As far as wood, it will last for years, but it generally looks just like it is...home-made! Unless you pre-drill everything, there is a tendency to split the wood which just lends itself to premature wobbling of the rack. With wood swelling you can also have loose tubs one day and tubs you can hardly pull out the next. Vinyl will expand and contract as well, but not nearly as easily as wood kept outside in a shed/garage. As far as measurements, that will vary by the tubs you use. My shelves are 40" x 28", the rack is 72" tall. The tubs are roughly 20" x 27.5" x 6". I went 6 levels, so 12" per level leaves me 6" of free space for putting in food and running water lines. To "set" the center runner, I bought a piece of 3/8" pvc pipe and cut it to length(3/4" I believe) so there were no exposed screws. You can see this in the pic. The side runners are just screwed to the "legs". To attach everything you need to first drill a hole so you're only running the screw/rivet through one side of the rail into the legs. If you look closely, you'll find 5/8" holes at every shelf, and on the side runners. These holes are then plugged with 5/8" vinyl plugs(made for this purpose). I wanted to use a better screen material than hardware cloth, but since this was the "prototype" I went ahead and bought a 2' wide roll and riveted it to the shelves with large flanged rivets. As far as the material, that is a little tough. Lowes sells vinyl railing, but not sure if you can buy it piece by piece or not. I got mine from a vinyl railing fabrication shop. They custom make the railing to fit whatever area the contractors need. So, you can try to find a shop, or talk with a contractor that does fencing and see if they will order your pieces for you. The shelves and sides are basically welded like they do a gate. So, ask for a gate without pickets. This is cheaper because the shop will not have to router any holes, just cut and weld. The welds were done on a welder originally designed to weld window frames. If you look at your vinyl windows, that is probably exactly what my welds look like. This stuff is hollow, so you can't just frame it like you can wood. If you really want to copy this rack, and just can't find the material, let me know. You also have to realize this is vinyl and the railing isn't that thick that you're screwing into. So, you need to use rivets and even screws/bolts with the "butterflies" so you can get a tight hold that will outlast a wobbling screw in .25" of vinyl. You're all smart guys, study that picture, find the tub you want to use and e-mail if you think I can offer you any help. You just have to think a little different, get creative, since the material isn't solid like wood. I hope I answered most of the questions. Thanks for the compliments guys, take care
Paul
