How About Garages?

Quite a while ago we took a look at alternatives to self storage that may work under different circumstances. One of the areas we did not touch upon was the somewhat larger scene of lock-up garages. This is an incentive, seen frequently in the UK, where free standing blocks of garages purpose-built for cars are purchased and hired out to customers who may require the space for other items. This can be a rather lucrative business – the cost of a garage can be surprisingly prohibitive in dense urban areas, where many flats and houses might not come with a garage as standard, and renting might be cheaper for anybody who wants to make transient use of this space, whilst filling the pockets very nicely of the owner.

It may sound like a nice idea, since there may be garages right behind your property that could be available for use. In terms of cost and convenience you will be able to strike a good deal and be able to store whatever you want, your car and fitting around it whatever might be cluttering up your house not too far away from where you actually live. No more fighting for parking spaces on the street anymore, and a bit of extra space in the bargain. And you can be in and out of there as many times as you like, 24 hours a day, all year round.

Using garages, also charmingly known as “lock ups” for storage can favour those who might want to use the garage space for activities that might not be possible in a self storage unit, such as car maintenance or working with industrial machinery or hazardous chemicals. The hands-off approach is both a pro and a con, since any issues might take longer to resolve than if you were to have somebody just a few metres away for advice, and also lock-ups have had a bit of an unfairly nefarious reputation.

However, whilst garage lock-ups might sound like an easier solution, it’s guaranteed you can always drive up to them for example, self storage provides a superior service to garages in quite a few respects. Security is an important one – garages are generally in open view and are only secured by whatever lock you have chosen to fix the shutters. In some areas if you fail to be attentive to this, you might find things gone in no time. Also the conditions items are stored in are pretty much subject to the weather. If you are storing items that are not going to be affected, or need little attention, from the cold, heat and damp, then this might be fine. However, just the boxes themselves that you might be storing items in certainly are affected, and if you are storing papers or anything that can rot or degrade easily, you are strongly advised to do your research on local climate controlled self storage facilities, which will offer a much more suitable environment for the storage of those particular items.

Posted in: Storage