Whether you put some of your company's documents and equipment into a spare room in your office building or move them into a self-storage unit, the assumption is that one day you'll look for the items and use them again. However, if you don't take the proper precautions, you might find that your items are damaged or in worse condition than when you left them. To make sure that doesn't happen, you might want to heed these three tips.

Scan Paper Documents So They're On Disks

When you're planning to store away old client files or internal documents, you probably already know that paper can take up a lot of space. Not only that, but moisture can have a devastating effect on paper over time. Should any leaks from rain or snow seep inside the unit where you're keeping your papers, or a liquid from someone else's unit creep into yours, those documents could become damaged.

To save space and protect your files, you might want to consider scanning all paper files and putting them on flash drives or disks. This will allow you to retain the information without having to worry.

Use Plastic Bins

It's vital that everything you keep in storage is protected. Many people use boxes for this purpose, but because boxes are generally constructed from cardboard, they are subject to some of the same problems as paper. For instance, liquids can cause boxes to become softer and lose their shape, damaging contents inside. Not only that, but improperly packed boxes can cave in after a while because of heavier boxes being stacked on top of lighter ones.

To avoid any problems, you can use heavy-duty plastic storage bins. These bins are stackable and unlikely to cave in at any time. They will also better protect your equipment and documents from being accidentally exposed to liquids or moisture that can cause damage.

Get Climate Control

If you will be storing away extra company printers, computers, telephones, and other electronic devices, it's vital that you spend the extra money for a unit or space with climate control. Too much heat can negatively affect metal and other components inside these devices; protect them by making sure that the temperature never gets too cold or too hot.

Work with the tips above in order to better protect whatever you are storing away for your business. You might want to talk to storage and moving professionals to get more ideas about how you can best secure the items so that you're able to use them in the future without damaging them in storage.

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