Do I Need Climate Controlled Self-Storage?

When customers come to see us looking for self-storage solutions, one of their first questions is often, Do I need climate controlled self-storage? It’s a question that we hear time and time again, so we thought we would take a stab at answering it here.

Climate controlled self-storage has a lot of different uses, and different people rely on it for very different things. The simplest way to determine whether or not you need climate controlled self-storage is to ask whether the things you’re storing could be damaged by changes in temperature or humidity. Our non-climate controlled storage units are secure and relatively impervious to the elements, but without being heated in the winter and cooled in the summer, there’s only so much that a storage unit can do to protect against changes in temperature and humidity.

While electronics, books, photo albums, antiques, paintings, and family heirlooms are some of the most common items stored in our climate controlled units, we’ve seen people use climate controlled self-storage for all sorts of things over the years, including supporting their home-based business by storing paperwork or excess inventory, selling things online via eBay or Etsy, storing musical instruments, and a whole lot more. Basically, if it can be damaged by humidity or extremes of heat or cold, then it should probably go into climate controlled self-storage!

It’s also important to note that while many people use self-storage as a temporary solution, it doesn’t take long for the days to turn into weeks, the weeks into months. Time has a way of getting away from you. Those family photo albums, antique wood furniture, or boxes of business paperwork that you told yourself would be fine for a few weeks may not fare as well if the seasons start to change. So it’s always better to be safe than sorry. And since most things that are stored in climate controlled self-storage are pretty valuable, it goes without saying that they should also be insured. Like we said, our storage facilities are secure, and we provide 24/7 video surveillance, gated access, and other security measures to keep your valuables safe, but even we can’t protect against natural disasters, and in the event of a tornado you’ll be glad you had insurance on your stuff, whether it’s computers or paintings.

So now you may be asking yourself the opposite question: When do I not need climate controlled self-storage? Well, the answer, again, varies from person to person, but if you’re storing something that isn’t going to rust, mildew, or fall apart in extremes of heat or cold or changes in humidity and doesn’t really require any special care, then regular self-storage is probably a good fit. Many of our customers use regular self-storage for sturdy furniture that won’t be damaged by humidity, outdoor holiday decorations that take up a lot of room in the garage or attic, lawnmowers (drained of gasoline, of course), and so on.

Whether you’re looking for climate controlled self-storage, or aren’t sure what kind of self-storage is right for you, come by Storage ‘R’ Us today and let us help you find the perfect self-storage solution for all your needs!