Tips For Keeping Books Safe And Dry While In A Storage Unit
If you recently inherited a large collection of books and need a place to temporarily store them, you could always rent a storage shed. Storage sheds comes in many sizes, and they offer the perfect place for storing almost anything you might have. If this book collection is full of rare, valuable, or unique books, you may want to take the following steps to make sure your new book collection stays safe and dry while it is stored in the unit.
Understand The Potential Risks
Whenever you store things in a storage shed, there are risks. To minimize the chances of these risks damaging your books, it's important to understand what the risks are. When it comes to books, there are two main key risks you should know about:
- Moisture – Moisture does not mix well with books. When a book gets wet, the water can lead to warping and rotting. It can also lead to the growth of mold on books, and it can smear the words in the book. If your books are exposed to any amount of moisture, the books will not be safe.
- Bugs and rodents – There are a number of different types of bugs that can destroy books, and many of these bugs actually eat the paper in the books. This includes book lice, carpet beetles, silverfish, and cockroaches. Rodents can also damage books by eating them, but rodents can also cause damage to books by eliminating bodily fluids on them.
These are the two main risks you have when storing books in a storage shed. Choosing a temperature-controlled unit may reduce the chances of moisture damage, but packing your books properly can also reduce the risks of moisture damage. In addition, if you pack your books properly, you may also reduce the chances of damage caused by bugs and rodents.
Pack Them In The Right Types Of Boxes
Packing your books properly will take some time, but it will ensure that your books will stay safe during their time in the storage unit. Here are some tips to help you pack them properly:
- Use plastic tubs – Plastic will keep the bugs away from your books and will help reduce the chances of moisture coming in. It is best to use totes that are relatively small too, simply to help you avoid having boxes that are too heavy to carry.
- Stand the books upright – Place the books snugly in the totes standing straight up like they would be on a shelf. This can help prevent warping or bowing.
- Keep the same sizes together – As you pack, organize the books by sizes. If you can pack all the same size together, they are not as likely to get damaged in any way.
- Fill gaps with newspapers – Finally, you should consider stuffing any gaps in the totes with balled up newspapers. This will help keep the books straight, which will also help prevent warping and other issues.
After you have packed all your totes, you may want to find a few pallets to use to place on the floor of the storage shed. This is just one extra layer of protection you will have against water that could potentially leak into the shed.
In addition, you may also want to talk to the storage shed manager about pest control. If they do not offer pest control services, you may want to place a few mouse traps in the unit to catch rodents that may enter. Placing drops of peppermint oil in the unit may also help you repel bugs from coming in.
Storage units are ideal for storing books and almost anything else you may need to store. To learn more, contact a storage unit facility in your area, like Colfax West Self Storage.