Renovating Your Home? Here's How a Storage Unit Can Help You.

Renovating your home can be an exciting yet stressful time - especially if you will be staying in your home while the renovation takes place. While it might seem like an unnecessary expense to add to your already growing home renovation bill, one of the best things that you can do for yourself and your mental health in this transition stage is to rent a storage unit on a short-term basis. Read more below to find out why we recommend this and how it can help the efficiency of your project while also helping you and your family keep calm and carry on.

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Make a timeline

Sit down with your builder and the rest of the people on your renovation team (like your designer, architect, tiler and plumbers etc), to find out from each of them how long the renovation process will be. Having a timeline ahead of the renovation will make the planning stage a lot easier for you and your family since you know what to expect. The rule of thumb here is to add an extra 3-4 weeks to the builder’s timeline to take into consideration any issues that might arise. Once you know how long the renovation could possibly take, you can start looking for a storage unit near you that would allow you to rent a unit for that amount of time.

Download our "Get More Space" guide to declutter your house in just 3 weeks

Now that you have your timeline and hopefully your storage unit, take a few days before the renovation starts to declutter your home, even the areas that won’t be affected by the renovation. While this might seem like an unnecessary step, making additional space in your home will enable you to find items easier while the renovation takes place. Cleaning out your entire home and moving anything that you haven't used in a year or so to the storage unit, means that you will have more space available in other rooms in your home to store the things you do need. An example of this is by going through your kitchen cupboards and donating or storing appliances and containers that you haven't used in a while. This will provide you with much needed extra space during the renovation period.

Organise the unit

Get your storage unit at least a few weeks before your renovation is set to begin as this will afford you some more time to pack and organise. This is especially helpful if you work long hours and only have time to pack and organise the unit on the weekends. At Rent-A-Store, we make this easier to do as we offer 50% off your first three months, we offer month to month rentals and are open from 6 am to 6 pm 365 days of the year. This gives you more than enough time to plan, organise your home and storage unit before the renovation takes place.

Whether you are only going to use the unit for 2 months or even 8 months, make sure that you spend time organising it as much as possible so that when your renovation is in full swing, navigating your way around and finding items in your storage unit is a breeze. If it is the contents of mainly 1 or 2 rooms of your home that needs packing up and that will take up the most of your unit, then categorise it by items (i.e., linens and towels, glassware, plastics, books, bits and bobs). Since you will only need your unit for a short period of time, you can save money by making use of our 10 free packing boxes when you move your items into the unit. This will limit the need to get shelving, plastic containers and specific storage items since you will only be storing a few things.

Make a place for your valuables

We know that it can be daunting to have strangers in your home for a prolonged period of time, especially when you have valuables and heirlooms around your home that you want to keep safe. At Rent-A-Store, we have a state-of-the-art security system installed at all of our premises, ensuring that the location of choice will provide you with total peace of mind. Storing your heirlooms and valuable possessions during a home renovation doesn’t only cover you from loss, but also limits breakage and damages that can happen during your renovation. We recommend carefully packing all of your valuables in bubble wrap and non-toxic tissue paper before packing them in carefully labelled boxes.

While you are responsible for your own unit and what you store, Rent-A-Store is completely secure with security guards, CCTV, off-site monitoring IP Cameras and full height electric fencing which is maintained 24/7, ensuring that we do everything to safeguard your possessions.

Now that you know the basics of renting a unit for your renovation, be sure to have a look at our website to find the right storage unit for you and your needs.

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