If you are moving your belongings into a storage unit, you’ll naturally run into some storage related questions. You may wonder what type of storage unit you’ll need. How big of a storage unit should you rent and where should it be located?
The answer will always depend on your specific situation. For most smaller apartments, anywhere from a studio to a lightly furnished one bedroom apartment, our team of professional movers would recommend a smaller 5x10, or 50 square foot, storage unit. Grab a ruler and you’ll find out quickly how little space that is to store your goods! Many of these units have a 8 foot high ceiling, allowing you to store most of the taller items that can be found in your home.
If you’re needing to store more than a small one bedroom apartment, like a two or three bedroom apartment, you’ll need the next size up. If you fall into this category, a 10x10 or 10x15 storage unit should do the trick depending on how heavily furnished your residence is. If you’re spring cleaning and moving out all the contents of a full or nearly full garage, we recommend using the 10x15 storage unit for this as well.
If you need moving services in Austin to move your large house into storage and you ask your local movers what size storage unit you should use, they will definitely recommend the biggest option that most storage units in Austin have. For moves that are larger than a 3 bedroom apartment, like most houses in Austin are, the largest and most common storage unit we recommend using is the 10x20 storage unit.
Can You Guess The Perfect Size for Your Storage Unit?
The professional moving consultants at Sarver Movers will go room by room with you asking you about all of the items that you’d like to have moved into your storage unit. Our professional moving consultants will take the average cubic feet measurements of each of these household items that you own and add them up in our moving software. Once they've added these items up for you, they will have a total estimated cubic foot measurement. With this measurement, you can accurately estimate which storage unit you will need for your move. This is the smartest way to figure out which unit you will need for your move.
How Long Will You Need It?
You’ll need to look into the duration of your storage unit’s lease. Depending on what life may be throwing at you at the time, you may need a unit anywhere from one month to over 5 years. If you’re a college student leaving for just a few months in the summer, you may want to look into a short term lease. Many of the storage companies offer specials on short term leases where the first month is free with only a two month obligation. If you are moving out of the country, there are by-the-year storage unit lease options available for you as well. These longer term leases always provide you with a price cut when you commit to a lease agreement that is 6 months or over. Watch out though, as some of these contracts have some hidden fees.
Worried About Hidden Fees?
The moving consultants at Sarver Movers have the knowledge base to help you avoid paying those hidden fees that your storage unit may come with. Hidden fees usually involve the lock that you are required to have the day of your move in, or the insurance they want you to purchase at the time of checkout. When you head to the front office to get your unit, your storage units’ manager will ask you if you have a lock or want to buy one there. They will try to sell you an expensive lock that you can actually buy off Amazon at a much lower cost. It is typically a circular lock that can be found on Amazon or at Home Depot. Do some research by calling ahead to find out which kind of lock you will need to buy ahead of time. This will help you avoid the high pressure sales situation they put you in by asking you to buy the lock then and there at the front desk.
Do You Need Storage Insurance?
What many people don’t know is that homeowners insurance often comes with some type of coverage for things being stored away from their home. This insurance is typically called personal property coverage and can help cover your belongings even while they are not physically at your home. Call your home insurance agent to find out if your homeowners policy extends to covering storage units. If you don’t own a home and have renters insurance instead, you may find that your renters insurance also covers personal property that is not inside your apartment. You’ll need to call your insurance agent and find out if this is the case as well.
Storing Expensive Art, Jewelry or Other High-Priced Items?
Check with your insurance agent to see if you can add additional coverage to insure your most valuable items you own. It’s important to not only make them aware of which of these items you’d like to insure, but also to let them know where these items are located.
Should You Buy Insurance From the Storage Unit Itself?
You can always take this route and purchase the insurance that the storage unit offers. Some storage companies are licensed to sell insurance, but read the contract very carefully before purchasing one of their insurance options. Policies vary so you’ll need to make sure the insurance you buy covers the items you’re storing for the amount of money you think they are worth. Ask them if this insurance covers your items for things like flooding, rodent and insect damage, and other possible damage that could occur while they’re in storage.
Do You Need a Storage Unit With AC?
This is a very important question to consider when shopping around for a storage unit. The answer lies in what you are actually storing. If you have leather couches, wines that require a certain temperature for storage and other items that are susceptible to becoming damaged if left in the heat, you might want to consider a storage unit that has climate-control. Most storage units in the Austin area come with climate-control for just a few dollars a month more. This is the best way to keep your home goods at the right temperature and your local movers out of the heat when it’s time to move these items into storage.
Consider Cleanliness When Looking at Storage Units
We’ve found that cleanliness is key when shopping around for a storage unit. If you go into the front office of the storage facility and it isn’t that clean with many pieces of trash laying around, there is a high chance that the actual storage unit itself is dirty as well. Dirt and debris attracts things that you definitely don’t want near your stored goods like roaches and rodents. If the storage unit you rent starts to get infested with these pests, so will your goods. When you find that your items are infested, it can cost you lots of money in terms of items that you end up throwing away as well as cleaning costs incurred.
Convenience & Access
You might want to choose a storage unit that is within 5 or 10 minutes of your home if you will need frequent access to your unit. If you try to save a few dollars a month by picking a storage unit that is on the other side of town, it might end up costing you that amount in gas when you drive across town to access your storage unit. Having a conveniently located storage unit is oftentimes best for people who need frequent access to their unit.
Do You Need to Take Batteries Our of Electronics Before Storing?
The short answer is yes. It’s always best to remove batteries from electronics to avoid a corroded and leaky battery which can damage your electronics. If you’re storing your items for just a month, you may not have to remove the batteries from these electronics. However, providing moving services in Austin, we have found that our customers often think they will only store their items for a month or two and end up storing them much longer than that. We recommend you play it safe and remove all the batteries from your electronics just in case you end up storing your items for longer than previously planned.
How Can You Make an Appointment to Rent a Storage Unit?
Though many storage facilities will accept walk-ins to rent out a storage unit, we’ve found that most will require you to make a reservation online or over the phone. If you show up at the front desk of a local storage company, they usually seem to be out on the property or out on lunch. This means that you will have to come back at a later time and set up an appointment online anyways. We recommend avoiding this by simply calling ahead and making an appointment to make sure that someone is there to greet you when you arrive.
Does Sarver Movers Have Any Recommendations on Which Storage Companies to Rent From?
Sarver Movers partners with several storage units around the Austin area. Some of these include SecureSpace storage as well as Extra Space storage. If you need help moving in Austin to your new storage unit from your home in South Austin or even Round Rock, fill out our free online quote form and someone will get back with you shortly with a hassle-free, no obligation estimate!
