Category Archives: Self Storage

Benefits of Using a Storage Facility

Many individuals, families, organizations and businesses are now making use of storage facilities. This is simply because of the multiple benefits that they derive from their use. Here are some of the benefits storage units.

Less Expensive Alternative

The cost of renting a home with many rooms or enough space that will accommodate all the items a family may acquire can be very exorbitant. It is not every family that will be able to pay for such accommodation. But renting a storage unit is not very expensive. It can be within the financial means of many families. So, storage units are cheaper means through which family can create more space in their living home. The good news is that virtually all household items can be stored in them in so far as they are not perishable food items.

Besides families, businesses can also rent storage units in order to keep some of their business equipment or even documents. It is cheaper keeping heavy materials and important files in these storage units than renting a large office room for them. In other words, storage units are cheaper means of storing things.

Safety

Though there are other places where you can keep your items like warehouses but storage units offer more safety and security of property than others. If you keep your items in a warehouse, it will be packed with other people’s items. This may have some security implications. But in storage facility, you are given the key or lock of your unit. You are the only person that can access your storage unit. This makes it to be more secure than other type of storage spaces. Besides, storage units are mostly made from metals and concretes. Thus they are more reliable and very difficult to burgle. It is difficult for any thief to break into the metal or concrete storage unit.

There are some items that are sensitive to temperature. Even if you have enough space in your home or office, you can store such items there unless you have the required temperature controlled system. Today, there are many temperature controlled storage units where you can safely keep such item. So, it is better and cheaper to keep these temperature sensitive items in these temperature controlled units than to keep them at home.

Privacy

Storage units offer more privacy than warehouse. As it has been said above, warehouses are being used by many people. Access is probably given to the people that are packing their items in the warehouse. So, there is no privacy in such storage spaces. This is not the case with storage units. It is only the user that has access to it. No other persons knows what the user packs in the storage unit. This also helps to checkmate conspiracy and theft since nobody knows whether what you stored in the units is valuable or not.

Multiple Options

Storage units have many options. There are sizes that will serve every need. If you are on the move, you can rent mobile storage units.

What Office Sized Metal Storage Units have to Offer

When it’s time to set up a new office, one thing you’ll have to work out is in-office storage. How much storage do you need? How much room is available for storage in your office? So if you’ve figured that out, what can office-sized metal storage units offer you and your business?

Metal storage is not only practical, durable, and strong, it’s becoming a major fashion statement. Metal is sleek and stylish and adds an element of shine to lackluster office spaces. Metal storage units are easy to clean and don’t scuff easily, making it simple and inexpensive to keep your office looking shipshape.

The most commonly used mode of metal storage is the filing cabinet. Filing cabinets are used for keeping paperwork in a functional order, for example alphabetical or numerical order. They are compact, hold lots of paperwork, and are easy to get things out of and put things back in. They are also virtually synonymous with offices for a reason. Unlike wood, metal does not swell, so metal units they are lower maintenance than wooden ones. They simply wipe clean, so they’re very low maintenance. They don’t need much but the occasional dusting, really. Offices have been using metal filing cabinets for years and they are still going strong. Metal filing cabinets are also perfect for sensitive documents as most can come with locks. Metal is very difficult to break into also.

Metal cupboards can be deceiving. They look small and compact on the outside and are huge on the inside. These cupboards are brilliant for stationary and large or bulk storage items. They come in a range of sizes making them convenient for many uses. Many cupboards come with double doors which move either on a hinge or a roller. The roller function is very practical within minimal space, because you don’t need to have room for a door to open outward, into the floor space in front of the unit. These units can be fitted with locks for security. These cupboards are really strong and sturdy and provide a great storage solution. They can store paper, books, office supplies, computer equipment—whatever your office needs to keep at hand but not out in the open! Consider using one the next time you’re wondering where to keep your office supplies.

There is also the multi drawer storage unit. These drawers are fantastic for smaller items and come in lots of sizes. You can place a divider in the drawer so further separate and organize items you place in it. If you require larger drawers then drawer pedestals may be the ideal choice.

These drawer units may have wheels, which makes them easy and safe to move around. Some of them are also the right size to slide underneath desks. This makes them a great asset for the smaller office which needs plenty of space-saving storage, and it also makes them practical for desks which require a set amount of things nearby to be used frequently but not cover the desktop. It also means they are versatile. Employees can slide out their personal set of drawers and use it as an extra seat when someone is visiting their desk, or when they need to set something on top of it that there isn’t room for on their desk.

Whatever you are looking for, office-sized metal storage units will have an answer.

History of Self-Storage Units

Storage units are rented space, separate from the renter’s dwelling. Tenants of these units keep goods in this space, separate from the properties on which they live, so they can access them later. They maintain ownership of these objects without having to have room for them in their house or apartment. The space can come in the form of rooms, lockers, or even shipment-size containers. As opposed to warehousing, self-storage means that you are serving yourself, and no one—even the administrator—else can access the unit without your consent.

The History

Storage units as we know them today got their start in the 1960s. The first self-storage unit company was founded by the Collum family in 1958, named Lauderdale Storage, after the town of Fort Lauderdale where it was established. The ones in use today have retained the same model as this early, pioneering example. The demand for storage units in America greatly outstrips the demand from all the other countries in the world. Over 80% of all self-storage units in the world are based in the U.S.

In the early days, the demand for the units was low as people were wary of trusting their valuable possessions to somewhere they couldn’t keep an eye on them. Demand for the services took off in the mid-nineties, as people acquired more property, and security in the storage industry improved, making it easier for the public to trust them. Soon, the demand for private storage facilities outmatched the supply, making the proprietors rush in to fill this gap. This exciting time period saw the construction of over 3000 storage units annually, between the year 2000 and 2005.

There are now about 6000 storage facilities in the world. Out of these, over 5,000 are in the U.S. with much of the rest scattered across Britain and Australia. The growing demand for the facilities has seen the number of companies offering the service skyrocket, with no end in sight of the need for extra space to safely store possessions. Storage units are popular in large cities like New York, where the average apartment size is quite small. Residents of cities want a convenient place to keep the items they aren’t ready to part with, but that don’t fit in their apartments. Storage units are an economical and convenient solution.

Variety

There are different choices for the different uses that tenants of these facilities need. The basic deciding factor is size. How much stuff do you have, and in how small of a space can you reasonably store it? The standard units measure 10 feet by 10 feet, with a height of 1.5 meters (about 5 feet). The units are ideal for the storage of furniture, documents and small appliances. Other units can measure 10 by 20 feet, where you can easily store items the size of a typical car. There are units larger than the one mentioned, and they range from 15 by 20 feet and 20 by 20 feet, and this makes them ideal for the storage of commercial sized goods, such as container shipments. You can even find outdoor facilities, big enough to hold boats and trailers. Most good facilities offer some form of climate control, so you can be sure any paper or fabric (including furniture) won’t get moldy over time. Humidity control may be a deciding factor when choosing a storage unit. Are you storing items you would safely store outside, but you just don’t have room for them at home? Or are your goods more delicate, and require a managed environment for safekeeping?

Security

This being a multi-billion dollar industry, the security of the items being stored in the units is crucial to any successful administrator. The ability to get clients to believe that their possessions will be safe is what rents out storage units. The access to the areas is limited only to clients. Various security precautions are set up to ensure the safety of the property inside. These precautions might include; security cameras, security guards, and computer access systems. Tenants may need keys or codes they enter into keypads to access the facility, as well as their individual units. While small, locked-sized units are typically housed in a building, accessed through the interior, many large units are set up like garages, arranged next to one another on a big lot, all accessible from the outside without first entering a building. Climate control, which is vital for the proper preservation of goods inside, can be considered an additional form of security.