These days it can feel like the storage industry has gotten a little bit crowded. What are all these amenities and why is it important? Why does it feel like shopping for a simple storage area so you can put some cardboard boxes
full of stuff away and out of your attic has become complicated enough that website layouts feel
confusingly complex? The answer is simple; even if you may not need bells and whistles, many others
may consider such features essential for the safety and care of their items.
So, speaking of bells and whistles, let’s talk about something that is definitely neither of those: “climate
control.” You’ve probably heard that term before, but what does it mean? It can often be conflated with
air conditioning, which is just plain untrue. Many storage businesses slap an A/C unit on top of their
building and advertise themselves as having “climate control” but that’s a bit misleading. Just because you
keep the A/C on in your home doesn’t mean that other factors, such as humidity, don’t come into play,
right? That’s something a lot of people don’t always realize about storage. While these facilities are
designed for the express purpose of keeping your belongings, not all storage complexes are created equal.
Think about keeping your belongings with a storage business like keeping your belongings in your
garage. Sometimes you find that your garage gets humid, or maybe too hot, maybe even too cold. If you
only plan on keeping something in there for a few weeks that might not be a problem for you… but if you
plan on keeping boxes there for years, it can become an issue. Many people have experienced that
dreaded scenario. It’s time for a move, or maybe you’re looking for a keepsake that got packed away
when you moved in, and you go digging through the stack of boxes in the garage or basement and find
that water has pooled in one inconspicuous corner of the floor, and now the boxes kept there, and the
things kept inside them, have become moldy, been destroyed, or are, at the very least, damaged.
Now imagine having paid for storage for years, maybe even a decade or more, and finding the same
thing. Anyone would be upset, and reasonably so! Cardboard boxes, are, at the end of the day, made of
paper, and even if they don’t get soaked, exposure to humid conditions or extreme temperatures can
weaken them, it’s not uncommon to find after years of storage that a box fell apart, and its contents are
now strewn across the floor of your basement. Furniture too, is practically always made of metal and
wood, two things that don’t like extreme temperatures or becoming damp.
Our belongings are important to us, and as is especially important with heirloom furniture, keepsakes, or
other potentially irreplaceable items, we want to keep them for years, or decades to come, maybe even
pass them on to our friends or loved ones. You wouldn’t just toss a keepsake into your garage and not
think about it, right? So why would you do exactly that with a storage unit, when you’re actively paying
for the space? The amenities and consideration offered by storage businesses is important, it’s the little
details that will ensure the safekeeping of everything that’s important to you for a long time to come. So
even if it can feel a little overwhelming, it’s worth doing your research and finding a storage property
that cares about your belongings as much as you do, yourself.