Self storage: moisture absorbers
Damp and self storage do not go together. Moisture is responsible for all kinds of evil in clothes, paper and soft-furnishings: mould, damp patches, foxing, and a musty smell. So how can we avoid it?
Bring on the chemicals
If your self storage unit is a lock-up garage or a shipping container, you need to think about the dangers of damp, especially if you are storing clothes and textiles, or paper items, such as books, framed prints or spare rolls of wallpaper.
For modest sums (around £10), you can buy simple but highly effective moisture absorbers — the kind also used to control moisture in caravans, boats, cellars, and newly-plastered rooms.
Unibond “STOP Humidity” kits are widely available in DIY superstores. They consist of a small plastic container, covered by a rack, on which you place a large chemical tablet, called a Power Tab. The Power Tab will absorb moisture and convert it into water, which is collected in the plastic container below. One Power Tab should be able to control moisture in a room of 20 square metres for two months — that’s 215 square feet, greater that the size of the average self storage unit.
When the Power Tab has dissolved, simply tip the accumulated liquid down a drain or toilet, and put another tablet on the rack.
Unibond, by the way, is a brand name of the German company Henkel. On the continent, their “STOP Humidity” range is marketed under the name Rubson ‒ a brand readily associated with water- and moisture-resistant products.
Another similar system, also widely available in the UK, is produced by the Dutch-owned company HG (Hagesan). With the HG Moisture Absorber, calcium chloride granules are the absorption agent. The manufacturers claim that 450g of granules are effective for 2‒3 months in a room of 45 square metres (484 square feet).
A key advantage of both the above kits is that ‒ unlike some moisture absorber systems ‒ they do not need batteries or an electrical supply to make them work.
Silica gel sachets
In modern, purpose-built self storage units, damp should not really be problem. Nonetheless, if you are storing clothes, textiles, valuable paper items, or electronic goods, you are advised to buy bags or sachets of silica gel to place in the storage boxes. These belong to the same family of little sachets of desiccant chemicals that you are likely to find in the packaging of a new camera, or sometimes in a food product (clearly labelled: “Do Not Eat!”)
Silica gel sachets absorb the moisture within the sachet, without turning it into a liquid residue. After a period of time, perhaps a year, you simply remove the sachet, bin it, and replace it with another. Silica gel sachets are not expensive, typically 20p to £1 each, depending on the size, and cheaper when bought in bulk. Many of the larger self storage companies sell them in their shops. A 25g bag is recommended for a small storage box, 50g for a medium-size box, and 100g for a large box.
If you want to make doubly sure about keeping damp at bay, you can use both methods: place a Unibond or HG Hagesan moisture absorber kit in the unit AND silica gel sachets in the boxes.
Don’t bring in the damp
Calcium chloride and silica gel moisture absorbers can provide valuable protection against moderate threats of damp ‒ but not against stupidity. Do not – under any circumstances ‒ attempt store items that are wet or damp. They won’t dry out in the unit; they will simply spread the damp to everything else. Dry them off, or dry them out, before you put them in your unit.
Mould, damp patches, foxing, and a musty smell? Could it be the wetsuit and surfboard, the tent, the garden bench, the bicycle that you hurriedly shook down and abandoned next to your neat piles of storage boxes a couple of months ago?
14 Responses to “Self storage: moisture absorbers”
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The advantage of committing to a Self Storage Unit is the fact that, rather than forcing furniture into a Uhaul or hiring a company to throw your precious belongings around, you get your own storage space PLUS the comfort of knowing its in a safe environment with no chance of destruction.
Property has now become the most expensive stuff in the world. People are just managing to purchase an affordable portion of land. In such cases, people, sometimes, do not get sufficient space for their chattels and belongings. In such cases, self storage units come to their rescue. In other words, one can refer them as mini survival kit.
We have vented anti-vandal shipping containers which are all less than 15 years old, with most being only 3. They DO NOT have problems with damp. We have operated for 12 years using these containers to store everything from household to paper archive to building materials and we have never had a case of damp or mould. I understand your need to advertise damp preventing chemicals, but please do not use shipping containers as a cause of this unless you specify the difference between using old and new units.
I’m afraid I must beg to differ with you, Lisa. Having run a container storage company for more than twenty years, we have had problems with damp from customers putting wet objects in their units, the moisture from which is then condensed onto everything else. This has been a problem for us regardless of the unit’s age.
Fair comment Lisa! Good point – it should be made quite clear that new shipping container units do not (should not) present any damp problems. By the way, we are not trying to advertise or promote the Unibond “Stop Humidity” kits. It’s just that these are the ones we’ve tested over a number of years and have found to work effectively, and they are readily available. If any readers can recommend other effective anti-moisture products, please feel free to do so!
What about condensation in storage containers, this could cause damp couldn’t it.
Does anyone have any solutions regarding condensation in containers too.
Alex – my solution to condensation in a container would be the same as in the blog article, and I would use one or two Unibond “STOP Humidity” kits (that being the brand I have used over the years). Condensation has to start with moisture introduced in some way into the container: either it’s already in the container, or moisture is getting in from the outside, or its coming in with items stored in the container. Whatever the case, a Unibond “STOP Humidity” kit should be able to deal with it. However, a REALLY bad case of condensation may require initial wiping down of surfaces affected. I’d be interested to hear if others have alternative proposals. Condensation is definitely bad news!
Self storage shipping containers are a good means of storage but they cannot be called damp proof! If you place something inside shut the doors and do not open it again for some months the items 9 times out of 10 will be excactly as you left them. But if you put the same items inside on a wet or foggy day or the washing machine is still full of water then shut the doors for some months that water trapped inside will condensate on the roof of the container when the tempreture drops the water drops onto all the goods inside as the container heats up it all condensates on the roof over and over again, unless you leave the doors open on a hot day to allow the container to dry out. Vented containers suffer the same as all self store centers i know place containers side by side thus preventing or limiting free air flow through the vents. Just my opinion!
Another anti-moisture product that seems to be highly rated by self storage users is the Absorpole, based on calcium chloride’s ability to draw moisture from the air. More details are available at http://www.absorbopak.com/absorpole.html
Barretts Self Storage keeps Absorpoles on its Packaging Shop list: http://www.barretts-selfstorage.co.uk/catalog/product.php?CI_ID=21
Lisa you don’t know what you’re talking about, it’s not the container that is the problem, it’s what you put inside it.
If you think that none of your containers have had any condensation in them at all in 12 years then you are just talking crap!
That doll looks pathetic. If there’s a damp problem check Damp proofing company
That was a very informative post thanks for the great content!
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Available in 3 sizes and Black and Opaque there really is nothing quite like it on the market!