July 24, 2023

Top 5 ways to prepare your office furniture for business storage

Whether you’re moving your office headquarters or looking to maximise your working space as much as possible, you’re most likely going to have excess furniture that needs to be stored, or may need a safe place to store them whilst work is being carried out. When you don’t store furniture properly, the outcome can be disastrous and result in high expenditure later.

Packing furniture properly is vital to preserving its condition. In addition to this, it must also be packed in a way that makes it easy to identify and retrieve from storage when required. We’ve outlined some tips about preparing, packing, and organising your office furniture for business storage.

1. Preparing for business storage

There can be many challenges when storing furniture. This can range from the value of the furniture you’re storing, or the number of pieces being stored, to any potential damage that could take place whilst on transport.

This is why choosing the correct type of storage is essential in this process. You must take time to decide what kind of storage you want; making the right choice will impact your experience with storing furniture significantly.

First, you’ll want to find a reliable storage provider and then calculate your needed space. You may need to rent several storage compartments to store all your office furniture.

Storage providers who specialise in furniture storage can ensure your furniture will be stored and packaged safely to prevent damage.

2. Disassemble any furniture you can

One way to make the moving process easier is to identify any furniture that can be disassembled. Disassembled furniture is easier to pack, carry, and organise. Most chairs, desks and shelves break down quickly. Generally, smaller furniture pieces are easier to store, but it is important to remember where to place them and to identify which pieces go together.

Top tips:

If you have any instructions for disassembly and reassembly, ensure they are labelled and filed so they are easy to find when needed.

When storing furniture, ensure it is cleaned and labelled as packed away.

3. Clean your furniture before putting it into storage

When you relocate into your new office space, you’ll be grateful that you gave the furniture a clean prior to storing; it’ll help prevent stains and scratches. Here are some of our top tips for cleaning furniture:

Wood

Wipe down wooden furniture with a soft cloth.
Use water or a specially designed cleaner for the type of wood finish in question.
Use wood polish for extra protection.

Upholstery

Start by removing the cushions and vacuuming the frame.
Use a steam cleaner on the fabric and cushions.
Wipe them down with a mixture of detergent and water.
Do not use bleach.

Leather

Use a mixture of water and dish soap or water and vinegar to wipe down the leather with a soft cloth.
Apply a leather conditioner to protect the fabric.

4. Cover all furniture with protection

Even the best storage places will inevitably have dust in them, these can cause stains and scratches on your furniture, and direct sunlight can cause fabrics to fade. To avoid this, you will need to wrap all furniture.

If you are storing your furniture for an extended period, we suggest not using any plastic, as this can trap moisture and cause mould to grow. However, recycled plastic is a quick option if you are storing your furniture as a short-term solution.

The best option, however, would be to use padded covers, blankets, and sheets to wrap around your furniture and secure them with string. If you are moving furniture with glass, we would suggest using two pieces of duct tape and putting an ‘x’ across the glass surface. This will reduce the shattering effect and help to keep the glass intact. The tape can easily be removed when taken out of storage. Once this is done, wrap in bubble wrap.

5. Organise your storage space

Thinking about how you will store your furniture in the storage space will help you in the long run. You will only want to stack on top of a sturdy table and not on soft cushions.

Thinking about how you will unpack your furniture will be your next point of call. Put the pieces you need first toward the exit so they are the easiest to get out.

If you end up storing your furniture for an extended period, remember to visit the storage every month to ensure everything is in order.

Business-class commercial storage services

Here at Crown, our business-class commercial storage services actively support our clients in managing their assets cost-effectively and sustainably. We provide responsive, secure, competitive business storage for all your furniture, with a range of all-size storage arrangements to suit your needs, including containerised and racked storage.

If you have high-value items, we can offer enhanced options through our long-term or short-term business storage facilities in London as well as regional sites. You can find out more about our commercial storage solutions here.