When you are needing to put some of your possessions in storage, it is important to take steps to keep your items safe while they are being stored. In particular, you will want to protect these items against the risk of insects or other pests damaging them. By taking a few basic steps, you will be able to drastically lower the risk of pest causing problems for your stored items.

Be Mindful Of What You Put In The Unit

One of the most basic but effective steps that you can take to reduce the risk of this threat is to be mindful of what you actually put into the unit. Unfortunately, many people assume that only food will be able to attract pests to their unit. Yet, it is possible for dirty clothes, musty magazines or sources of moisture to also serve as attractants to these pests. For this reason, you should be sure to only put clean items in the unit so that you can minimize any smells that may be tempting to these pests.

Place Pest Repellents In The Unit

While you may take great care to avoid putting items in your unit that may attract pests, there is no way for you to now that those renting your neighboring units have done the same. This will make it important to have your unit treated for pests and to use pest repellents. While most rental providers will administer regular pest control treatments, you may find that placing your own repellents in strategic areas of your unit will help to improve the effectiveness of these treatments. Ideally, you should apply these repellents along any wall that is shared with another unit and near the entrance. If your unit has air ducts, you may also want to put these repellents near them.

Use Durable Containers

Despite your best efforts, there may be a chance that some pests get into the storage unit. However, if you used durable containers to hold the items you were storing, the damage these pests can cause will be minimal. When choosing containers, you should opt for plastic ones that are fairly thick. If you are concerned about the items you are storing have some airflow, there are plastic containers that are designed with air vents in them. If you plan on stacking these storage containers, be sure to choose ones with these vents on the side. Otherwise, the vents may become blocked once you start stacking the containers.

Contact a facility, like Security Self Storage, for more help.