Using your garden shed for storage is very common and you can very easily get carried away and store anything that needs to be out of the way in there without any thought as to whether it is a good idea or not.
With the UK’s weather being unpredictable at the best of times and with the humidity in a garden shed being uncontrollable, the outcomes of overloading your shed may not end too well. The UK’s premier retailer of quality garden and leisure buildings, GBC Group explain the five key things you should never store in your garden shed.
Paints
This may be a bit of a surprise, but you shouldn’t put paints in your shed. We’ve all been guilty of storing the leftover paint away in the garden shed for storage but by doing so, the often varying and unpredictable temperature can result in the paint beginning to breakdown. If the paint becomes frozen then it is unfit for use and will be an unfortunate waste.
Clothing and bedding
Whilst there’s a real variety of shed materials on the market, such as the wood, concrete and metal sheds from GBC Group, which all have varying benefits, the nature of outdoor building doesn’t stop insects getting into the space. Storing your clothes and bedding in your garden shed could end terribly if insects gain access and help themselves.
Moths, in particular, are known to ruin clothes and the last thing you want to happen when taking the items out of storage is to find big holes in your bedsheets. Another possibility when leaving your clothes and bedding in storage is that they can often pick up a musty smell, so it is best to keep them inside a drawer or wardrobe within your home.
Canned food
Due to the properties of metal, when in cold conditions this particular material can begin to rust. So of course, if storing canned food in your outdoor building, prepare for the tins to get rusty, which in turn will make the food inside unsafe for consumption. It is best to continue storing your cans in the kitchen cupboard where the temperature of the environment is both more suitable and controllable.
Electronics
Storing any electronics in your garden shed is not the wisest of ideas. For starters, flat-screen televisions need temperature control, so an outdoor building is not appropriate and could end up causing irreversible damage to the screen if left out for prolonged periods of time.
Rust is also key to the corrosion of certain items and could result in the wiring being destroyed, as well as condensation which could lead to water damage. Ultimately, it’s not worth risking your electronics’ condition, so best to keep them stored in the house.
Important documents
If you have any important documents that you need to keep in the best condition possible, then keeping them in your shed is certainly not an option. The humidity in sheds can cause the paperwork to completely deteriorate if you’re not careful and it will certainly start to fade, discolour and even dissolve, which could cause problems if you’re needing the documents at some point in the future.
All images Via HouseBeautiful.com – By Cuprinal
