Keeping your items safe in storage

We’ve talked before about how secure and safe our storage facilities are, but another thing that’s important to consider is how to store things carefully, in order to protect them for the duration of the lease.

Before storage

We always say, as a general rule you should put everything into boxes and anything that will not fit into boxes should be covered. Boxes should be filled to capacity but not overfilled; partially full or bulging boxes may tip or collapse. We sell boxes and a whole range of other packing supplies at each of our facilities.

Another key thing to bear in mind is that your belongings aren’t automatically covered by insurance if you use self storage, you’ll need to check whether your items are covered by your home contents insurance if you take the items away from home (some insurance companies cover this but not all), if they aren’t, we recommend taking out separate insurance – ours is from NZI and costs as little as a cup of coffee per month. You can read more about this in an earlier post.

If you’re moving boxes and furniture into self storage on a damp, rainy day or if you’re storing any aquatic equipment, it’s really important to dry all of the items thoroughly before leaving them in your storage unit. Otherwise, regardless of whether you use our recommended furniture or mattress covers, you could encourage mould or mildew to develop on the items. Another tip is to make sure that there’s enough space between the items when they’re in the unit…if you cram everything into too small a space, the air can’t flow freely.

If you’re planning to access the unit regularly, make sure that you have a large enough unit that you can access everything that you need to without risk of injury. If you’re putting items into storage that you won’t need to access until the end of your rental period, then you can maximise the height of the unit and fill up the space.

During storage

It’s a good idea to come and check on your units every few months, or at least, every change of seasons. This gives you the opportunity to check that everything is how you left it, add more or take some items away, re-tape any boxes that have become unstuck and generally make sure everything is as it should be. In the unlikely situation that you do discover any damage, go and speak to the facility managers immediately.

If you’re unsure about anything to do with the self storage process, the best thing you can do is speak to one of our managers – they’re the self storage specialists after all. Give them a call today on 0800 58 57 56.