Ask the Builder: Save substantial money on self-storage

Are you surrounded by off-site storage businesses like I am? Within a 15-mile radius of my rural home in central New Hampshire, there are thousands of storage spaces in metal buildings one can rent for a king’s ransom.

Within the past few months, an enormous multi-million dollar national brand opened a three-story storage facility near me. It’s got three loading docks for renters to store or retrieve their belongings. Just 1,000 feet away, a more traditional single-story metal building with 50-plus units came online in the past month. Times must be really good for people to have so many possessions that they have to store them at one of these places.

The most shocking thing is the cost to rent a space. Are you sitting down? A tiny 5-foot by 5-foot by 8-foot tall cubicle costs $90 per month. That’s $3.60 per square foot per month. A 10-foot by 15-foot by 8-foot tall space is $194.95 per month, or $2,339.00 per year.

The good news is you might have quite a few options to avoid these breathtaking monthly fees. The best solution depends on the size of your lot and your local zoning laws. Your existing garage, should you have one, may be a storage goldmine you’ve overlooked.

I found myself in a storage crisis 15 years ago. I moved from Cincinnati to central New Hampshire. My wife and I had 35 years of accumulated possessions, plastic bins full of cherished toys used by our three children, and lots of furniture. We moved from a larger house to a smaller one.

I had to rent a very large off-site storage space the day the movers arrived. We packed it full of all sorts of stuff. It cost me about $200 a month back in 2010. That same space today is now close to $350 a month.

My lot was large enough that I could build a large 16-foot by 24-foot free-standing two-story shed. I built this shed 13 years ago in my spare time. It only took about two months to complete it. You can purchase the detailed plans of my shed. The seventeen pages were drawn by an architect friend. Go here to get the amazing plans: https://go.askthebuilder.com/ShedPlans

The materials for my shed cost just over $10,000.00. It’s a deluxe shed that matches my house. It’s got a handy 6-foot-wide overhead door, a man door, skylights and two windows. I could have spent less, but I wanted the shed to look like it had been built at the same time as my home. I moved my possessions into the shed in 2012, and since that day, I’ve saved over $50,000 in off-site storage fees. You can save big money, too!

You may want to purchase a pre-built shed. These are built to minimum standards in my opinion, but one might suffice for you. I priced out a 12x10x7-foot shed that has a window and a large door. The cost is only $3,299.00. This shed, if maintained, might last for decades.

You can purchase larger pre-built sheds that can be delivered to your lot. Just be sure you check your local zoning laws before you sign a contract. It’s also important to anchor these sheds to the ground so they don’t blow away in a severe windstorm.

Your existing garage may have a tall ceiling. The garage at my son’s new home has a ceiling that’s almost 14 feet tall. This winter, he and I are going to build a loft with just enough headroom that he doesn’t have to duck up on the loft or underneath it down below.

I built a similar, smaller loft that was 4 feet deep in my last home. I made the bottom of the loft just 6 inches higher than the height of the hood of my wife’s car. She could pull forward and park the front of the car under the handy loft.

This small loft created 640 cubic feet of storage space from what was previously just empty air. Compare that to the tiny 200 cubic feet of space you’ll get with the 5x5 off-site storage locker for $90 per month! My loft only cost several hundred dollars to build.

Do an online search and you’ll discover all sorts of unique storage solutions for garages with taller-than-average ceilings. There’s one system I’d not recommend for my friends or family. This system requires you to install metal tracks on the ceiling. Large plastic bins slide into the tracks.

You need to be on a ladder to slide the bins into the tracks. That’s a very dangerous maneuver, in my opinion. You can lose your balance and fall off the ladder while lifting a heavy bin over your head.

Should you decide to build your own shed or buy a pre-built one, I urge you to watch a video I recorded years ago. The biggest mistake most make is buying or building a shed that’s too small. Empty sheds look spacious, but as soon as you start to put things in them, they shrink in size like a deflated balloon.

I show in my video how to place the things you want in the shed on your lawn or driveway apron. Boxes and bins are easy, as they can stack. But lawn mowers, wheelbarrows, snowblowers, bicycles, etc., can take up vast amounts of floor space. https://www.askthebuilder.com/how-to-plan-a-shed/

Once you have all the items placed on the ground, stretch a string around them, creating a rectangle or square. This is the minimum size your shed needs to be to hold all you have now. You’ll need a bigger shed if you add more to your clutter collection.

You can also de-clutter. I’m in the midst of doing that now. I take clutter to my town dump each time I go there with my garbage. My town has a wonderful “free room” in the recycling building. You can take just about any item there and place it on the shelves. Clothes, appliances, books, trinkets, games, you name it, can all be found in the free room.

Some residents retrieve items from the free room and sell them online. You can do that too if you have the time and energy. It’s easy to sell online, and you can turn your clutter into cash with minimal effort.

Subscribe to Tim’s FREE newsletter at AsktheBuilder.com. Tim offers phone coaching calls if you get stuck during a DIY job. Go here: go.askthebuilder.com/coaching