supa-katie

Spring must be in the air – ‘For Sale’ signs are popping up on our street at the same rate the Daffodils are flowering!

If you are selling your house this year, here are a few tips to make the most of your property.

When to Sell

Spring is a great time to sell your house. The light is wonderful, the lawn is fresh and spring flowers are in bloom. Most people like to move in the summer so by listing your house in the Spring, you are opening up the largest possible market place.

First impressions really do count. Here is our check list of things to consider:

How to present the exterior of your house

1. Paint or thoroughly clean the front door – a  welcoming and tidy first impression. Ding Dong.
2. Make sure the house number is clear so the buyers can find you. You might also like to think about giving your house a charming name. We’d go for Honeysuckle Cottage or Hop House over Dave or Terry’s Place. Buyers like a nice address!
3. If you have a driveway, make sure it is clear so the buyer can pull in easily. Store away any additional cars or caravans so your buyer can see the potential.
4. Ensure windows, guttering and roofing are well maintained, clean and tidy.
5. Check the Council for local planning applications to make sure road or building works are not due when you are selling your house.
6. Make sure any lawns are mowed and the edges are neat. Flower beds weeded.
7. Get fencing and gates treated so they look in tip top condition. Mend that wonky gate you have been meaning to!
8. If you have the space, set out a dining area with a BBQ so buyers can imagine their new life in your beautiful home.
9. Make the most of any views you might have and hide anything ugly with fencing or bamboo.
10. De-clutter the shed and outbuildings – put anything you don’t need into self-storage so the new buyer can see the full potential of all spaces.
11. We love our children but if you are selling, remove all giant trampolines, paddling pools and swing sets into storage.

How to present the interior of your house

1. If you aren’t up to the much in the interior design game one way to make something that will appeal to most is to paint all the interior walls white. White walls bounce the light around, makes spaces look bigger and enable buyers to see the full potential.
2. Give all spaces purpose – if you have a dining room, office and spare room make sure it’s obvious to buyers. Store anything that doesn’t quite fit – it will make the place look small.
3. Spring clean – get stuck in yourself if you don’t mind scrubbing or commission a professional cleaning company. Your house really can’t be too clean for selling.
4. De-clutter, De-clutter, Declutter. Let your buyer have space to imagine themselves in your house. Box up kids toys, bikes, trinket collections, dries flowers, stacks of tools and paper work. Take what you want to keep to self-storage and give the rest to charity or recycling centre.
5. Make sure your house smells good enough to eat – banish Barny the dog, Ralph the rabbit and fag ash Lilly, replace with the smell of fresh coffee, flowers and bread. Don’t believe what the air freshener adverts say, you can smell straight through it.
6. Make sure the whole place looks generally loved – it’s a bit sentimental but make sure the buyer can see that you have had a happy time there.

Once you have done all the work, you should be ready to sell your house so invite your local estate agent around for a valuation. Ask them if they have spotted anything that would help sell the property – listen to them, they know their stuff.

It may be important to know what size unit you need for completely different reasons, from seasonal stock storage to estimating a complete house content.

We’ve put together the following guide, but remember, we are always happy for you to take more or less space as you go, so really there is no stress. These are suggested areas, but should you want something more specific, please feel free to contact us and we will be happy to help.

Size A:  2.6m2 or 28ft (1.5m x 1.75m x 2.5m) 
Similar to a post van size vehicle or ¼ of standard garage. Double Wardrobe and attic overspill.

Size B:  3.2m2 or 33ft2 (1.75m x 2m x 2.5m)
Similar to a smaller garden shed or 1/3 of a standard garage

Size C:  4.7m2 or 50ft2 (2.5m x 2.m x 2.5m)
Similar to a transit van, a regular garage, or contents of a 1 bed flat

Size D: 5.7m2 or 60ft2 (3m x 3m x 2.5m)
Similar to 1 large  transit van, contents of a larger 2 bed house

Size E:  12.5m2 or 140ft2  (3.4m x 3.8m x 2.5m)
Similar to 3 x Luton vans, a large garage, contents of a 3 bed house, including beds, wardrobes, draws.

20ft Container 14.4m2 160ft2 6m x 2.4m
Similar to a large garage, or around 4 x transit van loads.

40ft Container 28.8m2 320ft2 12 x 2.4m
Similar 2 x back to back large garages, you can fit several pallets plus a vehicle

Its worth remembering that all of our units are inside, and our containers are outside.

The internal units all benefit from double glazing, climate control, individual unit lighting, and are best suited for personal belongings including fabrics and photographs etc, to keep these more delicate belongings in the best condition possible.

The containers are all wind and water tight, plus are fully vented. These will suit more robust belongings or businesses wanting to store equipment.

To find out more, get in touch or feel free to come and visit our site yourself.

There are many reasons why people opt to put their prized possessions into car storage. Cars come in countless shapes and sizes, serve different purposes to their owners and have many different requirements.

Classic road cars can seriously benefit from being stored correctly over the winter months. The salt and water they are exposed to on our roads can create rust spots to body work, plus the cold air can creep into interiors causing rot and damp spots. All of this can cause havoc by the time spring rolls around. When you have a rare classic car, it is not so easy to fix these issues as one off parts can be very hard to come by.

So, what should you do? When you chose the right car storage, they can ensure all these potential threats are kept at bay. For example, our classic car storage package includes a maintenance programme where cars are started once per month. They are run to temperature to allow the engine to stay at its prime. We roll them to avoid flat spots on the tyres and also keep a fresh drip tray out so it is easy to spot if the car has any leakage issues. We can also provide a Carcoon. This system takes car care to another level with each car having its own bubble. It has 24/7 air control where the temperature and humidity are automatically monitored to keep all elements of the vehicle at its prime.

What about super cars and sports cars? These types of cars are not usually driven daily (unless you are Chris Evans, of course) but they are engineering masterpieces. Absolutely yes to be driven, but also treasured, respected and preserved. Whether they are a track car or simply to be driven on occasion; keeping them safe, secure and well maintained is of paramount importance. Our car storage can look after these elements. So, if you are short on space but have a serious set of wheels, car storage can be a winning solution for you!

We also can store the classic cars of tomorrow. Predicting what will be the next classic, then keeping it in the right condition to get the most out of in a few years is a growing trend that has seen some amazing retro cars go from potential banger to a little nest egg. Again, this category is often great fun to drive and running a classic car can be great for the engine. However, if you are doing this as a potential investment then the mileage, wear and tear to the interior or damage to the exterior can all be detrimental to potential profit. We have customers that have their 80’s and 90’s cars stored with us, just waiting patiently. The amount you can spend on storage can easily be offset against the potential earnings. Buy right, store right, be patient then let the fun begin!

If you are interested in car storage, then get in touch, we are always happy to help.

The celebrations begin, you are on the move and what exciting times ahead. But what next? There are elements to moving to a new house that can become stressful. We have made a list to keep you on track and help make the move much less demanding. Here is our guide on what to do;

Packing;

It is the perfect time to go through some old, potentially unwanted belongings. Do you really need or even want to pack up that pot pig collection, or the broken TV you still haven’t sorted?

There are plenty of charities you can donate to, or auction sites, such as ebay, to sell disused items. There are homeless charities that will collect furniture you no longer want as long as it has the fire label attached.

Pack and label everything you do not need, but want to keep. If you have the space then great, or contact Store Store Store to get a quote for some storage solutions. We have a man with a van that can help you out collect and deliver to your new house.

Having a plan for moving to your new house and labelling your boxes accordingly ensures you have a stress free moving day. Make sure you have a box of essential things that you will need to use immediately, such as the kettle and some teabags! You might find it useful to have your essentials to hand for the first night too, like bedding and your toothbrush. It can be very tiring, so make it as easy for yourself as you can.

Do you need a Removals company?

If you do then then there are usually lots of options. It is a good idea to contact them as early as possible to make sure their availability suits you.

A good removals company will always be happy to come out and review all your items and discuss the process along with all the costs involved. They should be able to offer a reference which is always reassuring to have.

Insurance;

Your new house is going to need insurance. You have building insurance which covers the fabric of your house, from the bricks and mortar to roof and windows. This is so important as it protects possibly one of the biggest purchases you will ever make.

Also, don’t forget about investing in contents insurance. This is for anything that isn’t part of the fabric of the house. Depending on the cover you opt for, this covers all your possessions in the event of damage, fire or theft.

Websites like www.moneysupermarket.com and www.comparethemarket.com are a good place to start looking for the right home insurance for you.

All my services;

There are a whole host of services and people that you will need to contact to give them your new details. Schools will need to know about your move as soon as possible, especially if children are moving to a new area. The doctors, bank, vets, DVLA, life insurance, memberships, car documents, and utilities will all need to be notified about your new address.

When moving into a new house, it is a good idea to take gas, water and electric meter readings on the day that you leave your old premises and take the readings again as you arrive at your new premises. Make a note of your account numbers with these readings and call them as soon as you can to keep your bills as accurate as possible.

It is also advisable to obtain a gas safety certificate for all your appliances. If this wasn’t done in the sale process then it is something that any COGI registered plumber can do for you.

Storage;

It is a great way to take a lot of hassle out of moving. Whether it is overspill from decluttering your house, or if you are having renovation work done at the new house; whatever your reason for doing so, self-storage can be a cost effective way to look after your belongings. Contact us on 01652 462111 or info@storestorestore.co.uk and we can help you work out the best plan for you.

As humans, we all tend to over complicate things. This couldn’t be truer than when it comes to business and business growth.

It is an extremely exciting time starting out and turning your idea or passion into reality. So many cottage industries start at home, spreading from dining table and work tops into the boxes under the bed and the spare room wardrobe. It is a constant reminder that anything is possible and a reality check that “we really are doing this”.

Moving from a home-based industry to any kind of warehousing can be daunting and very costly. Business rates, rent, telephone lines, security and utilities can all add up and could eventually eat into the profit of a small start up business.

However, there is an option to keep it simple and cheap. The solution is storage at Store Store Store. The storage is flexible in that you can use as much or as little as you want. The volume of space you require can be suited to your needs so it is not cluttering up your home. You can also opt to take on additional space during busy periods and likewise less space in quieter periods. Along with the storage there is also the business hub, which is an area where our customers can log in and connect with their customers.

Here is what some businesses that use our storage say and why it is the ideal solution for them;

Glamping Company

“We use Store Store Store during the winter months to store our tents, furniture, bedding and towels. Basically, all the things that make our tents beautiful. In our first year of business we stored the tents in the garage and everything else was literally stacked high in the spare room (our poor visitors!). Every time I looked at the tent and all the bedding that went with it my mind would be on work, so it was a constant reminder. Having it at Store Store Store is ideal for me. I need a lot of space for storage during the winter when I take most of the tents down. Then during the summer, I keep my spares in just a small unit so I can go to it when I need it. I can’t imagine ever needing a full on warehouse of my own, so this set up is perfect for me”

Electrician

“I use one of the containers and I also store a couple of my vehicles in the yard. It is ideal for all my equipment and spares and it keeps my own garage free for my own personal gear. It means I can actually use my drive at home for me and the family and it’s not clogged up with works vans.”

Race Team

“We keep a stock of tyres in a container. They are there when we need them, so over the winter we pretty much forget about them, but are easily accessed during the season. We work with Geoff Steel Racing just across the road, so it couldn’t be more convenient. We also have a lot of spares in the container. We often buy and sell parts, so it is also an ideal place to keep the odd bumper or splitter until the right buyer comes along.”