Does furniture get ruined in storage?
You have spent money buying your furniture, so it’s important to keep it in the best possible condition. We recommend that you check your goods to make sure there is no mould present or moisture prior to them being moved into storage. This guide will talk through the best ways to keep your furniture in tip top condition and stored to avoid damage or degradation.
General processes
In general, there’s three key steps to storing your furniture
1 Take everything apart - Where possible, take everything apart. This will ensure that you are able to clean everything more thoroughly and it will save you space and ultimately money in your store.
2 Clean everything - It’s important to clean everything as throughly as possible before it goes into storage. This includes steaming upholstery and fabrics to avoid any stains becoming permanent.
3 Tightly wrap any furniture fabrics and wood - In order to protect your items from mould or fungus, you should wrap them securely to stop any damp getting in. Use cloth sheets and blankets to protect your wooden furniture, this will stop dust and moisture. For any fabrics, including sofas, use bubble-wrap or plastic, this will add proctection from bugs, moulds and fungus. Leather beds and sofa suites will need to wrapped in a breathable covering, if wrapping in plastic it important to leave a few gaps or holes in the plastic.
Storing considerations
Once you have prepared your items, it’s important to ensure they are stored correctly. We recommend using indoor, dry storage units like ours. Your items will be at risk from damp so it is best to store them indoors. We also have the following recommendations:
Glass storage
If you want to avoid fragile items breaking you should wrap well and use bubble wrap to protect fragile items. You should use several layers of bubble wrap and clearly communicate with the storage provider which items require careful storage when planning where to place items.
How do you store a sofa?
Sofas are a tricky item to store due to their shape and the fact they are usually in “one piece”. They also usually have fabric or leather, which is important to protect. If you have a modular sofa, we do recommend taking it apart and wrapping it separately. You should consider the following steps to protect your sofa:
1 - Treat and clean the fabric and leather before you store
2 - Wrap your sofa and do not use plastic shrink wrap because this can trap moisture in
3 - Wrap it in blankets to allow it to breathe whilst in storage
4 - Do not place items on top of your sofa when you store it
5 - Try to store the sofa in the correct position. Where this is not possible, sofas can be stored on their edges, on the flattest strongest side. We also recommend using some soft padding underneath to eliminate any crushing of fabric/leather.
