Three Top Tips For Storing Your Fabric Sofa In A Long-Term Storage Facility

1 July 2020

When using a long-term storage facility to keep your furniture safe and sound, the goal is for your belongings to come out of the facility looking as good as they did when they went in. One of the largest pieces of furniture that most people own is their sofa set, and fabric sofas can become damaged whilst in storage. By using these three top tips, you can ensure that your fabric sofa comes out of storage looking unblemished and ready for immediate use.

Clean Before Storage

Once your fabric sofa enters the long-term storage facility, it is likely to remain there for some time, so you want to make sure the sofa fabric is clean. There are two reasons for this:

1. food debris trapped within the sofa crevices can attract rodents and other pests who chew on the sofa and damage it permanently
2. dirt or food debris left on fabric can be a food source for mould and mildew to grow, which damages the fabric fibres if left unchecked long term

Either organize to have the sofa professionally cleaned or wash it with warm soapy water and a soft sponge. After it is completely dry, give the sofa a vacuum and concentrate on the crevices between the cushions to remove all lingering food debris.

Loose Wrapping

After transporting the sofa to the long-term storage facility, cover it to keep dust from settling on the fabric. However, the choice of wrapping you use is important. Do not tightly wrap the sofa in plastic because the lack of airflow beneath the wrapping means that any trapped moisture caused by condensation is sitting on the fabric and could cause mould and mildew to grow. Instead, lightly drape a cotton sheet over the sofa because cotton has tiny holes that allow air to flow around the sofa fabric while providing a barrier between the sofa and dust.

Do Not Stack

Finally, when the sofa is placed into the long-term storage facility, you must not stack heavy items on top of it as this will damage the shape of the sofa cushions. If the sofa takes up too much space lengthwise in the storage shed, consider standing it up on its end so that it takes up less space.

Using these tips ensures your sofa suffers no damage while it resides at the long-term storage facility. If you have any further concerns, have a chat with the storage facility manager for more helpful storage advice.

To learn more, contact a long-term storage facility.