How to Safely Store Furniture: Five Top Tips

Self storage is an easy way to keep surplus furniture and home decor items safe. Whether you’re in between house moves, are moving away from home on a temporary basis or have downsized and need time to decide which furniture to keep and which to sell, storage units can come in handy.

But if you want your items to remain in the same condition they were in when you stored them, there are a handful of precautions you should take. We’re going to run through those below and offer some useful bonus tips to help you take full advantage of the space in your unit.

Disassemble if you can

Before you place any furniture into storage, it’s worth disassembling it if you can. Why? You’ll simply be able to fit more into your unit if you take this step – a whole lot more, in fact. Think of how much space your flat-packed furniture took up when it was new and how much it takes up fully assembled.

Taking your furniture apart is a great way to make the most of your space.

Organise the parts carefully

If you do decide to disassemble your items, make sure you bundle screws, washers and other small parts together and label everything thoroughly. In the case of more complex pieces, it might also be worth taking pictures on your phone to remind yourself how to reassemble them when the time comes. That is, if you can’t find the original instruction manual!

Make sure everything is clean

This is a must. If you store furniture that’s not clean – particularly fabric items – this dirt can encourage the development of mould and mildew. To make matters worse, stains that seem easy to remove now could become nigh-on impossible to get rid of after a few months in storage.

Once you’ve cleaned your furniture, make sure you dry it thoroughly too. If you don’t, any metal parts are likely to rust, while fabric can easily grow mould.

Wrap the furniture to keep moisture out

If you want the ultimate protection for your furniture, make sure you carefully wrap it with damp-proof protective material before placing it into storage. There are a variety of products on the market specifically designed for this purpose, allowing air to circulate around the furniture while simultaneously keeping moisture out.

Choose a secure storage unit

Last but by no means least, make sure you choose a storage facility that’s kept secure all year round. A facility like 1st Access! Learn more about our Peterborough storage units and get your quote online today.