Helpful Storage Tips

Here are some useful tips to help you get the most out of your storage space, and prevent damage to any of your items.

• Use uniform sized carton. They make for more stable stacks.
• Fill each carton to the top. You don’t want them collapsing inwards when stacked.
• Label each carton with a number and a general description of its contents.
• Make an inventory of the goods you are storing identifying the number of the box in which they are packed.
• Put your most wanted stuff to the front of your storage space.
• Leave a walking small passageway between stacks of stored cartons.
• Delicates (china/chrystal/glassware) – wrap carefully, fill the voids – using clean paper or bubble wrap. Pack them carefully in firm “nests”
• Don’t stack heavy weights on top of the “delicate” cartons
• Stack on pallets or on other flattened out cartons. It provides a barrier against residual moisture in the floor of your storage space.
• Where possible “break down” furniture into component parts. If a table has removable legs, take them off. These steps will avoid the waste of storage space.
• Drawers, cabinets and cupboards – fill the voids with small wrapped items (cutlery, china ware, books and papers)
• Notwithstanding the generally good security of most storage facilities, store your most valuable items against the back wall of your space. It makes them less visually obvious and more difficult to get at.
• Refrigerators – prop the door/s so that they are slightly ajar. This avoids the development of moulds and odours (an open pack of bicarbonate soda left in the fridge would also be helpful in this regard)
• Do not store explosives, stolen goods, perishables, chemicals, acids, petrol/oil and other hazardous materials.
• If you are storing anything with an internal combustion engine – drain the fuel tank, disconnect the battery, put a drip tray under the sump and differential and, in the case of small machinery – stand it so that there is no risk of oil leaks.
• Television sets / sound systems – these are best packed back into their original cartons in the moulded foam packing material- if possible. Otherwise, protect them with substantial quantities of bubble wrap plastic wrapping.