<p>Has anyone had any experience using these? I am feeling the need to put some things in storage for a while. We are doing some renovations over the next 6 months or so - bathroom, pantry/mudroom, attic - and I don’t really have a good place to keep things. These things are not valuable to anyone else, but they are extremely valuable to me. Here are some examples of the things I’d like to store:</p>
<ul>
<li>life-size Santa “doll”</li>
<li>bassinet (with names of my children and about 10 other babies who used it written underneath)</li>
<li>plastic bins of Christmas decorations and other holiday decorations</li>
<li>plastic bins with mementos - children’s school papers, artwork, programs, etc.</li>
<li>plastic bins with old papers/records</li>
<li>plastic bins with photos</li>
</ul>
<p>I am a big customer at The Container Store.</p>
<p>I am worried about mice, insects, moisture, vandalism. I know that there are facilities nearby, and I need someplace nearby so that I can go in and out. One is a Westy facility.</p>
<p>We’ve used [Public</a> Storage](<a href=“Storage Tips & Advice | Public Storage Blog”>Storage Tips & Advice | Public Storage Blog) facilities twice (mainly for furniture) and were very pleased, but I imagine they vary by location and who is actually running them. I would look for a great security system first: at the PS place we used you couldn’t even access the storage units in a car unless you had the code to punch into the gate. After that, we looked for a general sense of cleanliness: no trash around to attract vermin, and good drainage so we knew our things would stay dry. I would visit a couple of places - you can tell a lot by looking around and talking to the manager.</p>
<p>Ask about their policy for water and mildew damage and get it in writing. We learned the hard way.</p>
<p>After my grandmother died, my dad stored her belongings in a self-storage facility for about six months. When he returned to remove the items, he was dismayed to find extensive water and mildew damage to everything due to a roof leak. Everything was ruined, including valuable antiques and irreplaceable family items. My dad complained to the facility manager, only to learn that he’d signed (without reading) a release of liability form that absolved the facility of any responsibility for damage.</p>