Storage Tips
Written by Elizabeth Wood
Editor In Chief, United Home Improvement

The longer you live somewhere, the more you time you have to accumulate items. Items may range from clothes, books, antiques, and furniture, to items such as household chemicals, cleaning equipment, photographs, and important documents. Finding the extra space to use for storage is not the tricky part. The difficulty comes in knowing which items can be stored in which spots to ensure their safety. Below is a list of storage tips that will help you make some smart decisions on what to store, where to store it and what to store it in.

• Use extreme caution when storing flammable materials. Pay special attention to household chemicals, turpentine, and paints. Make sure that none of these flammable items are stored near a heat source.

• Before storing items in the attic, check for leaks, mice and properly working fire alarms.

• Before storing items in the basements, make sure that there is a properly graded foundation with adequate drainage.

• When storing for long time purposes, be sure to use detailed labels on boxes and other storing containers. Also, it is a good idea to map out what items are being stored in what places so that if the time comes when you need to get it out of storage you will know exactly where to look.

• Make period checks on long term storage to ensure that moisture, mice, moths, and extreme temperatures have not ruined anything.

• Be sure to store books and important documents in dry places with temperatures between 60-75 degrees.

• Cardboard boxes are not the best means for storing items such as books and other starchy items. Roaches, bookworms, and silverfish are prone to eating their way through the box causing significant damage to the items stored within it. Plastic tubs are a wonderful alternative to cardboard.

• Built-in organizers for closets, drawers, cabinets and pantries make storing extremely easy and convenient. Any local handyman can assist you in assembling these helpful storage units.

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