Storage during a renovation
clear rooms, keep your sanity

Why clearing rooms is worth it

It is tempting to shove everything into the room next door and throw a sheet over it. That works for a weekend of painting. For anything bigger, it causes problems.

• Dust gets everywhere. Fine dust from sanding, plastering and cutting travels through the whole house, into drawers, fabrics and electronics.
• Trades need room. Electricians need to reach sockets and floor voids. Floor fitters need empty floors. Every hour spent moving your things is an hour you are paying for.
• Accidents happen. Ladders, dropped tools and wet paint are not kind to furniture.
• You still have to live there. Piling two rooms into one leaves you with no usable space at all.

Talk to your builder early

A short conversation before work starts saves a lot of hassle. Ask which rooms need to be completely empty, which can have furniture pushed to one side, and whether any floors or walls will be opened up. Ask too where they plan to put their own tools and materials, because that space often comes out of your hallway or garage.

Some builders are happy to help move large items on the first day. Others will expect the rooms to be clear when they arrive. Knowing which one you have tells you how much of the moving you need to organise yourself.

Plan storage by phase, not all at once

Few renovations touch every room at the same time. Ask your builder for the order of work and plan storage around it.

1. List the rooms and datesWrite down which rooms are affected in which weeks. Note anything that has to come out completely, such as a kitchen being ripped out.
2. Separate the essentialsDecide what you need to keep living with: a bed, a kettle, work clothes, the school bags. Everything else is a candidate for storage.
3. Move out the first waveClear the rooms for the first phase, plus anything fragile from the rest of the house.
4. Rotate as work movesAs rooms finish, bring their contents back and send the next room's things out. Good labelling makes this simple.
5. Move back in stagesBring things home once the dust has settled and the paint is fully dry, not the day the decorator leaves.

Allow for overruns

Renovations overrun. Materials arrive late, a wall turns out to need more work than expected, a trade gets delayed on another job. So do not book storage that ends the day your builder says they will finish.

Our rental terms are built for this. The minimum is one month, then it rolls monthly with one month's notice. If the job runs two weeks long, you simply carry on. If it finishes early, give notice and you are done after the notice period.

The full details are on our rental terms page.

How much space a renovation needs

A single-room project, such as a bedroom or living room, often fits in a fairly small space if you are not storing large furniture. Once our first-floor pods and rooms open in spring 2027, a 50 or 75 sq ft room (guide prices £22 and £28 a week) may be enough for boxed contents and a few smaller pieces you can carry upstairs.

For a kitchen refit, the volume of crockery, pans and food cupboards surprises people. Add the dining table and chairs and you are into unit territory. The 150 sq ft roller-shutter unit at £65 a week takes a lot, and the shutter makes it easy to load a table or dresser straight from a van.

Whole-house projects, such as rewires, new floors throughout or an extension that opens up the back of the house, often call for the 180 sq ft unit or the 300 sq ft two-storey unit. Our size guide goes into more detail.

Protecting things from dust and damage

Even with things in storage, some items stay at home. Protect them properly.

• Wrap electronics you are keeping in dust sheets and unplug them while work is going on.
• Seal cupboards and wardrobes you are not using with low-tack tape round the doors.
• Take curtains and soft furnishings down. They hold dust for months.
• Clean everything before it goes into storage. Dust packed into a box will still be there when you open it.

For things going into the unit, wipe down surfaces, let freshly painted items dry fully, and use breathable covers rather than plastic wrap for wood and upholstery.

Building storage into the renovation budget

Storage is easy to forget when you are pricing up a project, then it appears as an unplanned cost halfway through. Add it as a line in the budget from the start, alongside skip hire and contingency.

Using our weekly prices, the 150 sq ft unit at £65 a week is about £282 a month, and the 180 sq ft unit at £78 a week is about £338 a month. A three-month kitchen and dining room project in the 150 would be roughly £845 in rent, plus a security deposit equal to one month's rent at the start. A pre-booking gets the first week free.

Weigh that against the cost of damage. A ruined sofa, a scratched dining table or a television full of plaster dust can easily cost more to replace than a few months of storage. So can paying a trade to work around clutter for days on end.

Storing materials as well as furniture

Some homeowners buy flooring, tiles, sanitaryware or kitchen units ahead of time, often to catch a sale. Storing them in a unit keeps them out of the way of the work and safe from damage until fitting day.

Low-risk materials such as wood, boxed tiles, flat-packed units and dry goods are fine. Solvent-based paints and chemicals in bulk, fuel and gas cylinders are not allowed unless agreed in writing. Water-based emulsion in normal domestic quantities is a different thing, but if you are unsure about anything, ask before you bring it.

Contractors doing the work may want their own space too. Our trades storage ideas page explains how builders use units for tools and stock.

Living through it

With 24-hour access, you can collect something in the evening after the trades have gone, or drop off another load before work. Lighting and power are already connected in every unit, so a late visit in winter is not a fumble in the dark.

Keep one box marked clearly for the things you might need: the spare duvet, the slow cooker, the winter coats. Put it right by the door. You will probably open it more than you expect.

If you would like to view a unit before the builders start, message us on WhatsApp and we will arrange a time.

Questions

Prices are subject to availability. Minimum rental term: one month, then one month’s notice to leave. Electricity usage is charged separately at the supplier rate, with no markup. Business use needs prior approval. Car storage is not permitted.