How Often Should You Visit Your Storage Unit?
Renting a storage unit is a handy solution that allows you to temporarily house some of your items and not worry about them when you’re in transit, but How Often Should You Visit Your Storage Unit? Storage units can be helpful whether you’re moving from one place to another, frequently traveling due to your work, or even remodeling your home or office space. But, for the sake of your belongings, you need to take some necessary steps if you want to do it right.
One of these steps is visiting your storage facility every once in a while. To help you figure out how to best care for your belongings, our team at Storage Lookup has prepared an article where we’ll show you how often you should visit your storage unit. By following our tips, rest assured that your items will be safe and well-preserved once you pick them up.
The importance of storage units
Before we give you an answer on how often you should visit your storage unit, we would like to stress the importance of storage units. As we mentioned in the introduction, storage facilities can be helpful in different scenarios. The fact that most of these facilities are climate-controlled is another benefit, and when you add 24/7 surveillance into the equation, the safety of your items won’t be in question.
These features will allow you to store delicate and valuable possessions, knowing they are safe from harm. Depending on what you plan to use the storage for, you can inquire about any additional features or services. Some storage facilities have 24-hour access, while others have specific hours when you can visit. We recommend getting to know all the storage facility details before you commit to holding your belongings there.
Preparing your items for storage units
Thorough preparation is essential for the well-being of your items. You can’t just pick them up and throw them in the storage facility. It would be best if you first cleaned all your belongings that are about to be stored. Even if you cleaned some of them just a few days before, make sure to do it again, just in case. Any moisture, dust, or leftover food, can cause irreparable damage to your stuff.
Another thing you should pay attention to is packing. Pack strategically and label every box. Some items are difficult to store, so they require special care. Instruments, antiques, bulky valuables, etc., are belongings that won’t be easy to store. When storing items, remember to leave enough room to access everything easily. For ease of access, you should place the things you need more often in the front row.
So, how often should you visit your items in the storage facility?
Unfortunately, we can’t give you an exact answer because it depends on various factors. But don’t worry, we’ll cover everything here. In general, visiting your items once a month is highly recommended. However, some possessions require more attention than others, and external factors can play a part in this as well, so let’s see the optimal solution.
The nature of your belongings affects the optimal frequency of visits
The recommended number of visits during a specific time largely depends on the type of items you’re storing. You’ll find some items you should check upon in the list below more frequently.
- Electronics
- Antiques
- Art pieces
- Jewelry
- Important documents
- Musical instruments
Although visiting storage units with these items once every month should be enough, it would be even better if you were to check up on your storage once every 10-20 days. Moving and storage experts at fourwinds-ksa.com also agree that this is the optimal interval because knowing your belongings are safe is priceless. We understand that visiting your items this often might be difficult, as you’re probably busy handling your relocation.
That’s perfectly reasonable, and not everyone has the time to perform weekly check-ups. However, if you can do it without significant disturbances to your schedule, that would be great. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
Weather conditions
In this section, we’ll talk about the external factors that we previously mentioned. Extreme weather conditions should always cause you to check your items. Whether it’s an unusually hot summer or freezing temperatures during winter, visit your storage facility to ensure everything’s ok. One of the huge upsides of climate-controlled storage units is that these temperatures shouldn’t affect your belongings, but it’s still worth checking more often than not. The same goes if the place where you’re renting a storage unit has recently experienced heavy rainfall, earthquake, or various storms that might harm the safety of the storage facility.
The type of storage facility
Here, we’re mostly talking about the conditions of a specific facility. However, their policies also affect the optimal frequency of your visits. Choosing a climate-controlled facility is a strong recommendation. In these conditions, your items will be far less prone to damage than they would in a regular warehouse. Safety measures shouldn’t be taken for granted as well.
Having a facility that has multiple cameras providing 24/7 video surveillance is a preferred option. So, if the facility is well-secured and climate-controlled, visiting your belongings once a month should certainly be enough. That’s why you should pay attention to what kind of facility you choose. Before signing any storage contracts, make sure everything is there. The storage unit should fit all your needs. After all, you are paying for it, so get your money’s worth.
Final thoughts
Even in some top-notch storage facilities, there will be a slight chance of your belongings getting damaged if you don’t check on them regularly. Leaving some items that require frequent maintenance in storage units for an extended time puts them at risk. It would help if you didn’t forget about them after putting them in a storage facility. So, how often should you visit your storage unit?
It would be ideal if you could visit once a month. If your belongings are delicate and prone to damage, do it more frequently. We hope that this article was helpful and that it solved some of your dilemmas. Good luck!
