5 Attic Storage Mistakes
Turning your attic into a storage area provides you with plenty of room to store items. But, making certain attic storage mistakes like these below could cause damage to your belongings as well as your home’s infrastructure.
- Storing Food
While this might seem obvious to you, you shouldn’t ever store food supplies up in your attic. Things like extreme temperature fluctuations, inadequate ventilation, heat and moisture can quickly compromise dry and canned food’s shelf life. Also, mice, rats and other rodents could sniff out your food stash, leading to serious infestation.
- Not Using an Attic Fan
Generally, your attic should be around the same temperature as the outdoor air. An attic can overheat in the summer. In fact, an attic can be 30 to 40 degrees hotter than outdoors on a 90-degree day. This extra heat could damage not only the items you’re storing in your attic, but the roof tiles as well.
In addition, a hot attic, means a hot roof. In the winter, snow can melt off the roof due to a hot attic, then refreeze overnight potentially leading to ice damming.
One solution — an attic fan. An attic fan can help regulate the temperature in your attic and protect the items you’re storing in it.
- Storing Flammable Liquids
Flammable liquids are a definite no-no. It can be tempting to store them in your attic to keep them away from pets and small children, but it’s definitely not advisable. You’ll want to avoid storing flammable liquids like:
Paint
Turpentine
Gasoline
Any liquid that says flammable on the label
Attics often fluctuate between cooler and hotter temperatures which causes the liquids to expand and contract, potentially leading to an attic fire. Ask any credible attic service professional and they’ll likely tell you not to store flammable liquids in your attic.
- Storing Heavy, Bulky Items
You might also feel tempted to store away large, heavy or otherwise bulky things that clutter your home and take up too much space. But, this too can lead to negative consequences since your attic might not have the ability to handle the extra weight of these things.
- Storing Electronics
Again, moisture and extreme heat can do some serious damage to electronics. Also, if you do end up with rodents, they can chew on the electrical wires.
Aside from avoiding the attic storage mistakes above, always try and keep your attic pest-free and clean before you store any personal items.