Surveying Secure And Efficient Storage Facility Features

Posted on: 30 May 2017

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There are a few baseline features found at different storage facility tiers. Door strength, air conditioning quality, and available building security can be picked out with a brief glance at a storage facility's feature advertisements or by a simple visit, but you need to know how strong, robust, or generally effective each feature can be in order to know where your money is best spent. Before wandering around different facilities or performing inspections with no real comparison criteria, here are a few storage facility features and their important inspection points.

Security Features Across Multiple Tiers

Protecting your belongings in storage is a continuing mission that always has to change and can never be 100% theft proof. There will always be a thief crafty enough to get through security, but it's more about deterring most thieves in your area rather than preparing for some world class thief who has no real interest in your old clothing or power tools.

To deter most thieves, the basic tier of security is a good lock on the storage room door. The best security features for locks are lockpicking difficulty and bar strength, which makes it harder for a thief to fiddle through the lock without being caught and more difficult to simply cut or break the lock.

Lockpicking challenges are hard to understand if you're not an expert thief or locksmith. The best way to avoid easily picked locks is to avoid using the locks available in most retail outlets, as it's no problem for a thief to buy a lock of the same type for practice. Instead, ask the storage facility staff for any locksmiths or known, difficult brands to slow down thieves as much as possible.

After locks would be perimeter control. If you're concerned about theft, avoid outdoor facilities if they lack security personnel who rove the area on the lookout for intruders, or consider sticking to an indoor facility.

Indoor facilities have fewer areas for random passersby to just walk into the area and casually steal. People who enter the building will have a purpose for that building, and it's easier to record indoor thieves with sufficient, indoor lighting.

Air Quality And Other Cleanliness Factors

In addition to protecting your belongings from theft, be sure to keep them clear of dust and humidity for as long as possible.

For baseline air quality, go with storage facilities that have air conditioning. Make sure that the individual units have air conditioning, as some facilities only have air conditioning for the business office and hallways due to mistakes in converting old buildings into storage facilities.

Air conditioning systems will keep your belongings at stable temperatures to avoid heat damage, and humidity is reduced as a byproduct of the air conditioning process unless a hazard such as a flood enters the air intake area. Lower humidity means lower rusting or corrosion (tarnishing), both of which may damage electronics due to breaking down the already thin electrical traces and other forms of metal connections.

Contact a secure self storage facility representative, such as at North Star Mini Storage, to discuss available features, as well as options for increasing security and cleanliness.