Storage Tips

Uniform, sturdy boxes stack square and hold a load. Mismatched sizes and hand-me-down grocery boxes tip, sag, and collapse under everything you pile on top. It’s worth buying real moving boxes — we sell them in the office at most facilities.

A half-empty box caves when it’s stacked; an overstuffed one splits at the seams. Fill to the top and pack the gaps with packing paper, towels, or linens so nothing shifts in transit or under weight.

You’ll be reading these boxes stacked, so write on the side where you can actually see it. Note the room and what’s inside, number them, and keep a quick list on your phone. Future you will be grateful.

Disassemble what you can — bed frames, table legs, shelving — and bag the hardware, taped to the piece it came off. Wrap furniture in moving blankets rather than plastic, which traps moisture against the wood and finish.

Set your first layer on pallets or a bed of blankets. It guards against any ground moisture and makes the unit far easier to sweep out when you leave.

Clean and fully dry refrigerators, freezers, and washers before storing, and leave the doors cracked so they don’t sour or grow mildew. Drain and dry any hoses.

Electronics, wood furniture, photos, candles, and important documents hold up best out of extreme heat. Box them, keep them off exterior walls, and if you’re storing anything you’d hate to lose to a Texas summer, call us — we’ll point you to the facility and setup that fits it best.

Build stable stacks: heaviest, sturdiest boxes and furniture on the bottom, lighter items up top. Set the things you’ll want first near the front so you’re not unpacking the whole unit to reach one bin.

Keep a walkway down the center of the unit. You paid for the whole space — an aisle is what lets you actually use all of it, back wall included, without hauling everything out first.

Some things just can’t go in a storage unit, anywhere: nothing hazardous, flammable, or perishable, no living things (plants or animals), and nothing illegal. If you’re not sure whether an item’s allowed, ask before you load it — we’d rather answer the question than have you unpack it later.