The coming of spring months bring a unique set of challenges and concerns when it comes to keeping your personal objects in storage. From simple temperature sensitivity to issues humidity problems, you may have to deal with a lot of expensive damages if you're not careful. By understanding moisture and pest threats that often happen as the seasons change, you can be better prepared to protect your stored goods or perform repairs as soon as possible.
The Moistened Terror of Spring
After a long winter of cool storage, even sturdy materials such as cast iron pots or hardwood furniture can suffer when spring comes around. Due to the normal expansion and contraction of materials when the temperature changes, an older or lower quality storage solution may begin to allow moisture into the area as temperatures get warmer and the climate a bit wetter in many places.
You'll need to look at the corners of the storage area to check for any moisture. A humidity meter is nice and certainly good for a quick references, but there are times when moisture can enter at small corners without greatly affecting the humidity levels in the air.
If you notice humidity changes or feel any moisture, pay closer attention to your property. Be slow and thorough when it comes to inspecting for damage or restoring damaged pieces. Picking up a heavy piece of furniture that may have rotten wood or slipping glue attachments may result in a bigger disaster than planned.
For especially humid climates, you'll need to find a good place for a dehumidifier. You can't simply put the dehumidifier in a corner or against a random wall, as a sufficiently large storage room may have one-sided drying with moisture still hanging in some parts of the air. Try to rearrange parts of the room so that the dehumidifier is located as close to the center as possible. Contact a storage rental professional to find the best position or to ask for pre-built humidity control solutions.
Pest Control with Sensitive Objects
Getting rid of ants, termites or other small pests isn't a simple issue of laying down traps or spraying insect killer. Many of the materials may be damaging to certain materials, especially in the case of sensitive antiques.
Before spraying anything, try to remove any older materials and cover them in either plastic or some sort of vacuum wrap. You may want to call furniture restoring professionals or similar restoration professionals before making to move to prepare as much as possible.
If you're unsure of how to move certain objects, contact a storage rental professional (such as Hanes Stick-It-In Storage, LLC) to get assistance with on-site storage and storage management solutions.
Share