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Whether you are employing a professional furniture removal firm or doing your own move, take the time to read about some of the most common pitfalls and annoying not-to-do that can cause headaches and stress. 

Masterton Self-Storage has also a created 2 very handy checklists. One for when you are moving your stuff into storage and the other for when you are moving your stuff out of storage. 

What’s Here?

• The three most important rules of storing stuff are……
• How to prepare books for storage.
• Locking your lockup room.
• Insurance.
• How to avoid your stuff at the bottom getting squashed.
• How to prepare household appliances.
• How to prepare hard furniture.
• How to prepare clothing that can be folded.
• How to prepare clothes for hanging.
• Filling removal boxes.
• The danger of lithium-ion batteries.
• Where is the help when you need it?

The Three Most Important Rules Of Storing Stuff Are:

Label it, label it, and label it.

Label each packing box as you pack. This makes it much easier to find what you are looking for when looking for stuff that is in storage, and when unpacking later.

Packing boxes should be filled but not stuffed. Filled boxes makes for easier and safer stacking and therefore they are far less likely to collapse.

Preparing Books For Storage.

Books should be packed flat, not on their spine. This will prevent them from being damaged. Books are heavy so only use a packing box of a size that can more easily be lifted – around 460mm x 300mm x 350mm in size is ideal. Also, because books are heavy, packing boxes need to be particularly strong. Recognising this, Masterton Storage stock fit-for-purpose boxes. 

Locking Your Lockup Room.

At our place, heavy-duty padlocks are not required. That is because all lockup rooms and or internal common areas are security-alarm monitored. What this means is although even the toughest padlocks can easily and silently cut off not the same cannot happen to a monitored security alarm system. The moment alarm wires are cut the security alarm activates and notifies the alarm monitoring company (24/7/365 [or 366 every 4th year]).  If and when there is an alarm activation the alarm monitoring company (Monitor New Zealand) immediately notifies us. This is where the CCTV camera system takes over. So long as we have an internet connection, we can view up to 18 day and night (once again 24/7/365) vision cameras. If we see any suspicious activity, we call police – not patrol guards (police can be called when a crime is being committed). Although these high-tech state-of-the-art security systems are expensive to install, Masterton Self-Storage sees it as an investment. Your insurance company will love it too. Therefore, your padlock only needs to be of small-to-average in size.

Insurance

A self-storage business is different to a storage business. A storage business takes possession of your stuff and stores on your behalf. They look after it for you and they have insurance cover for it. A storage business is usually part of or associated with furniture removal trucking firms.

Self-storage, on the other hand, offer a cleaner, drier, and more secure facility that is purpose-built and has individual lockup rooms for their customers to hire (they buy a license to use a space). Masterton Self-Storage insures the buildings but not the contents. This because we have no idea of what is being stored or its value. Therefore, our advice is to ‘write/email’ your insurer advising them where you stuff is being stored asking them to note it on your policy. Although insurers are uncomfortable with long-term storage not once has a Masterton Self-Storage customer’s insurance company declined a request. That is because of our robust security systems – insurance companies love it.

How To Avoid Your Stuff Getting Squashed.

When customers use a self-storage facility to store their stuff, they are effectively provided an empty space (a storage unit). Basically, this amounts to stacks-on-the-mill. The stuff on top is generally okay but stuff on or close to the bottom can get squashed and therefore potentially damaged. Knowing this is a problem Masterton Self-Storage has come up with a cunning-plan solution. We call it Bench Shelving. Many of our lockup rooms have a bench shelf. Not only do bench shelves help prevent stuff from getting squashed and damaged but stacking is far easier and safer, stuff in storage is easier to find, your storage lockup room size is far more efficiently used and easier to organise which means you can also get more stuff in, and the chore of stacking is far more user-friendly for you back. Most bench shelves are 2.4m x 1.2m in size but some are much larger and custom-made for the individual lockup room. 

If you see this as a sensible solution, then phone the office (the phone number is at the top right-hand corner of this article) to find out more.

Household Appliances

It is recommended that all appliances are completely empty, cleaned out, and dry before going into storage. Then, when placed into storage the door should be left slightly open – especially refrigerators and freezers. This will allow for ventilation and ventilation will prevent mold, mildew, and dampness from building up which is effectively bacteria and smelly. 

Hard Furniture

Dismantle tables and bed frames if possible. This will make for more efficient transporting and storing. However, all hardware items should be placed in secure containers and secured to the main item to avoid being separated and for safe keeping.

Clothing That Can Be Folded

Plastic storage bins can be okay but are airtight which means there is no ventilation and they do not breath. A better option is a proper packing box made from robust corrugated cardboard. These packing boxes are not only strong but they breath so therefore clothes will not become damp.

They are referred to as Removal Dish – Pack Boxes but, they are too large for crockery.

Clothes For Hanging

For jackets, dresses, blouses, trousers, and other clothing items that need to be stored but cannot (or should not) be folded this is a sensible but cost-efficient option – a Removal Wardrobe. We do not stock these, but we can get them in – one week’s notice is required.  

You will note that there is a steel bar at the top. This is used to place coat hangers. Once clothes are hanging from the rail the box can be taped up. As with all packing boxes, remember to label, label, and label. At the office there is a range of accessory products available to help ease the load of moving including 3 different sizes of packing boxes, permanent marker pens, bubble wrap for protecting glasses, crystal, and plates etc, 3 different sizes of mattress bags (just to prevent mattresses getting soiled while in transit and storage), and strong packing tapes to hold everything securely together.

Filling Removal Boxes

Purpose-built removal boxes are generally very much stronger than those that are discarded from supermarkets. However, whatever type you use do not force stuff in or over-fill the box. Attempt to make the box as square as possible because this will help stable packing. Boxes that are bulging at the sides will almost always collapse fall over.

Batteries.

Humans, in an effort to control climate change, have decided to use more electricity and store it in batteries. I am not convinced this will make much of a difference toward controlling global temperatures especially when New Zealand burnt 3 million tons of coal in 2022 alone just to generate enough power to run our electrical widgets but batteries have revolutionized our lives. Lithium-ion batteries are used everywhere including computers, cell phones, construction power tools, domestic gardening tools, and e-bikes etc.  However, they can also self-combust. In 2022 self-combusting lithium-ion batteries caused 35 fires in New Zealand alone (Oh, by the way, how many tons of CO2 gas did these fires create?). That is not to mention that passenger aircraft have been forced to make unscheduled landing because of onboard fires caused by lithium-ion batteries bursting into flames. These statistics are making insurance companies very nervous. Therefore, when storing items as just mentioned how should the batteries be stored? The recommendation we have received from our insurers is the battery should be disconnected, if possible, from the device. If you have multiple batteries, then it would be sensible to store them in a tin – like a cake tin. The insurers tell us that under no circumstances can lithium-ion batteries be charged inside your storage lockup room at the self-storage facility. We agree but this cannot happen because none of our lockup rooms have electrical power-points that will allow charging. However, how often do you and I charge them at home – at night – through the night when we are asleep? Scary. 

Where Is The Help When You Need It?

When you are at our place you are our guest, and we are your servant. Sure, we do not lift furniture or pick up and stack boxes of stuff, but we are there to offer advice, give suggestions, provide the contact details for the best ‘stuff’ removal firms around here, and a provide clean bathroom if you need one. 

After Reading This You Deserve A Reward.

Take any lockup room for a 6-month term and get 6-weeks free. To redeem this offer just print off this brochure and bring it into the office when you come. Free Phone 0800-(SELF-STOR) 735-378, or visit us at 291 High Street, Masterton – our office hours are 9am to 4:15pm every weekday except statutory holidays.