More and more people are choosing to extend or renovate rather than move house. House prices don’t seem to be coming down and when you add in the cost of solicitors, estate agents, stamp duty and actual moving costs, extending or renovating an existing property is becoming a more attractive option. If you’re happy where you are and you’ve got space to extend (within planning regulations) or can remodel your interior to make the space you need, then you may not need to move house. However, it’s very likely that major renovations will result in you needing some temporary storage space so you will need to do some planning.
Adding a room where there isn’t one already may well be slightly less messy than knocking out existing walls and remodelling, but there’s still likely to be dust and dirt. In addition you’ll have workmen and their tools in and out of your property for a period of time. They may well be a good firm that clean and tidy up, but there’s always the risk of accidents happening to your household furniture if it’s in situ during the renovations.
In all probability you’re not going to have space to move your furniture or other household goods elsewhere in the house – after all, the reason you’re renovating is because you need extra space! You could ask friends, family or even neighbours to store things for you if they have space, but do you really want to bother them? And what if there are problems with your project that result in delays? It could cause tension. The better option for the sake of relationships may well be to use self storage for your temporary storage needs. That way you can come and go as you please, taking things in and out as they are needed, increasing or decreasing the size of space you need as you go along. You should also be able to extend or terminate your contract early without a problem – but always check, some self storage centres aren’t as flexible as others.
Here at Space Centre Self Storage, we are flexible and don’t tie you in to long contracts. In our experience, most people who are storing while renovating encounter some issue along the way that results in a few extra weeks of storage needs so flexibility is essential.
If you are going to make use of self storage, make sure you pack and store your items well – that way you’ll get the maximum use from the least amount of space needed. There are some tips for packing your unit here.
As well as moving household items into storage in the short term, there are also other steps you can take to make sure there is as little damage or mess as possible whilst work is going on.
Carpets and floors
If you’re going to have workmen traipsing through the house to get to their area of work each day, you may want to consider putting down some plastic sheeting (or similar) to help protect your carpets and floors. The rustling may get annoying, but it’ll much cheaper than having to replace damaged carpets or repair wooden floors.
Vases and ornaments
It goes without saying that if you have any of these on display along the regular work route, you should move them. Whether that’s to the safety of a bedroom upstairs or into a storage unit is your choice, but make sure you pack them well to avoid damage while they are being stored. Storing them at home may mean that rooms become more cluttered than usual and so there’s more scope for accidents. Wrap them in bubble wrap or similar and pack them into boxes to keep them safe.
Pictures and photographs
This is one area that people tend to forget because pictures and photographs are normally hanging quite flush to the walls. But they can still be knocked down, especially if heavy or large equipment is being manoeuvred around the house. Broken glass from frames can damage the image. In addition, the fine dust that comes with any building project can get between the frame and image causing damage. If your pictures are precious, remove them from the area of work.
If you are thinking about extending or renovating your property and need some help with temporary storage in Gloucester, Bristol or Stroud, get in touch.