ByJohn A
Why do people use storage during home renovations?
My neighbor decided to totally renovate her entire kitchen and the living area adjacent to it about a year ago. She said it would take about 4 weeks. She moved all the furniture out of her two living areas in one weekend, set up a few drop sheets and had her first tradie pull down the first wall of kitchen in the following Monday morning. Within a week the dining table and 8 chairs were moved to her backyard and the 2 1/2 seater couch was turned on its side in the hall between the two living rooms. The kids then proceeded to eat their breakfast cereals standing up in the small space between the hall and the living room with the partially completed kitchen. She said herself a few weeks later with a mix of laughter and exhausted tears that she hadn’t thought it through.
Renovations are more complicated than you read about in the magazines and newspapers. They devour every last bit of energy that you have, and if you are not prepared, it can become a complete mess. Most people do not realize this before it starts, but once the walls start falling, they realize the extent of their mistakes.
The furniture problem nobody really talks about
When demolition begins and drywall, sawdust and plaster start flying, this fine dust gets into everything! In particular, into all timber including old timber. Once dust has entered timber it is almost impossible to remove. That’s why many people store their furniture during a renovation to protect it from renovation dust. Trades use drop sheets however these are not 100% and it’s very hard to remove sawdust and plaster dust from carpet, timber and other surfaces.
Protecting furniture during home renovations is one of the key things to think about when moving furniture into storage during a renovation. Some people think that using a storage unit to protect furniture during home renovations is a bit precious but nothing could be further from the truth. Scratching a dining table surface or having wardrobe furniture covered in drywall dust is very expensive to fix. By moving all of your furniture into a storage unit before the bulk of the renovation work commences you can rest assured that your furniture will be protected from any damage.
Another reason that it is better to take all of the furniture out of the rooms to be renovated is that it will inevitably get damaged during the course of the work. There is no avoiding this fact. Tradies are people who are constantly in motion. They are always moving around from place to place. They are always carrying around big tools, which they need to swing around in order to use them. And there are always lots of other things that the tradie needs to carry around from place to place as well. It is just inevitable that some of the household items are going to get damaged during the course of the renovation. My beautiful mid-century sideboard got a corner knocked off during my last renovation. It happened because there was not enough room to swing around to the back of a wardrobe in the same room as the sideboard. As I said before, this type of damage is inevitable. That is why it is better to clear all of the household items out of the rooms that are to be renovated before the tradies arrive to start work.
What actually ends up in storage
Storage Facilities for Furniture During Renovations. When we talk about furniture storage during renovations most people think of the big items of furniture that will be stored during the renovation. They think of the whole house and say that the storage facility will be able to hold the lot. But the truth is, until you start clearing out all of the rooms and start packing up all of the little items and big items of furniture, you don’t realize just how much stuff you have. Here is a list of typical items that are stored in self storage facilities during renovations.
- Furniture, obviously, but also rugs — which are essentially dust sponges with decorative ambitions
- Artwork and mirrors that can’t survive six weeks leaning against a construction zone wall
- Electronics, because sustained vibration and fine particulate matter are genuinely bad for them
- Boxes of clothing and linen when wardrobes are being gutted or relocated
- Anything fragile that would quietly terrorise you sitting in the corner of a worksite
At the same time that your living area and kitchen are being transformed into dust filled building sites, there is the daunting task of moving and sorting the contents of the three rooms. The majority of items such as boxes, clothing, shoes, hats, bags, books, CDs, DVDs, toys, bedding, curtains, linen, and household contents such as kitchenware, crockery, glassware, cutlery, furniture, ornaments, photographs, artwork, and personal items such as jewelry, medications, important documents, etc, all get thrown into one room in a state of utter chaos. In most cases this room becomes a storage facility of its own that cannot be used.
A quick comparison: storage versus the alternatives
| Option | Cost | Protection level | Practical reality |
| Dedicated storage unit | Weekly rental fee | High | Items out of the way, accessible when you actually need them |
| Stacking in the garage | Free | Low to medium | Garage becomes unusable; things still collect dust anyway |
| Leaving furniture in situ | Free | Very low | Slows tradies down, dramatically increases damage risk |
| Storing at a friend or family member’s place | Free (emotionally expensive) | Medium | Strains relationships, nearly impossible to access quickly |
The organisational benefit people underestimate
Removing belongings from around the home to be stored during a renovation is a major task in itself that causes enough to make anyone want to throw in the towel, however the removal of clutter from a couple of rooms of a house in disarray is better for the human psyche than being surrounded by heaps of renovation dirt and filth in every room. In reality, the amount of filth and disarray in a couple of transitional rooms is probably far less than one would initially imagine, and once cleared the areas where work is actually being carried out immediately become much more visible. The tradespeople also seem to work
A second benefit of putting your furniture in storage early is that the renovation space is very clean and organized. The space allows for a cleaner and more organized way to view the renovation as it’s unfolding. And when trades are able to move through spaces more quickly this is a huge advantage as well. I know that when I’m working and having to constantly navigate through around furniture this slows me down greatly.
(As an aside, I find this aspect of renovations fascinating. The way in which you tackle the initial clearing of furniture and storage within the first 48 hours of a project will set the tone for the remainder of the time. In effect, you can have a ‘good’ or ‘poor’ renovation depending upon how you manage the initial clearing of furniture to make way for the builders.)
For longer term renos it’s worth looking into good quality storage facilities, such as Self Storage Bunbury storage solutions for example. These types of storage can allow you to access your goods when you need them, rather than leaving them all stacked up in the garage or under a tarp for months.
Timing: the part most people get backwards
- Book your storage unit before your renovation start date, not after you’ve already moved things around twice in a panic
- Clear rooms being worked on first so trades can begin without the ritual reshuffling of your belongings
- Leave out only what you genuinely need for daily living; be ruthless about this
- Plan your return date around realistic project completion, not the optimistic timeline your builder quoted in week one
Most renovations take longer than quoted time to complete. This is why it is a good idea to book a storage facility with a good buffer, ie. Book a 3m x 3m unit for 3 months instead of just 3 months and then have to search for a facility at the end of the renovation.
See also: Goldendoodle Breeder Near Me: How to Find a Healthy and Well-Socialized Puppy
It’s Not Luxury It’s Sensible
The dust will get in to EVERYTHING so it might as well get in to your patience while you’re stressing your way through hellhole renovation too. But it will be worth it in the end. And generally the little decisions you make in the early days of your renovation will save your sanity in the long run. Don’t be cereal-less and dump all your furniture in the middle of your hallway. Get it into proper storage.
My neighbor had the hardest time with her reno. As I’d pass by her entry way I’d see a pile of cereal boxes sitting there. You’d have to go around the cereal boxes to go down the entry to the living room where the reno was happening.
