What goes in a storage vault, and what never should

A vault is a sealed wooden crate that holds about a small van's worth of furniture. It is a good place for most of a house and a terrible place for a few specific things.

What stores well

Furniture, packed boxes, rugs rolled rather than folded, mattresses in sealed bags, and instruments if they go on the heated floor.

What we cannot take

Paint, gas cylinders, batteries, anything flammable and anything perishable. That is the insurer's list as much as ours and there is no exception to it.

Never store anything damp

A rug rolled damp in September is a ruined rug in March. If something got wet on moving day, tell the crew and it travels separately to dry out.

Ask for the inventory

Every vault we seal is inventoried and the list is emailed the same evening. If a storage company cannot tell you what is in the box, that is the answer to your question.

Getting back in

Two working days notice and the vault comes down to the warehouse floor for an hour. You do not have to take the whole thing out to get one box.