Preparing Items For Long Term Storage: What You Can Do To Help Prevent Damage
While your belongings are not likely to be damaged by simply storing them for a short period of time, damage to these items can be a serious concern when storing these items for a longer period of time. In fact, serious damage can be done to your personal property in even just a few weeks if you have not taken precautions to prevent this damage. Thankfully, it is possible to prevent most damage to your stored items by taking the time to use the three tips outlined below when preparing these items for storage.
Tip #1: Skip The Use Of Cardboard Boxes
Cardboard boxes can present a host of problems when it comes to preventing damage to your stored items. For instance, cardboard boxes can easily suffer moisture damage, collapse under the weight of other items, and be infested by common pests. Choosing to skip the use of cardboard boxes in favor of plastic storage bins will allow you to avoid all these different types of damage. As an added bonus, these storage bins will also allow you to create more stable stacks within your storage unit.
Tip #2: Ensure Air Can Flow Around Your Storage Unit
Airflow is important for preventing damage resulting from the growth of mold and mildew. In order to help ensure air is able to flow around all sides of your stored items, it is a good idea to place wood pallets on the floor prior to loading your items into the storage unit. This will prevent the items from resting directly on the floor and will allow air to flow beneath them. You will also want to avoid resting items directly up against the walls of the unit for this same reason.
Tip #3: Anticipate The Effects Of Gravity
Gravity is perhaps the most commonly overlooked threat when it comes to long-term storage. However, the fact that many people fail to consider the impact that gravity can have on their stored belongings does not prevent this invisible threat from doing harm. This is because items such as mattresses, couches, and pillows which make use of loose filling can be damaged by the effects of gravity if they are stored on their side. In this situation, the pull of gravity on the filling used in these products will eventually cause the filling to shift to one side. Storing these items flat or flipping them on a regular basis will allow you to avoid this type of damage.