Preparing Furniture for Long-term Storage

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tips and tricks that can help you make moving easier

I knew when I married my husband that I wouldn't have much of a stable life. I knew that I would have to be willing to move as often as needed for his job. Over the last eight years, we have moved six times. Although moving is getting easier, it is still a challenge that we have to get through. All of those moves have helped me come up with a lot of great ways to reduce the time it takes to pack and unpack the things we own. This blog contains tips and tricks that can help you make moving easier.

Preparing Furniture for Long-term Storage

29 October 2015
 Categories:
, Articles


There might be a number of reasons that you might want to store your furniture for a long period of time. Whether it's due to the fact that the furniture has a certain sentimental value and you can't bear to get rid of it, or if it's a longtime family heirloom that simply doesn't fit in with the current aesthetic mien of your home, the reasons are long and numerous. However, it is not recommended that you simply throw your furniture into storage with no wherewithal or know-how. Rather, there are certain steps you should take to ensure that your furniture will be safe and will last long throughout its tenure in storage. Here is a bit of advice on preparing furniture for long time storage.

Clean and Prep

Make sure that every piece of furniture that you are storing away is adequately clean. This means taking a dry cloth and wiping it down from top to bottom, then using the appropriate cleaner for the material of which the piece of furniture consists (be it cloth, wood, or metal) and then giving it another wipe down with a clean, dry piece of cloth.

Make sure that the piece of furniture dries off in a dry, well-insulated area. The last thing you want is any moisture trapped in your piece of furniture. Moisture can lead to all sorts of unwanted phenomena, including bug infestations, mold and rust.

Disassemble

If you have larger pieces of furniture, it is recommended that you disassemble them before transporting them to storage. Most larger pieces of furniture, such as beds, tables and couches, can be disassembled (usually with ease), making the trip to the storage facility much easier than loading up a bulky piece of furniture into the bed of a truck and having friends take time out of their day to help you maneuver the beast into a small garage. After disassembling your furniture, make sure they are grouped together by which piece of furniture to which they belong so you're not getting things mixed up.

Cover & Protect

Make sure that all of your pieces of furniture are adequately covered and protected. It is a general rule of thumb that you should not use plastic to store your furniture or pieces of furniture. Plastic generally will cause your furniture to suffocate and can cause extreme damage to a number of different materials of which furniture usually consists. Plastic is particularly detrimental to wood as it will not allow the porous material to breathe, which can ultimately cause it to become brittle and fragile and, in many cases, break. It is recommended that you use bubble wrap for all fragile pieces of furniture.

Store Strategically

One of the biggest problems that people have when it comes to storing furniture is the fact that they do not know how to properly store the items in their facility. Simply throwing your furniture in with other items simply will not do. It is recommended that you maximize space by grouping items that all belong together in the same areas of your storage space. See if you can place certain items within drawers of cabinets in order to maximize the space you have available. Smaller items should be placed on top of larger items and you should have some degree of space between items in order to allow them to breathe. Much like placing furniture in plastic, placing them directly together will suffocate them.

Placing your furniture in storage can be a daunting task. However, with a little elbow grease and some know-how, it shouldn't prove to be that much of a problem. For more information, contact services like Colfax West Self Storage.