Interior Design & Decor

Storing your belongings with a self storage facility can be a little trekking because there is always the risk of damaging something important or valuable. Things like antique furniture or high-end expensive electronics can be very costly to repair if there is any damage incurred while in transit to storage or even when sitting in storage. Although most people take great care in protecting their items during transit to the self storage facility that they have chosen, many people do not take the same care and it sure the same protection once they place their items into their self storage unit. Mistakes such as this can prove extremely expensive in the long run.

The purpose of this article is to provide you, the reader, with if you self storage tips that should ensure the safety of your personal belongings both during the trip to the self storage facility and after you have actually stored them in your storage unit. Please read on.

One of the most important tips I can give you if you plan to use self storage to house your belongings is to always label everything correctly and packaged everything securely. I simply cannot stress this enough. Way too many people just throw their items in boxes that are unlabeled and then ship them off to storage in their storage units. Retrieving these items later becomes an immediate nightmare and this is something that you would like to avoid. In addition to labeling everything properly, be sure to use stopping such as peanuts or newspaper to protect anything that is fragile. Be sure to wrap your boxes in bubble wrap or some sort of plastic in an effort to protect them from flood or moisture on the ground. Another good tip I can offer you is to always place your boxes on pallets or crates inside of your storage unit.  This prevents your paper-based boxes and packaging from absorbing any excess water from the concrete ground.

My personal recommendation is to not use paper-based storage at all. Plastic containers are superior storage devices to any kind of box that you can obtain. Most of these plastic containers are airtight and will almost always survive a flood. It is important to keep rodents and other small animals and bugs out of your belongings and plastic containers that are sealed tightly will perform this task nicely. Vacuum storage bags are another type of plastic container storage that I highly recommend. Using self storage vacuum bags to store clothing can save an immense amount of space since the point of these self storage bags is to compress everything stored in them. If most of what you are storing in your self storage unit is clothing or fabric, spending a few dollars on some self storage vacuum bags. You will be glad you did!

If you are storing the replaceable or very expensive heirlooms for antiques, it is probably best to invest in a fireproof and water proof safe. Important paperwork and the like should never just be thrown into your self storage unit. Items such as these belong in a fireproof safe which is then stored in your self storage unit. This provides the ultimate protection for the most valuable of your belongings. Failure to follow these guidelines can be potentially expensive and catastrophic mistakes so please do not scrimp when storing your most valuable possessions in a self storage unit.

Mattresses and furniture, similarly to clothing and fabric products, should be wrapped in some sort of plastic to protect them. Even if stored in climate controlled storage, item such as these are always susceptible to mold and mildew and the last thing you want is mold growing on your mattress and clothing and furniture. Not only is mold and mildew ugly, it can also cause serious health problems for people with certain medical conditions such as asthma. For this reason alone, it is critical to pack your mattresses and furniture correctly when putting it into self storage for any amount of time. To me, this just seems like common sense.

As you can see, self storage can be a huge help to both consumers and businesses alike. However there are still precautions that one must take when storing their items in self storage. Taking such precautions to protect your items will ensure that they survive not only the trip to self storage but also the actual time that they are sitting in your self storage unit. Following the tips in this self storage article should provide you with the basic items to do just that.