You might face unavoidable delays during the moving process that make it necessary to rent a storage space or entrust your belongings temporarily to a moving and storage company. Sometimes, you may need to access your goods while they are in storage, or you may not need them at all until they are delivered. Either way, there are many things to consider if you find yourself in need of storage services.
Cheap Movers Riverside can help you make the right choice by connecting you with moving companies that offer the storage solution you’re looking for – whether you need full-service/all-in-one moving and storage or you need a specialist to help store valuable possessions, such as an art or wine collection. Whatever your needs, Cheap Movers Riverside can assist you in making sure you don’t make the wrong decision in storing your valuables!
Moving & Storage Services Riverside, CA
Before putting your things in storage, you should make sure the facility you use is top-of-the-line. Look for the following when checking out storage space:
CLEANLINESS
In choosing facilities to store your valuable corporate or residential belongings, the first thing to consider is the cleanliness of the location. Whether you are renting a storage unit to hold several belongings from your home, business inventory, or your entire household, placing your possessions in a facility kept to the highest standards of cleanliness will help ensure that nothing is damaged or soiled during the time they are kept in storage.
Security
Of course, security is tantamount when storing your belongings. It goes without saying, but if you sacrifice the security of your belongings in exchange for a dirt-cheap storage unit, you put your items in danger of theft or vandalization. Ensuring that the storage facility you use has both electronic surveillance as well as an alarm system and a physical security guard will protect your stuff from theft or damage at the hands of criminals.
Accessibility
As mentioned previously, efficient packing of your belongings is not the only thing to consider when storing your goods. You also want to make sure that the items you will need first are accessible, so that you do not have to spend extra time looking for them in storage. Make sure your storage unit offers 24/7 access if you’ll be making frequent trips to retrieve items.
Affordability
While affordability is always a concern, you do not want to make initial cost your only consideration when choosing a storage unit. All these other considerations, from security to cleanliness to accessibility will all have an impact on the total cost of the storage of your goods. However, it is important to shop around to get multiple quotes before committing yourself to any storage facility to ensure that you are getting the best deal possible for storage.
Selection
Many storage facilities offer different units to accommodate various storage capacities. Speak with a relocation specialist to make sure your space will be large enough to house the items you need to store.
Climate-Control
Too much heat, cold or humidity could cause irreparable damage to your items. If you have important, expensive, or perishable possessions, it is important to pick a storage unit with constant temperature control.
Storage Services
Our moving partners offer all types of storage options to suit your specific needs:
- Residential: For residential moves, you will basically have three choices when it comes to storage services. First, you can rent a storage unit from a self-storage company, paying only for the space itself. Or you can order a delivered container, which can be dropped off at your home and either loaded personally or by a moving company. Containers are generally dropped off at a warehouse until you are ready to receive delivery. Finally, you can hire an all-in-one moving and storage company, who will pack your items and deliver them to their own warehouse for safekeeping. The only downside to the latter two options when compared to a self-storage unit is accessibility, as you are generally not able to access your goods inside of the warehouse as you would in a local storage unit.
- Commercial: Many businesses rent storage space to store documents, along with excess furniture, inventory, and equipment. Off-site storage can be a huge business savings, as a storage unit is relatively inexpensive compared to the typical cost per square foot of commercial space.
- Furniture: Furniture is a big investment. Whether it is a thousand-dollar couch or an entire container full of corporate furnishings worth hundreds of thousands, choosing a storage option to protect these assets is essential.
- Wine: Proper storage of wine is paramount to retaining its value and taste. It can spoil easily if exposed to too much heat or light. Hiring a professional that knows how to care for and store your wine collection will ensure that not a single vintage goes bad.
- Art: Expensive pieces of art are not just costly to replace – they are, many times, priceless and one-of-a-kind. This is especially true if the art you have in your collection is not just a print or copy of the original, but the original piece itself. Whether you have a large collection of art for your corporate environment or have a personal collection of unique and expensive pieces, you want to inquire with your storage company to make sure that they have facilities to properly accommodate your artwork.
- Documents: Have boxes of important documents that you can’t discard but don’t know what to do with? Put them in storage! A storage unit can declutter your home or office of all those stacks of essential documents and files of paperwork.
Packing Your Storage Unit, The Easy Way
Packing a storage unit is more difficult than you may think. Think of it like a large, life-sized, and three-dimensional game of Tetris that you are playing with valuable possessions worth thousands of dollars. Here are some of the things that you want to consider when packing your unit:
- Can you get to what you need to get to both during and after the move? For instance, you may be able to leave your obscure kitchen tools in storage longer than you would be able to leave your DVD player and television. While it may make more sense, size-wise, to store these electronics in the back of the unit, you may need to consider the ability to access them before other items when choosing where to store them.
- Heavy items on the bottom, light items on top! Some may think that this is self-explanatory, but so many times, people think that size is the most important thing to consider when stacking instead of weight. However, if you are not careful, you may end up crushing your lighter items if you stack heavier ones on top of them.
- Plan whenever possible. If you know your storage unit’s size, and you can take a quick visual inventory of the items you are putting in storage, it’s not a bad idea to sit down and make a quick sketch of the available space to determine how you will pack the unit. While you can make changes if the need arises, having a plan for packing the storage unit can greatly decrease the chance of error and damage to your possessions.
- Always leave a row to access items in the back of the unit. This is especially important in case you need to access something in the far reaches of the unit. With a defined walkway, you won’t have to take items out of storage to clear a path to what you need.
- Make the best use of available space. Believe it or not, you can get an entire household of furniture and other belongings packed into a very tight space. Making the best use of the available space can ensure that you do not spend money on a unit that is larger than what you need, thereby decreasing the total cost of the move.
These are just a few tips and suggestions to consider when packing a storage unit on your own. Shop for self-storage or request a customized, all-in-one moving and storage option from the professional relocation and storage specialists at Cheap Movers Riverside today!