[caption id="attachment_2724" align="aligncenter" width="225"] "Mujirushi Ryohin, Steel Unit Shelf" by Toshiyuki IMAI is licensed under CC BY 2.0[/caption] Many customers using our storage units in Alhambra, CA are importers and exporters. And, with lots of inventory arriving and departing, our tenants are always looking for ways to keep their items organized while making the most of the space they have in their storage units. One way to do this is to place shelves in your storage unit. Home improvement stores sell shelving units that you can build and customize to your needs. Many of these units are comprised of steel frames and rectangles of particleboard that are used as the shelf deck. These are freestanding shelves that are easy to set up. You don’t even need nuts or bolts. Many of these units come with five or more shelves, and they can usually support around 600-2000 lbs. per shelf. The shelves can also be customized to your needs because they can be adjusted in increments of about 1-3 inches depending on the system you purchase. Another bonus of using the shelves is that there are some units that come with wheels on the bottom, so you can easily move them around your storage unit. What’s great about these shelves is that they allow you to maximize the vertical real estate in your storage unit. The storage units in our Alhambra, CA storage facility are up to 10 feet tall, and that’s a lot of vertical storage space for your items. Using the shelves allows you to stack items that can’t be placed on top of each other. The shelves are also great for heavy or awkward shaped items that you can’t put on top of other belongings. Stacking your items on shelves will definitely save a lot of space, but it’s also important to take precautions when you stack items on your shelves. First, make sure your items don’t exceed the weight limit of each shelf. It’s also important to avoid stacking heavy items on the highest shelves. Loading smaller, stable items on the top shelf will help to prevent them from falling, especially when moving them around. Objects falling off their shelves may not only injure you, they could also damage surrounding objects. Alhambra is in earthquake country, and the shifting tectonic plates could cause items, no matter how carefully positioned, to fall. It’s important to plan carefully so items won’t get damaged, and to make sure they don’t break anything or hurt anyone near them if they fall. Safely assembling your shelves is also important. This task should be completed on stable, flat ground. Assembling the shelves on carpet is not recommended. It’s also important to ensure that all of the rivets snap into place down the keyhole. Many people use a rubber mallet or a hammer to secure the rivets into the keyhole. Placing a towel or piece of wood on the area being hammered will help to prevent damage to the finish of the beams. Our Alhambra storage facility has some drive up units that you can access 24-hours a day. These work well for individuals in the import and export business. When you have shipments coming in and going out at all times of the day, you need a storage unit that is accessible at all times. Our friendly and experienced self storage managers will be able to assist you with any questions you may have about maximizing the space in your storage unit, so please give them a call if you have any questions, or if you need a convenient storage solution for your import and export business.
