Shipping container storage, do's and don'ts....

Karen,
under the extreme weather conditions you nominate I would make sure the container was not out in the weather, but inside a shed, then maybe you would not need a container??

I would get mattress bags for the bedding - for sure.

Have a look inside some of these shipping containers, they are rusty for a logical reason and it's nothing to do with leaving the doors open either.

Maîneÿ . . .

I have stored furniture in a shipping container for approx 6 months without the whirly birds. I had no ill effects to the furniture.
I agree with Mainey though in regards to having the mattresses stored in bags etc. Even lounges should be bagged.


Cheers Kev

We are currently moving our gear into one again. We use a company called Melco. They are bright green dotted around the SE Qld. They have a new floor in them. Last time we never had problems with moisture or bugs. we had Jim beam bottles in which one broke and citronella candle in there and that is what we smelt everytime we opened it a porty woody smell. I make sure the fridge and washing machine is dry and store them each side at the front. pull apart beds and furniture like the table that I can. This time we tried plastic containers for our gear but soon reverted back to the removal cartons. The plastic boxes broke in the trailer en route to the container, besides the boxes stack well. We moved the last one full and utilised the tie down hooks inside.
They are easy and cheap. $20/week. Suncorp insure contense too.
Sharon

Storing may not be all its cracked up to be. I had a housefull of furniture in storage for about 10 years (long story!!). It was stored profesionally in airconditioned storage. When we finally got it out of storage found most of the electrical items were useless - turn on - cloud of smoke or a loud "Bang"

Petrol line trimmer - all the fuel lines crumbled as you touched them.

Outboard motor electrics needed replacing.

Amazing how much stuff went straight from packing boxes to the skip for dumping, afte paying to store all that time.

We sent all our stuff in a container from Melbourne to Darwin where it was stored outside for 3 months during the wet. There were no issues. It was professionally packed.

Make sure the unit is watertight. A friend of ours who moved up there at the same time had theirs delivered with 3 feet of water in it - there was a hole in the top. All their stuff was ruined and the truck driver took one look and just stapled their inventory to the claim form and the moving company paid up.

Pete

Hi Karen and Geoff,
My brother has a lot of stuff stored at a storage area (on the coast) and he said he made the mistake in not placing the container up onto something eg., blocks . It has been placed directly on the ground. Might be something to consider.
Regards, Sally. XX

I know of someone who parked a car in a shipping container for a couple of years, when he pulled it out, it was full of rust. I know you're not planning on storing a car but it just demonstrates the amount of condensation that can build up in those containers.
Jon

Karen & Geoff, We have just gone through the same exercise you are talking about . After many enquires to people in the furniture industry we installed a whirly gig on the roof, but if you do that you need to cut a vent in the side down low on the opposite side of the whirly. I put the whirly in the roof opposite the door and the vent on the right hand side about 500 mm from the floor just inside the door. This gives a flow of air the full length of the container providing you leave some space around the vent. We used an eaves vent we got from Bunnings. The biggest problem with storing furniture is the build up of humidity. Since installing the vent we have opened the container on a hot day and been surprised just how cool it is inside.
As we intend travelling for quite a while we disposed of our electrical goods instead of trying to store them. Hope this may be of some help to you

Glacier Bill.

I have a container that sometimes goes onto the worksite and the rest of the time it sits on our property. It has 4 small wall vents in each corner and I have not had any condensation problems. However it is not jam packed with stuff but is about half full all the time (It is shelved out and tools and equipment stored in all the time). It is also opened at least once a week when not on-site and as mentioned it is up on blocks (about 100mm off the ground) so not sitting directly on the ground, this also makes it easier to re-locate
For your usage (long term storage with little or no opening) I would fit some form of ventilation as they get hot as inside in the heat and I live in Victoria! If it is outside, set it up so it has a bit of fall so water cannot pond on the roof. I also re-coat mine with a rust preventative paint when i have got nothing better to do!

A friend of ours stored their furniture whilst they were building a new house. They put the lounge and mattresses in plastic, and because of the humidity they went mouldy. A whirly bird would help or having the container somewhere that someone could open it to air once a week.
We run a site hire business that hires out containers and over the years have heard a few reports of this happening.
Cheers,
Michelle

Hi Karen, What going on long hols without us!!! LOL

Havent had any experience with containers, but have seen some with an frame on top and a flat roof fixed over the top, extending a couple feet all the way around, wouldnt be very hard to knock up a frame and screw some corro over the top to keep the worst of the weather and would act as a tropical roof for all weather conditions.

Hope you have a great time, and dont forget to call when in SA

Pesty

Hello Karen,

I stored gear in our container (waterproof) for 12 months here in Brisbane, condensation was a real problem & termites the other. ensure you keep it well off the ground. I would fit a tropical roof & whirly bird if the exercise were to be repeated.

Good luck & enjoy the trip.


See Ya

Brian B

If you can't ventilate it, I'd put in a dozen of those water-absorbing packs.

About $6 from Woolies or Aldi.

Karen,

We use shipping containers at my work purely for storage, in fact we have 9 of them on site. Highly recommended but you must get a good one

We have put shelving in 3 of them for storing our paper work for 7 years.
The others are used for press equipment, furniture, paper rolls etc.

Inspect the container before you buy and make sure the inside walls and floor are in good nick and free of surface rust. Stay away from the older ones that have been patched up and re welded in places. Most have two small vents up high on the sides, If they dont steer clear of them or anything metallic will end up with a layer of surface rust.

Hope this helps

Cheers