How To Store Old Furniture Properly
Do you want to rent a storage unit to put your unused or antique furniture in? The key to a successful storage experience is investing the time necessary to properly prepare, preserve, and organize your belongings for storage. You can use these 8 tips on furniture storage as a guide.
1. Choose the Right Type of Storage Unit
It is essential to keep furniture safe from the elements when storing it. Consider renting a climate-controlled storage unit if you want to keep the furnishings in storage for an extended period of time. Having your rental unit climate controlled means your expensive furniture won’t get damaged by the extreme heat or cold. What’s more, no matter when you go, the temperature will be perfect. Furniture made of wood, instruments, antiques, and couches covered in fragile textiles are some examples of items that should be stored in a climate-controlled facility. Most of Moishe’s Self Storage facilities are equipped with climate control for your convenience.
2. Clean the Furniture Before Storing
A simple method of safeguarding the pieces while they’re in storage is to make sure the furniture is cleaned before being moved. It’s not a good idea to put unclean furniture in storage. When you clean, you eliminate the potential for mold and dust. Here are a few things to keep in mind when preparing furniture for storage.
- Mild soap and water is fine for cleaning wooden or plastic furniture. Protect the wood’s finish by using a mild cleaning on wooden furniture and antiques.
- You should use upholstery cleaner on upholstered furniture and or fabric cleaner on pillows and bedding. Before putting anything away, make sure everything is totally dry to avoid the spread of mold and mildew.
- Use a polishing cloth and metal cleanser to restore shine to any metal parts. In addition to preventing further oxidation, this process will also help remove any existing tarnish.
3. Dissemble Furniture if Possible
Take apart as much of the furniture as possible before relocating it. This includes desks, bookshelves, tables, chairs, and more. If the drawers are attached, you’ll need to empty their contents before you can remove them. Taking the TVs off of their built-in stands and unscrewing the legs from the chairs and tables. Taking this additional measure can simplify the packing of your truck and, later, your self-storage unit. This will also lessen the possibility of damaging or scratching anything. Then, store away all the nuts, bolts, Allen wrenches, and other tiny hardware in a clearly labeled plastic bag. A convenient storage option is to keep this item next to the piece of furniture to which it is attached.
4. Keep Furniture Off the Floor
When storing items in a storage container, it’s best to keep them off the floor as much as possible. Anything that is lying on the floor might be damaged, or even destroyed, by flooding caused by unexpected weather events such as snow and rain storms. Raise the floor with pallets or cinder blocks instead. Having this safeguard in place increases safety in the event of flooding or other disasters. Cardboard or a drop cloth, at the very least, is preferable to nothing at all in a dire emergency. Smaller pieces of furniture can be stored on top of plastic containers placed on the floor.
5. Wrap Furniture
Wrapping large furniture for safety is an important task to keep in mind during the moving, packing, and storage process. Always wrap furniture for long-term storage, whether in plastic sheeting, moving blankets, or whatever else you have sitting around. Cover whatever you plan to keep in a garage or storage facility. The ground is included in this! If you want to keep your furniture dry in your storage room, you should line the floor with thick plastic sheeting first. If you are not in a temperature-controlled environment, this is an absolute must. Moishe’s offers a variety of packing supplies including shrink wrap and packing paper to help you with your storage needs. 
6. Wrap Any Glass Items
Glass tabletops and mirrors, for example, demand a higher level of care. Packing paper should be used first. Avoid taping the paper directly to the glass, as this can leave a sticky residue that will be difficult to remove. After that, bubble wrap the glass or place the whole thing in a box for transport. The best container to use is a long, wide, and flat one. The container must to be shaped like the glass as closely as possible.
7. Remove Any Food Items
Make sure there is no food or perishable items left in the furniture before storing. The food could go bad and stink up the rental unit and possible the whole area, and it could also attract bugs and other unwelcome pests. Thankfully, pest inspections and pest control treatments are commonplace in storage facilities. However, it’s impossible to take precautions seriously enough. A helpful hint: before putting anything away in a cardboard box, make sure to inspect it thoroughly. Keep away from grocery store boxes or any other boxes that could be contaminated.
8. Choose the Right Size Storage Unit 
Overstuffing a storage unit is a definite way to damage expensive furnishings. The best approach to keep furniture in a storage unit is to not fill it to the brim. You may save a lot of time and effort in the long run by keeping your storage unit well-organized. You just need to put in a little amount of thought and preparation.
One of the biggest mistakes people make is to choose a rental unit that does not fit their needs and try to overstuff the unit. To save yourself this added stress, Moishe’s Self Storage offers a room size calculator. Simple use this tool to input the items you want to store and we will give you our recommendation for the right size to reserve.
Sometimes we find ourselves not using particular furniture pieces, but can’t seem to give them away. Whether it’s a cherished family heirloom or a piece you’ve held onto since childhood, we don’t always want to give away our furniture forever. Which is why self storage may be a great option for you. Living in a space-starved city like New York means that most people don’t have the extra room to house furniture that we’re not actively using. But if you don’t want to donate it, then consider storing it in a safe, secure and climate-controlled unit at Moishe’s Self Storage. Our Queens and Bronx locations offer a variety of unit sizes that can accommodate small desks to large armoires and bed frames. Contact us today to see if you can qualify for free pickup!