How To Pick The Right Size Storage Unit

Get Your Free Moving Quote

    People always get in trouble when it’s renovation time. It’s not hard to get rid of the things in your house that you don’t need, but what about furniture and home appliances you are going to use again? The best solution for storing and keeping your things safe during renovation or relocation is renting a storage unit. Talking about whether it’s worth your money, will be a long discussion. Experts usually say it’s much more affordable and less expensive than hiring movers. If you already consider renting, you should know how to pick the right size storage unit. If this is your first time renting a storage unit, it is difficult to calculate exactly how much storage space you need. To avoid issues with too small or too big storage, we’ll help you!

    pick the right size storage unit
    When in doubt about how to pick the right size storage unit, always choose bigger, experts say.

    Benefits of choosing a storage unit

    The first benefit of choosing a storage unit is it’s less expensive than hiring professional movers. While hiring professional movers, you need to pay the moving truck, movers and their tips, packing and unboxing services, moving insurance and more. The storage unit is like renting a garage. You make a list of things you want to store and pick the right size storage unit. You can call your friends or family members, or you can even load storage by yourself. No extra costs, just rent for a number of months you choose.

    Storage units are well equipped so you don’t need to worry about safety and spending money on buying boxes, bubble wraps and extra protection for your items. Storage units also offer more flexibility, so you can access them whenever you want to. Moreover, perhaps consider how to choose the climate-controlled storage facility as a better option.

    Portable storage unit

    There are many types of storage units. One of the most popular nowadays is a portable storage unit known as POD. Many people choose this short-term mobile storage unit when they renovate the house or move to another. But you can use PODS in other situations too. For example, if you have too many items in your home or office building and you need a temporary storage solution until you make more space. When portable storage arrives you can load the belongings yourself.

    Many people also use PODS as a temporary storage unit for monthly rates, but sometimes the company is able to offer weekly rentals. A portable storage unit can help you extend your garage space. You can make extra workshop space too.  Choose your destination well, maybe moving to Manhattan trouble-free sounds tempting.

    woman in front of black storage containers
    If you want to access your stuff easily, pick a unit one size larger.

    Right Size Storage Unit – Should you choose bigger? 

    When you think about how to pick the right size storage unit, think about do you want to load it fully or you need a larger unit so you can walk inside, move items and use them. If you just want to store your things until you finish home renovation or relocation, then you don’t need big space. But if you need to access your things often, you should choose bigger so you can walk inside. Some people even choose bigger so they can put shelves and ladders there to store goods. That is possible. You just need to tell the company what are your requests. Moreover, with choosing storage, make sure to learn a thing or two on how to declutter while packing for a move.

    storage unit close up
    Storage units provide a lot of benefits for your relocation!

    Consider larger items

    Before you choose to rent a storage unit, think about larger items you are going to store. Larger items tend to collect most of the dust, so check out some tips on cleaning before moving out. But what are the largest things you want to store? Take the precise measurements of your largest items. When you load the storage unit, these are the first things you need to load. Heavy, big and bulky items require a lot of space so you need to measure them precisely so you can be able to pick the right size storage unit. Don’t just rent random big storage, because it will cost you a lot.

    Right Size Storage Unit – possible sizes

    If you want to pick the right size storage unit, you should know the most common sizes that exist. Storage units are usually sized by square footage, and the typical ceiling is eight feet high. We’ll try to be more precise. If you want to store a large closet, you should pick a 5×5 storage unit, while the 5×10 size is enough to store the furniture from a one-bedroom apartment. If you want to find all the sizes you should check it on the internet. These are the most popular and most common measures today: 

    • 5×10, the size of a large closet 
    • 10×10, the size of a child’s bedroom  
    • 10×20, the size of a small garage 
    • 15×20, the size of a large bedroom 
    • 20×20, the size of a two-car garage 

    The most popular storage unit size in the U.S. it’s 10×10 – the size of a child’s bedroom. And 10×20 is the size people usually pick. But if you have larger items and more items to store you should choose a bigger storage unit. We’ll give you a short hint on every size. 

    Using a moving truck as a guideline 

    Did you know that you can use a moving truck size as a guideline on how to pick the right size storage unit? This is an expert’s hint. If you did all measurements of large items and you still need help about the size this might work. But keep in mind that the moving truck size you need is usually larger than the storage unit space. You can take the trailer size and pick a storage unit that is one size smaller than that. This would be an average measure, and sufficient for your belongings. For example, if you have a 25-foot moving truck, you can fit your items into a 10’x20’. If you have a 20-foot truck, you need a 10’x15. 

    Our
    affiliation

    Get Your Free Moving Quote