Storing furniture in a garage / outbuilding - anyone done this?

[Raider]

We'll be moving in to a new rented property in a month or so, but it's a fairly small cottage-type thing which comes fairly well furnished. It's a bit too furnished annoyingly, so we were looking at storing one sofa and maybe a large wooden cabinet somewhere for the duration the tenancy (1 year).

We do have a garage, but my concern would be that even if we wrapped each item in thick plastic, and maybe added some silica gel packets to absorb most of the moisture, things would still get musty.

If we can't store the items in the garage then it means renting a storage place at £100+ a month, which would be annoying. The landlord has already said that she doesn't have space to take them either.

So has anyone had experience of storing slightly vunerable household items in a garage / outbuilding safely?

 

[4T5]

Just sell the sofa & keep the wooden cabinet on some pond liner.

 

[Slade2]

I would put this back to the landlord to sort out tbh. Its his stuff and you are renting his house. What would you do if you get a new sofa you get rid of the old one. Its rather simple to be honest. If you are staying there for 1 year you could perhaps agree with the land lord to pay him a little extra every month so that he can get a new sofa when you leave but thats not really your problem its his sofa and you dont want it so its up to him to sort it out. I would tell him if he doesnt have space you are going to skip/dump them and see what he says to that. If you are on about paying out like £1200 just to store the stuff you could probably replace it for around half that brand new if you are just buying cheap stuff to replace it.

 

[DirtyJester]

Send the sofa away to be recovered, though make sure you tell them to take their time...

 

[AJK]

I would put this back to the landlord to sort out tbh. Its his stuff and you are renting his house. [...] not really your problem its his sofa and you dont want it so its up to him to sort it out.

Uh, no. If you agree to rent a property with furniture included, you've agreed to the furniture being there and must take care of it. The landlord doesn't have to remove it, and if you dump his or her property I'd expect you to be booted out at best (criminal damage at worst...)

 

[AJK]

We do have a garage, but my concern would be that even if we wrapped each item in thick plastic, and maybe added some silica gel packets to absorb most of the moisture, things would still get musty.

I've never stored upholstered items in a garage, but I'd imagine if you wrap the items carefully and store with appropriate moisture-absorbent materials (plus perhaps something to keep it smelling fresh) that this would be OK? Is the garage heated/insulated - this will make a big difference in winter, when you'll have the biggest problems.

If we can't store the items in the garage then it means renting a storage place at £100+ a month, which would be annoying. The landlord has already said that she doesn't have space to take them either.

Your storage quote sounds high, should be able to get a better price than that for a year's storage of just two items (though I appreciate cost is cost!)

 

[Raider]

Uh, no. If you agree to rent a property with furniture included, you've agreed to the furniture being there and must take care of it. The landlord doesn't have to remove it, and if you dump his or her property I'd expect you to be booted out at best (criminal damage at worst...)

Spot on. If a property is furnished then you can't just pick and choose what you want. Otherwise the landlord would have to be very flexbile in terms of what storage they have on hand.

The garage is unheated, which is a problem. My idea was to maybe try it for a month, then unwrap and see what it's like?

Do you think that storage quote is high? We'd need a box capable of holding a sofa and that's it. I'd maybe consider £50 a month if we could fit a couple of extra bits in, but that'd be it!!

 

[AJK]

Do you think that storage quote is high? We'd need a box capable of holding a sofa and that's it. I'd maybe consider £50 a month if we could fit a couple of extra bits in, but that'd be it!!

Looking at a few quotes I reckon you could get somewhere between 70-80/month (dependent on how far you can get the sofa, how big the sofa actually is and if you could store it on its end without damage, and whether you can get it up to a level about the ground floor). But though that's less than 100 it's still more than £50, and I wouldn't want to spent over £800/year storing a sofa either!

Sounds garage will be the best bet; can't imagine you'd hurt it too much with a 1 month trial run, so this is worth a go?

 

[Raumarik]

Don't put it in an outbuilding/garage that isn't heated during damp/cold days, otherwise it'll be moldy within a few weeks and ruined. Also if it is heated keep an eye on the roof for leaks, don't wrap it entirely in plastic as this locks in moisture and keep it raised off any floor to prevent damp/insects getting to it.

It'd be fine during summer but having had my parents do this with one of their sofas a few years ago it was a stinking mess by the time I dragged it out (They put it into the garage in september - I removed it in December and it was already ruined due to frost + a tiny bit of damp.)

 

[Robertnpmk]

The wife and I stored our entire flat in my mum's Garage when we went travelling for 6 months.

This was through the winter of 2010 which was rather snowy and crap and everything was fine.

Always depends on what garage you use as this one has always been on the dry side.

 

[Jono]

What about one of those really low powered heaters (about 40w or whatever they are) intended for conservatories etc. I've never used one but always been intrigued by them, as my conservatory is freezing in winter.

And maybe one of those non-electronic desiccant dehumidifier things.

 

[jake9891]

How bad is the garage? We live in an old cottage house, our garage is not insulated, we do however have central heating pipes going through it, so I guess that keeps it fairly dry in the winter. Never had a problem with stuff getting musty. By the way, not sure about other people experience, but these things are terrible, useless and consume loads of electricity:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/WHITE-HEATER-Watts-CABLE-BRACKETS/dp/B005GK02CA/

We had one and would definitely not recommend.

 

[MrMoonX]

Uh, no. If you agree to rent a property with furniture included, you've agreed to the furniture being there and must take care of it. The landlord doesn't have to remove it, and if you dump his or her property I'd expect you to be booted out at best (criminal damage at worst...)

criminal damage? LOL O RLY


OP should just use the furniture or store it appropriately

 

[bitslice]

This really isn't a difficult problem

Get a couple of large plastic sofa covers and a couple of 100g bags of desiccant from ebay.
Cover the sofa with the first bag, chuck in the silica bags, suck out the air with a hairdryer in reverse and seal with duct tape. Repeat with the second bag. Stand it on a few storage boxes to keep it out of the way of mice and cover it with a blanket to stop the plastic being punctured.

The silica will dry out the air in the bag and stop any condensation, the plastic will stop any future air transfer.

 

[AJK]

criminal damage? LOL O RLY

Yeah, that's my fault for not quoting properly. I was responding to Slade2's suggestion "I would tell him if he doesnt have space you are going to skip/dump them and see what he says to that."

 

[phonemonkey]

Is it possible to just live in a cramped house for a year? Or off load the items you're looking to store to friends and family for a year? They don't all need to go to the same place....

 

[rG-tom]

I stored my entire set of furniture including a 3 metre long sofa, king size and double bed inc mattresses 8 seated dining table wardrobe speakers etc etc for £40 a month for a year! I know I paid very little but still I'd not expect to be paying more than 30 quid for a single sofa! Speak to some local removals companies often they have their own warehouses and can store things cheaper than the national chain type places