It depends on what you’re storing. A boarded loft is free and works well for light things you only need now and then, such as Christmas decorations, a suitcase or a box of keepsakes, while heavy, bulky or often-needed things are usually easier, and kinder to your house, in a storage unit.
When the loft is the right answer
If your loft is boarded and you can get up there safely, it’s a handy home for lightweight, seasonal things. There’s nothing to pay and it’s always at hand. If yours isn’t boarded yet, compare the cost of boarding the loft with renting a unit. Pack them in sturdy, labelled boxes so you can find what you need without moving everything else.
What to watch for in a loft
Weight is the first thing to think about. As the housing association LiveWest explains to its tenants, loft boards aren’t designed to take heavy weight, the ceiling joists are there to hold up the ceiling below, and heavy items stored up there can make the ceiling bow and crack. It’s easy to miss a joist and step through the ceiling, too, so secure boards to walk on matter. If you have any doubts about your loft’s structure, ask a professional before loading it up. If the loft is full of toys and outgrown furniture, our guide to decluttering kids’ toys and outgrown furniture covers when a unit is the better choice.
Insulation matters as well. The Energy Saving Trust advises that if you want to store things in your loft and keep your home well insulated, you’ll need to put boards down, and that you can raise the floor slightly to fit more insulation underneath. Squashing mineral wool insulation reduces how well it works. It also points out that good insulation makes the loft itself colder, which makes condensation more likely, so anything that minds damp, such as paper, photographs or fabric, needs careful packing up there, or a different home.
When a storage unit makes more sense
A storage unit suits the things a loft doesn’t: furniture, boxes of books, white goods, anything heavy, and anything you’ll want regularly without a ladder. Our guide to household self storage explains how a unit works alongside your home. Most of our units are inside our buildings, and you can get to yours from 6am to 10pm, seven days a week, with free trolleys to help with the heavy lifting. Each unit has its own alarm, our sites are watched by a professional CCTV monitoring company, and everything stored is covered, by our contents protection or your own policy.
Storage also helps when the loft is full or out of reach: a move, a renovation, downsizing to a home without one, or simply when climbing the loft ladder has stopped being easy. The minimum stay is two weeks, so it can be a short-term fix as easily as a long one.
Not sure which size you need? Call us on 0800 2545585 and we’ll help you work it out, or get a price online.
Related questions
- How do I know what unit size I need?
- Do storage units get cold in winter or hot in summer?
- Is there a weight limit for what I can store?
Further reading
- Energy Saving Trust: Roof and loft insulation