When organizing small items into boxes, you can spend as little as a few hours. However, for valuable items, making sure that they are properly stored is vital. For example, unlike a small teddy bear, a rare painting wouldn't simply get stored in a box. Why?
Due to the condition of most storage places, the temperature, humidity and lighting could cause damage to your valuables. Therefore, proper storage is essential to maintaining your possessions.
Plan Out What Needs Storing
Before looking to store your belongings, you will need to first create a list of the items that you want to store. By doing this you will have completed your first milestone, which is selecting the correct storage unit size.
Next, you will need to ask yourself a few questions to help narrow down your search:
If you are storing items that have specific requirements-does your storage unit meet them?
If you are storing rare or expensive items - how is your storage unit's security?
If you are storing large items that require travel - does your storage unit allow you to drive through it?
You may not need to ask these questions for valuables, such as toys and CDs, but it is still important to find out for the future.
The Importance of Packing for Long-Term Storage
Since packing for long-term storage requires protection from damage, it is advisable to be cautious of your surroundings. Delicate possessions, like family albums, paintings or furniture will need to be bubble wrapped, to cushion them from nearby hazards.
Another way to avoid potential damage to your possessions is to avoid stacking boxes. This may free up space on your floor, but the built-up weight will eventually damage any antiques or delicate belongings.
Extra Protection: Storage Insurance
There is no such thing as being too careful. At storage units, such as ourselves, we offer our customers third-party links to great insurance. Therefore, you can be certain that your possessions are protected all through your term of storage. Storage insurance will even help to cover the rarest items during your long-term storage, which means your possessions will not lose their financial worth.
Travelling with your valuables
Unlike many self-storage units, we allow our customers to drive directly to their units with the option to lift goods onto the first floor. Even though, this will help to remove the risk of damage, here are a few tips on securing your fragile/antique belongings:
Dealing with Old Furniture
Depending on the age of your antique, it would be advisable to dismantle your furniture. This will avoid any unnecessary tension on the legs of your furniture and will help with the preservation of your antiques.
Make sure to wrap your pieces of furniture with blankets, instead of bubble wrap to avoid them becoming moist and rotting
Avoid stacking your boxes to prevent damage - the stacking of boxes will increase the tension on your furniture's legs, causing it to begin to damage.
Planning a long trip away from home? With Pickups Services, you can travel with the assurance that your valued possessions will be protected. To contact our friendly team, call 0113 236 1144 or office@pickupsltd.co.uk.
4 years ago