Housing your belongings in a Boston storage facility comes with its own unique challenges. Although the first challenge is the extreme weather conditions in the area, it’s also important to consider the security and safety of your belongings in urban areas like Boston.
Cleanliness is another important factor, both for sanitary reasons and structural integrity. Finally, you’ll want constant access to your things in case you need them, and a highly-convenient solution so that you won’t be sidelined by more processes than you need to be.
In this checklist, we’ll cover all of these important issues to help you know exactly what to look for in a Boston storage facility.
1. Climate Controlled Storage to Counteract Harsh Weather
Boston experiences extreme weather conditions, and your storage facility should be built in such a way that it prevents your items from being destroyed by harsh weather. As recently as July 22, 2011, the city of Boston reached 103-degree temperature.
Hot temperatures can cause damage to artwork, delicate clothing, furniture, photos, and electronics (especially when it’s also humid) – but Boston is far more likely to have cold winters than hot summers.
During the winter, Boston temperatures have been known to drop below zero at times. As recently as January 31, 2019, the temperature was below 15 degrees, and February 14, 2016 saw even colder temperatures, with readings below 23 degrees.
A lot of damage can happen to your belongings at these temperatures – and electronics are especially susceptible. Internal components of electronics can crack during weather fluctuations, causing damage to TVs, gaming systems, and more.
Other items prone to weather damage include musical instruments like guitars, ukuleles, pianos, woodwind instruments, and drum sets. Furniture (especially those made with wood, glass, or leather) can also experience damage.
That’s why it’s so important for Boston residents to store their belongings in a climate controlled facility. By keeping your electronics, furniture, instruments and artwork in a climate-controlled facility, you avoid the potential for damage.
Climate controlled facilities are especially important if you’re planning to store your property for longer periods of time during which the weather will reach extreme temperatures.
2. A Secure Facility That’s Practically Theft-Proof
The two main storage options are full-service and self-storage. While self-storage facilities may be appealing due to their price point, it’s important to keep in mind that when it comes to the security of your belongings, you get what you pay for.
A major problem with self-storage is that it’s so prone to theft. At some self-storage facilities the only thing standing between a thief and your items is a simple padlock. All it takes is a pair of bolt cutters to gain access to your storage unit.
Urban areas are more prone to theft than rural areas are – partly because of the higher population density and partly because it’s easier for thieves to slip away unnoticed. Because Boston is an urban area, it’s crucial to take security under consideration when choosing a storage facility.
Boston has higher crime rates on average than the rest of the state of Massachusetts, and many of the crimes are property-related. In Boston, there’s a one in 50 chance of being a victim of property theft, while there’s only a one in 97 chance throughout the rest of the state.
As we said earlier, the draw of self-storage is the low price point – but is it really worth it to store your personal effects in such a place if there’s a chance your items will be stolen? Here at On Demand Storage, we believe in keeping your property safe: it’s why we only allow staff members in the storage area to retrieve your belongings.
3. A Clean and Well-Organized Space
Anyone who’s haphazardly tossed all their belongings into a self-storage unit with no rhyme or reason will appreciate the accessibility and high levels of organization that come of using a full-service storage solution.
While it just takes an hour or so to fill a self-storage unit, it can take several hours to dig out the one possession you need, or wrestle your Christmas boxes out from under the floor-to-ceiling stack that’s way in the back of your unit.
One of the benefits of using an On Demand Storage full-service storage facility is that everything is highly organized. We take an inventory of all your personal belongings before holding them in our storage units, and we put them away so that they’re easily accessible should you need them again.
On the flipside, here’s another danger posed by self-storage: the risk of live-in tenants, pets, or pests. It’s illegal to live in a storage facility, but it’s a relatively common occurrence among the homeless population.
Unfortunately, some citizens who are down on their luck look at storage units as a way to find cheap shelter. Self-storage units that aren’t properly monitored or maintained are highly susceptible to being used as live-in shelters.
There is no running water inside of a storage unit for homeless tenants to wash themselves, and no toilets for them to use. Sometimes, the homeless person will bring pets along with them, adding to the unsanitary conditions within the unit.
Most storage facilities wouldn’t contain grocery items, fresh food, or leftovers, but a storage unit housing a homeless person would. These perishable food items can draw unwanted pests, such as rats, mice, cockroaches, bed bugs and other insects which can then infest your unit and cause damage to your property.
Massachusetts is also an extremely humid environment, with humidity levels ranging from the high 50’s to the high 70’s. If the proper precautions aren’t taken, this can contribute to mold growth within the walls and ceiling of the facility. Though most self-storage facilities are made of concrete and steel, concrete can still be damaged by excess moisture.
Structural damage can be a major problem for you as a unit renter, potentially leading to collapse of the unit. Even if collapse isn’t an issue, there’s a chance of water damage to your property due to holes or cracks within the walls or door. Water damage is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what can go wrong with self-storage units.
The aforementioned harsh weather conditions can be extremely dangerous for live-in tenants. Homeless self-storage tenants have been found dead from exposure during winter. In an attempt to stay warm, tenants might use propane tanks or attempt to cook food within the unit. This carries a great risk as well – the risk of fire in a unit that has no smoke detectors and no way to be opened from the inside.
It goes without saying that the above activities are extremely dangerous, not just to the squatting tenants themselves, but to your personal belongings.
If you want to avoid the risk of infestation, fire damage, and other unsanitary conditions, you should use a storage solution that grants the peace of mind that comes from knowing that your property is being held in a clean, well-organized environment.
4. Constant Access to Belongings
So if self-storage is so dangerous, what could the solution be for those who want constant access to their things? You’ll be happy to know that there’s a better option. Contrary to popular belief, self-storage is not the only solution that provides you with constant access to your items.
Full-service storage can do the same thing by providing you with pickup and delivery options. At On Demand Storage, we pick up your items from your home and bring them to our full-service storage facility, keeping them safe until you request them.
We offer prompt delivery and pickup options – which means you can enjoy constant access to your belongings without the inherent risk and inconvenience that comes with self-storage.
5. The Most Convenience You Can Get
When you’re choosing between self-storage and full service storage and come to the question of convenience, there’s no contest. Full service storage wins every time due to the great care that is taken with your belongings.
Imagine the burden of transporting your things to a self-storage facility. Perhaps you’d need to take several trips, if you’re limited on space in your vehicle and have a lot of items to store. Since Boston often has inclement weather, you could be subjecting yourself to multiple trips in icy conditions as you slip and slide on the road.
Once you’ve lugged everything to the unit in your vehicle, you have to carry them into the unit. The experience of traveling out your door to your vehicle, then from your vehicle to your unit can present another challenge. There’s an increased chance of slipping on ice during the winter, overheating during the summer, or back injuries from improper lifting techniques.
When everything is finally stored away, you can breathe a sigh of relief – until, of course, you need to find something in there. Since moving boxes is such an exhausting endeavor, it’s common for people to be careless in the way they do it.
“Just toss ‘em in!” seems to be the standard sentiment – which means that the next time you need something, it’ll be harder to find. You’ll likely have to push aside the giant mountain of boxes to get to the one you need, and what’s convenient about that?
If your self-storage facility is quite a distance away from where you live, you’ll be further inconvenienced by the drive (especially if multiple trips are required).
When you call On Demand Storage and we arrive to pick up your belongings, one of the first things we do is take an inventory of what you have. Once we have a full inventory and you’ve signed off on it, we carefully transport it back to our warehouse. There, we keep everything neat and organized in our climate-controlled facilities so we can bring it back right away as soon as you need it again.
No fuss on your behalf – we take care of everything.
On Demand Storage facilities are conveniently located in Boston, South Boston, and throughout the state of Massachusetts, including in:
- Quincy
- Natick
- Wellesley
- Allston & Brighton
- Charlestown
- South End
- Braintree
- Framingham
- Newton
- Mission Hill
- Somerville
- Lexington
- Hingham
- Cambridge
- Fenway
- Back Bay
With all of these locations, Boston-area residents are bound to find a safe, convenient, and climate-controlled place to store their property!
Choose OnDemand Storage as Your Boston Storage Facility
On Demand Storage has everything you need: climate controlled facilities, security, cleanliness, access to your belongings, and convenience.
