What climate control actually does, and what it does not
For some of what you own it is the difference between keeping the thing and throwing it away. For the rest, you are paying for something you do not need.
Global Self Storage2 minute read
Climate control is the most-used phrase in this industry and the least-explained. It is worth knowing exactly what it does, because for some of what you own it is the difference between keeping the thing and throwing it away, and for the rest of it you are paying for something you do not need.
What it actually is
A climate-controlled unit is inside a heated and cooled building. The temperature stays within a band year round rather than tracking the weather outside, and because the air is conditioned, the humidity stays in a band too.
That second part is the one that matters, and it is the one nobody advertises. Connecticut does not damage stored belongings by being cold. It damages them by being humid in August, freezing in January, and swinging between the two several times in March.
What the swings do
Every material you own expands and contracts at its own rate. Put a wooden table through forty cycles of that in a year and the joints work loose, the veneer lifts, and the top cups. Leather dries and cracks. Paper and photographs cockle, then stick together. Vinyl records warp at temperatures a car trunk reaches easily in July.
Humidity does the slower damage. Above about 60 percent relative humidity, mold has what it needs. Electronics corrode at contacts you cannot see. Fabric and upholstery hold the moisture and then smell of it forever.
What genuinely needs it
- Wooden furniture, and anything veneered or joined
- Leather, upholstery, mattresses
- Electronics, computers, instruments
- Photographs, documents, books, artwork
- Musical instruments, particularly anything wooden or stringed
- Anything stored for more than a season that you intend to use again
- Business records and stock you will have to stand behind
What does not
- Garden tools, lawnmowers, bicycles
- Plastic bins of things that do not care
- Building materials, tires, car parts
- Anything you are storing for a few weeks between houses in mild weather
If that is your list, a drive-up unit is cheaper, you can back a vehicle to the door, and you are not paying for conditioning you do not need.
The mistake people actually make
It is not choosing wrong between the two. It is buying a drive-up unit for six weeks, and then leaving things in it for three years because life happened. Almost every ruined mattress we have seen went into storage as a short-term decision.
If there is a real chance the short-term stay becomes a long one, price the climate-controlled unit and decide with that number in front of you.
What to ask any storage operator
Ask whether the building is heated and cooled, or only heated. Ask what temperature range they hold. Ask whether the corridors are interior. A unit with an exterior roll-up door on an unheated row is not climate-controlled, whatever the sign says, and the difference shows up in the first damp August.
Sizes and prices
Every size we rent, with today's price and what is free.
Questions this raises
- What size do I need?
- As a rough guide: a 5x5 takes a walk-in closet, a 5x10 a studio, a 10x10 about a one-bedroom apartment, and a 10x20 a three-bedroom house. That is standard guidance rather than a measurement of your things, so tell us what you are storing and someone here will size it with you. Nobody in this office works on commission, so there is nothing in it for us to sell you space you do not need.
- What is the difference between climate-controlled and drive-up?
- A climate-controlled unit is inside a heated and cooled building, so the temperature and the humidity stay in a band all year. That matters for wood, leather, electronics, photographs, instruments and anything staying more than a season. A drive-up unit lets you back a vehicle to the door, which is easier for loading and cheaper, and is fine for tools, bikes, building materials and short stays in mild weather. Ask the office which buildings have which, because it varies.
- Do you have climate-controlled storage in East Hampton?
- Yes. The 265 West High Street site is climate-controlled, across two buildings, and it is where most of our unit sizes are.