When warmer temperatures arrive, so do the customers looking for drive-up storage units. Sometimes, it’s to store outside gear, like lawnmowers and motorcycles, so outdoor storage makes perfect sense. But sometimes people are looking to store an entire household.
Summer is, after all, the busy season for buying and selling a home.Those folks always seem surprised when I ask them if they’ve considered climate controlled storage.
The biggest objection I hear to climate controlled storage is that it’s less convenient than a drive up unit where customers can park directly in front of their storage units. Some are concerned that it’s more expensive and some just can’t imagine why they would need it. So let me answer all those questions for you.
Is climate controlled storage less convenient than drive up?
Yes, but not terribly so. At our climate controlled facility we have dollies and carts to make transporting your stuff the few extra feet from your vehicle to your unit a piece of cake. For tenants on the upper floors, you can drive right up to our 5′ by 8′ freight elevator and get the majority of your stuff to the upper floors in just one or two trips.
Just do me a favor and make sure to follow the directions on the freight elevator!
Isn’t climate controlled more expensive?”
At our facility, the difference between climate controlled storage and drive up units is about $5.30 per month. For a unit that has heating and air-conditioning to control humidity, you pay an extra $5 a month plus tax. It’s like skipping one really cheap lunch a month so that your stuff isn’t subjected to the varying temperatures of outside storage.
LOet’s face it. Even when temperatures get warmer, Pennsylvania can have lots of extremes. Last week alone, the high temperatures fluctuated by more than 20 degrees each day. Going from hot to cool in an outside storage unit can lead to condensation and mildew. In the climate controlled building, your stuff will have fluctuate from about 60 degrees in the winter to about 75 in the summer, with heat and air conditioning as needed.
As an added bonus, the climate control building has emergency lighting all day every day and has a sprinkler system that the outside units don’t have.
Why do I need climate controlled storage?
By mid-summer in Pennsylvania, the temperatures inside outdoor storage units will often be above 100 degrees, especially in the afternoon sun. Standing on the pavement of our drive up facility while the summer sun beats on you can be exhausting. In the climate controlled bui8lding, the air conditioning keeps the air flowing, even in the afternoon heat. And if you ever need to dig through your unit to find something, wouldn’t you rather be in the air conditioning?