Storing your furniture items in a storage unit is a great way to preserve items and have somewhere secure to keep them aside from your home. When you’re transporting furniture and storing it long term, however, there can be some concern about how to keep it in its best condition when you’re not there to maintain or clean it; not to mention the potential damage during a removal process if you don’t make sure to protect it properly.
You may think that with furniture items standing safely stored in a unit, this means that they don’t need any extra care or attention but failing to wrap your furniture or prepare it in the best way can compromise its condition while being stored.
Wooden furniture requires particular care and treatment to maintain its longevity, and especially within a storage unit. If you’re planning on transporting and storing your wooden furniture, here’s what you can do to make sure your furniture stays as good as new.
What Can Go Wrong with Wooden Furniture in Storage?
If this is your first time storing any wooden furniture, you may be thinking, what’s the worst that could happen? Even if you’re storing your wooden furniture for only a short period of time, knowing what can go wrong and how to prevent it is key for protecting your treasured furniture items.
Wood reacts to the temperature in the unit. If stored in a cold unit or a cold place (like a garage at home), Wooden furniture will react to the temperature around it, either by swelling or contracting (or both). This means your wood may warp, crack, or suffer further damage, simply down to the temperatures it’s been exposed to.
The good news is that most indoor storage units won’t have windows, which means you can avoid any UV damage to your wooden items, which would otherwise cause the wood to become compromised, such as through color fading.
It could be damaged. Whether through the transportation process itself or through being stored in a unit too cramped, there’s always the possibility that your wooden furniture could suffer a knock and become damaged.
It could break completely. When you’re filling up a storage unit with lots of items, you naturally want to get your money’s worth and fill up your unit as much as possible. You may then be tempted to stack items, and if you have wooden furniture such as tables, it’s tempting to want to put boxes on top to make space. However, if you don’t think carefully about your stacking, fragile wooden items underneath may break due to the weight, especially if they have something heavy on them for a long period of time within the storage.
How to Transport Wooden Furniture
To best protect your wooden furniture pieces during the moving process when transporting your goods from your location to your storage unit, try the following tips:
Use Soft Padding
Soft pads and blankets are going to be the best choice for wrapping up wooden furniture. It’s important to protect every panel and corner of your wooden furniture piece, and especially if it’s an antique or worth a lot of money. Soft foam padding is best for cushioning compared to excess bubble wrap, as the plastic on bubble wrap coming into direct contact with the wood could compromise the surface of the wood.
Take Off or Secure Loose Bits
Wooden furniture can have a lot of extra accessories on it. A desk might have drawers, knobs, handles, or shelves attached to your furniture items. It’s important to strip your wooden furniture down by taking off anything lose and securing it if you can. If you can completely remove drawers or shelves and wrap them separately, this will be preferable, but if not, make sure it’s wrapped securely enough to avoid anything falling out.
Take Your Furniture Apart Completely if You Can
For the best protection during transportation, it’s best if you can take apart your wooden furniture to rebuild later. This is especially important for any large legs, as these can easily become damaged during a furniture removal. Removing legs can also make it easier to place and stack inside a truck or inside the unit itself.
Hire Professionals to Move
Wooden furniture can be extremely heavy and needs to be handled with care. To avoid the risk of dropping, damaging, or moving your wooden furniture incorrectly, always seek the help of skilled movers or at least individuals strong enough to handle heavy and bulky furniture items.
How to Protect Wooden Furniture in Storage
To make sure your wooden furniture is maintained in your storage unit, here’s what you can do.
Completely Wrap Your Wooden Furniture
There’s no doubt that furniture should be wrapped up and protected in storage, but this is especially important for wooden furniture. To prevent over-exposure to changes in temperature, damage issues, and other problems, wrap every inch of your furniture item securely. This is best done with foam, padding, sheets, and blankets, and make sure your item is completely covered.
Leave Enough Space Between Items
If you have a delicate piece of wooden furniture, it’s best to place it on its own with nothing on top of it or to lean against it to protect it from damage. Make sure that you choose a storage unit big enough to comfortably house all your furniture pieces without having to cram them in, and it’s best if nothing is piled on top of your wooden furniture items.
Research Units Which Offer Temperature Control
If you’re worried about your wooden furniture being exposed to a cold and draughty unit, you can look into units that are tailored for wooden furniture with climate control options. If you can better control your storage unit’s temperature, your wooden furniture can therefore be more happily stored and protected.
At StorageArea.com, we can help you find the best storage unit in your area to store your wooden furniture, and, using these tips, you can ensure it stays best protected.