the warehouse racking

Step 2 – Engineer Rack Repair Kits

Once the rack damage data has been collected, engineers will analyze the data, including

Rack Style
Size of column
Baseplate size
Height and length of rack struts
Height of the first beam
Height of the rack damage
Color of the racking

Using the above data, the rack kits will be engineered to match or exceed the capacity of the current rack. The kits will also be color-matched to help the existing rack blend into the background of the remaining beams and uprights.

Step 3 – Use Certified Installers

Factory trained rack repair installers — Certified Racking Repair Installers

First, the damaged warehouse racking is supported by our engineered specialized hydraulic jack. The upright frame is jacked up off the floor by a quarter of an inch.

Then, once the rack is fully supported, the struts are cut away from the damaged upright. Also cut, are the anchors used to fasten the rack to the warehouse floor.

Rack installers cut the strut from the upright frame — Installers cut the horizontal strut from the damaged upright frame in order to repair the rack

It is now time to cut away the damaged porting of the racking. Under the guidance of our experienced technicians, the upright frame is cut at the predetermined height.

Rack repair technician cuts the upright frame above the damaged area — Rack Repair Technician cuts the frame above the damaged area on the upright frame

Step 4 – Replace the damage

Now, the engineered and color-matched repair kit is moved into place. The damaged rack is moved to the side as the new upright frame and base plate is carefully fitted to the existing racking.

Rack repair kit is fitted to existing warehouse racking — Move the engineered rack repair kit into place

Step 5 – Bolt the repair kit to the existing racking

With TPC Automation’s Mak-Rak racking repair kits, you do not need to weld in order to fix your warehouse damaged pallet rack. All the welding is completed at our US factory.

Once the damaged portion of the upright has been removed and the kit has been put in place, all that is needed for the kit to be bolted to the existing racking. The horizontal strut is set in place, drilled and bolted to the repair kit, forming a positive mechanical connection.

Bolted rack repair kit — Repaired racking with the repair kit bolted into place from the back

Step 6 – Anchor the rack to the warehouse floor

Once the kit has been bolted to the remaining healthy portion of the upright frame, all that is left to do is to re-anchor the baseplate to the warehouse floor.

Anchor racking to the warehouse slab during the rack repair process — The repaired rack is now anchored to the warehouse floor (slab) using seismic anchors

Step 7 – Protect the rest of your rack using column guards

To create a safe warehouse environment and to prevent the need for repairs in the future, it’s a great idea to install protection to the undamaged racking.