Storage units are found all throughout the country, which means lots of people are using them. If you are about to become one of these individuals because you no longer have the room you need in your home, you should avoid jumping right into the process and potentially damaging some of your possessions. It is helpful to invest in useful packing supplies, such as furniture covers, packing paper, markers, and tape first. With tape, you should already know its basic function, but you can take things a step further with relative ease.

Reinforce Boxes and Bins

When your things are going into a storage unit, the last thing you want is for your boxes to be flimsy. This can be a major problem if you get used boxes from neighbors, local businesses, or off the curb. The easiest way to reinforce these boxes is to not only make use of tape to secure the top but also to strengthen the bottom. Instead of running one or two layers of tape across the bottom, you can up that number to three or four. Tape puts a great deal of flexibility in your hands because you can adjust the number of layers easily.

Protect Your Items

If you have things that are not delicate as a whole but just in specific areas, then you will most likely benefit from using tape to protect these items. A slight puncture can cause irreparable damage, so adding the tape to things such as picture frames, custom artwork, and mirrors can be relieving. With thick tape applied to your items, you don't need to worry about corners being scuffed or damaged from bumping into something by accident.

Preserve Boxes

Over time, regularly putting on and pulling off tape from cardboard boxes will wear them down. Tape pulls off small layers of the cardboard each time this task is done. A reliable fix is to use a piece of tape and an erasable marker to write down details about each box, making sure the boxes are labeled thoroughly enough that you know exactly what is in them and where they belong. This keeps you from having to change tape labels on the boxes time and time again, which only wears down the material.

Avoid Losing Things

If you have small appliances or electronics that need to be dismantled partly, you can use tape to seal everything inside of a box. When you have to store an individual screw or small piece, you may find that it is a waste to put them into separate bags, but keeping track of these components is not easy. A reliable fix is to tape every little piece to the item itself to ensure that any part it needs will be there in the future.

Following these tips will ease the stress of using a storage unit and help you maximize the protection your items receive.