Sometimes, you run out of space at your home or in the office for all your belongings. Perhaps you recently inherited your great aunt’s fine art collection or found a surplus of vintage vinyl records from a Saturday of garage sale shopping. Regardless of how you acquired your belongings, finding a storage facility might be your next plan of action. As rental storage units vary in size and amenities, we discuss below why you should unquestionably make your next unit temperature-controlled.
What Happens Without Temperature-Controlled Storage?
In a perfect world, all your items in a storage room would be perfectly safe, not only from theft but also from wear and tear brought about by the unit’s atmosphere. However, the conditions of a storage unit’s interior can be unpredictable. Protection cannot be guaranteed without some way to manage temperature and humidity levels. In fact, a whole slew of issues could arise when heat, cold, and increased moisture enter your storage unit.
Heat
Warped Frames
Wood, stretched fabrics, or malleable metals are the first to succumb to weather-warped damage. Abnormal heat levels tend to compromise the structure of typical furniture pieces like tables, instruments, and canvases. When heat and cold cause these items to expand and contract over the course of time, the materials weaken, ultimately resulting in deformities.
Melted Components
Like a popsicle in the heat of summer, belongings that are continually exposed to heat will begin to melt, sweat, or burn. Even though your items in storage are kept from direct sunlight, a room that heats from the lack of air conditioning will affect any materials with a low melting temperature.
Cold
Breakage
When too cold, thin glass is extremely prone to cracking and even shattering. Shattered glass could be damaging to other items nearby as it may pierce delicate materials or become a safety hazard when you next visit the unit. If you cannot move to a temperature-controlled storage unit, effectively pack your fragile items and place in a safe spot to best prevent breakage.
Rust and Stiffened Hinges
Weakened metals could develop rust or reduce effectiveness. If ever previously exposed to moisture, placing your possessions in a storage unit that’s not temperature-controlled could put them in jeopardy of forming that notoriously crusty corrosion or become the squeaky hinge you didn’t need.
Moisture
Mold and Mildew
No one wants to open their storage unit door and find mold spores infesting their family heirlooms or designer collections. Mold and mildew can slyly enter a room if you don’t manage the space well. Utilizing a stable, temperature-controlled storage unit and taking further mold-prevention actions will eliminate extreme temperatures needed for dangerous mold to grow.
Insects and Infestation
If there is opportunity for moisture to enter your storage unit, do not be fooled that bugs and rodents will not find a way in either. Even the smallest of cracks can bring in unwanted critters that house during the winter or find the moisture-ridden area, a perfect breeding ground for mating season.
What Truly Needs Temperature-Controlled Storage?
Any of your belongings may be affected by extreme temperatures and high humidity. However, there are specific items that should have priority for placement in temperature-controlled storage units to further your preventative measures.
Pictures/Scrapbooks
When developed from film to final product, photographs are highly reactive to extremely hot or cold temperatures. Both the raw film and developed pictures could entirely erase and leave you with lost work or memories, especially pictures developed from negatives. Choosing a unit without a temperature-controlled environment will result in a gamble of potentially ruining your photographs.
Electronics
Electronics such as CDs, DVDs, old video cassettes, and gaming software require storage in room-temperature to prevent distortion, warping, or any other damage. In a storage unit without temperature-controlling features, cold weather can affect electronics, causing damage from dull batteries to irreparably frozen screens. Too much exposure to heat and humidity can cause warped or even melted technology components.
Antiques
Historical relics, family heirlooms, or personal treasures should be maintained with the highest care. You will find it extremely difficult to preserve your belongings if you do not store them in a temperature-controlled storage unit. Prevent warping, discoloring, and breakage by securing your antiques in a premium storage unit that monitors room temperatures.
Furniture
From tables and bookshelves to mattresses and upholstered sofas, storage that is not temperature-controlled promotes detrimental situations. When the unit heats and cools at irregular intervals, all wooden products will expand and contract, causing warping or splitting that could ruin your furniture. With upholstered furniture and mattresses, excess heat and moisture can grow unsightly molds and mildews that you may not be able to successfully clean and disinfect.
Artwork
Aged oil paintings, children’s paper mache sculptures, or lace embroidery projects are at risk when stored in a unit lacking temperature control. With heated and humid environments, the oil mediums in artwork can bleed together and transform the masterpiece into a muddied blur. If paper mache is left in the same environment, the work will begin to warp as the paper lifts itself away from the intended form. Similar to how wedding gowns are preserved to prevent yellowing, lace and embroidery must not be placed in humid or uncontrolled units.
Leather
Regardless how the leather comes – in the form of a pair of boots, a vintage jacket, or piece of furniture – placing the leather item in a storage unit void of temperature and humidity control can be detrimental. Similar to direct sunlight exposure, extreme temperatures or humidity can cause discoloration, warping, stretching, shrinkage, and cracking to the material.
Secure Your Belongings with Alliance Moving and Storage
Protect your stored items just as well as the belongings in your home or office by securing a reliable storage unit to temporarily house your treasures. At Alliance Moving and Storage, we are dedicated to providing the most reliable temperature-controlled storage units, keeping and preserving your property inside. Contact us today to receive a quote on our available spaces!
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