Storage Information

The need for storage space

Almost everyone needs storage space at one time or another. The nature of modern life is that we need some things periodically, and temporarily, and between those times, they have to be placed somewhere for safe keeping. This is true of our tools, our recreation equipment, and even our documents.

Renting or owning my storage space

If you have a location, buying is always better than renting. In the end, you have a product that has value, and belongs to you. This product can be used for continued storage purposes, re tooled for other purpose, or even sold if the need for it is gone. There are more reasons. A building on your own property is more convenient than one across town. If you own the building it can be used any time you get ready to use it, day or night. Because it is near your back door, you will save on fuel as well. See also: Buy A Storage Building Instead of Renting Space

The hallmarks of high quality storage buildings

Good material, and solid construction will mean long life, and easy maintenance. In most instances this will mean wooden framed structures with metal siding. These buildings represent the best long term value. Wooden , or composition siding with composition roofing requires quite a bit of maintenance. If such a building is not periodically cleaned, sealed, and painted, the material will degrade quickly. Steel clad buildings are almost maintenance free. Buying The Right Storage Building

Determining the size of the building you need

Deciding your buildings size, will require deciding the buildings intended use, and by available space. If the building is to be used for the purpose of storage, the number of cubic feet of the material to be stored can be determined by some simple measurements, and some simple math.  For workshop use, size should be determined by design and usability. The need for 200 square feet of space to be placed into an area no wider than 10 feet will require the building to be longer than it is wide. Whatever your buildings intended use, add at least 10 percent to the final size. Most people need more space than they initially expected. See: Buying The Right Storage Building

Deciding where to locate the building

The building should be placed where it can be reached easily, and where it does not interfere with lawn and landscape practices. we also need to think about the irrigation system, and how it will interact with the building. Some irrigation adjustments may be needed. See also: Storage Placement

Financing a storage building

Portable utility building producers and dealers want to sell buildings. That is why they are in the business. For that reason, most will have several financing options available. Of course, everyone loves cash. Most will help you to locate a loan source, and there is also the rent to own option, and some dealers offer ‘90 days same as cash”. See: Storage Building Finance Rent To Own.

Getting your building to you

Most buildings are built at a factory like facility, and then delivered to the locations where they are to be displayed and sold. When a building is sold on a lot, it will be picked up at that lot, and hauled to it’s new home. That is not the only way it can be done though. Buildings can be built to meet your specific needs, and hauled directly to your place, or they can be built on site. On site building normally requires an on site fee, but this will probably be offset by omitting the cost of a delivery fee. There is always a cost for delivery. When a dealer tells you that they do not charge for delivery, that simply means that they have figured the cost into the building in other places. Free delivery is a gimmick. Look at the quality, and the final cost, and that will determine the buildings true value. See also: Storage Building Delivery

Uses of utility buildings

How you choose to use your utility building is limited only by your imagination and creativity. They serve well for the purpose of storage, but can also be used for work and hobby shops, offices, game rooms, and entertainment rooms. See: Storage Buildings Who Needs Them?

Maintaining your storage building

Utility building maintenance needs are determined by the type of materials and the quality of workmanship in the building. A well built steel clad building will be almost free of upkeep. A building built with other materials will require cleaning, sealing and painting on a regular basis to maintain looks and structural integrity. Read more in Storage Building Maintenance.

A row of metal storage buildings

Prefabricated Metal Buildings Prefab Storage Buildings

The terms “prefab metal building”, or “prefabricated metal building” may be a little confusing to some people. Prefabricated can mean several things these days, ranging from completed buildings, like prefab storage buildings, that are completed at a factory, including assembly, and delivered to a home or business, or pre engineered steel buildings that are built on site by a team of professional installers.

Prefab steel buildings can be made of pre constructed, partially assembled steel panels and frames, or just pre cut steel frames and steel panels which will need to be completely assembled on site. In other words, prefabrication is in the eye of the beholder. In most cases, a prefab storage building will require no on site assembly, and will be delivered and set up for immediate use. A prefab steel building will be brought to your site as a package, either partially assembled, or pre cut, and then the package will be put together on your property.

Either way, a lot of the work and planning is done ahead of time, so that you will have a building assembled on your site in the shortest amount of time possible.

Prefab Storage Building

Are you thinking of building your own storage building, barn or cabin? Don’t do it! That is, don’t do it until you look at the plans offered by the links listed bellow.

Which topic is of most interest to you?

One of the few companies we recommend for storage buildings, and steel buildings in the North East Texas area is “Alternative Canopy” in Lindale Texas. Alternative Canopy supplies “Winslow’s Custom Buildings” portable storage sheds in the East Texas area. The folks at Winslow’s have let it be known that they are now in the business of providing pole structures like pole barns as well as storage sheds and carports. Alternative Canopy can provide help in the pole barn area as well as T-N-T buildings and Winslow’s portables.

Alternative Canopy also offers a selection of wooden sided buildings made with pressure treated plywood. I spoke with a representative of Winslow’s about pricing, but the only answer he would give is that it would be “the best in the industry”.

Call 903.504.3938 for more information.

Buying Carports and Garages

Sometimes you might need a building that’s a little larger than a standard size storage building. Maybe you need something like a place to park your boat, or your RV safe from the ravages of the weather. Perhaps your car or truck could benefit from some cover to protect you, and your vehicle from hail storms and other severe weather conditions. A carport, or a full scale garage might be just the thing to keep your vehicle from an extra trip or two to the body shop each year.

Metal buildings

Metal buildings like carports and garages can be manufactured very efficiently, and surprisingly inexpensively due to the advent of modern modular building systems.

How to buy a carport or garage

It works something like this. You decide what width and length you want the building to be. Set down with your local dealer, and he will guide you through a process like this.  With this basic information you will be given a price for the basic carport like structure. Then, you decide whether that is suitable, or whether more might need to be added.

Other accessories

If you want longer legs on the building, they can be added for a small cost. If you want the sides completely enclosed, simply say so, and the cost of adding sides can be added in. If you want to add ends, to completely, or partially enclose the structure, the cost of those can be added into the equation.

Of course, if you close all four walls, you will have to have a door to get into the structure. You will then choose the type and size of the door, add any windows you want, and at some point you will be asked about such things as extra bracing, storm anchors and other accessories. Just have them add what you want.

In the end, you will have your customized, personalized building designed and ready to be built on your property. When you are asked about the ends of the buildings, don’t be too surprised at the cost. It costs more to enclose an end than a side, because the ends add extra framing that the sides already have. Most modern modular systems are built with steel. These will be galvanized steel rails, with galvanized steel sheeting which is give a very meticulous paint job and usually carries a rust through warranty of more than 20 years.

If you need help finding a carport and garage dealer in East Texas or North Texas, give us a call at:

903.504.3938.

For other inquiries, drop us a line by email.

Storage Buildings On A Lot

Rent To Own Tips Storage Buildings

Rent to own, in spite of what you may have heard is a very good way to own some things. A storage building is one of those things. Renting to own something that will save you money is much better than continuing to pay rent at the end of which you will have nothing. There is no interest involved in renting to own. When you buy in this way, you are renting something until the agreement is paid, at which time the product becomes yours. Most companies take about one half of each payment for rent, and the other half goes toward paying for the product.

Your building suppliers will be able to help guide you through your financing options. If you decide that renting to own is the best route for you, you will have a little paperwork ahead of you. It may take some time, but there are some things that you can do to speed things up.

Things you will need to process a rent to own agreement:

• A photo copy of your drivers license

• Your social security number

• Your home phone number

• Home address

• Employer information

Things that will help:

• Phone numbers for spouse

• Phone numbers for immediate relatives

• Addresses for relatives

Some of these things may not be needed, but if the application calls for them, it will be better to have them ready rather than spending extra time looking for them.

Shed with offset door and window

Boost Real Estate Sales With Storage Buildings

What do storage buildings and granite counter tops have in common? To be honest with you, not a lot, but there is at least one way they are alike. They can both help you sell your home! There are a lot of things that can help to sell a house, and they are not all granite counter tops! There are few things that can add value to the home without gutting the kitchen and bathrooms. The idea of curb appeal, is the landscaped qualities that are the qualities that make people want to take a look inside as they drive or walk by. The curb appeal will help to get them in. A great kitchen with, yes, you guessed it, granite counter tops will increase the homes value, as will a nice elegant bath, but you may need a little something to help seal the deal in these tough economic times, perhaps something a little more practical, something that will add value above it’s cost, and might just mean the difference between a sale and no sale. A storage building in the back yard may not add much curb appeal, since it is in the back yard, but it may be the final nail for the sale! Adding a storage building, adds intrinsic value to the property. It adds practical value to the property, and it adds perceived value to the property. Think about it. Your potential buyer is not just thinking about the cost, or the counter tops, he or she is thinking about moving in, possibly because of a need to down size, and is wondering where to put all that extra stuff. If they see a place to put their extra belongings, sitting neatly in the back yard, it might just be the deciding factor between your offering and someone else’s down the block! Time and time again, in case after case, we have seen an investment ranging from a few hundred dollars, to a few thousand dollars, add double the cost to the final selling price, and, perhaps more importantly, speed up and increase sales. If speeding up the process and increasing the chances for sale were the only effects, that in itself would be great. If you spent 5,000.00 and only gained 5,000.00 on the final price, but were able to sell, or sell more quickly, wouldn’t that be worth the effort? This will work for individuals trying to sell a home, and for real estate agencies and property management companies with properties that may be languishing in the current market. The addition of a little storage space might create just enough added interest to convert. They add value to the home above the cost of the investment. They help to sell the home because they provide a place for movers in transition. They help to speed up the decision making process, since alternative storage is no longer a factor.

Outdoor Storage Shed

A Guide To Storage Building Kits

Sometimes, someone will ask me what I think about using a storage building kit to get the building they want, and what kits might best suit their needs. I have an answer based on years of my own experiences, and the experiences of others who have taken that road. My recommendation for buying a storage building kit? Simple. Don’t do it! Just turn around and run as fast as you can in the opposite direction! Don’t lolly gag, or piddle around with the idea, just run away! Follow that advice, and you will save yourself a lot of frustration! If you are still planning to do it despite my advice, fine, just make sure that you have everything properly laid out before hand, including all the tools and materials that they didn’t tell you that you would need, and any adult beverages that you may need to reduce stress and frustration. Then, just follow the sequence listed bellow:

Your building kit should come with directions.

• Dig all the way through the boxes of material until you locate them.

• Try to determine which parts fell out of bag “a”, and which came out of box “24 d”. You will need to know this for proper assembly. Follow the directions to a “t”. Do not alter from this course in any way. Continue to do this until you know for certain that the wrong directions were included in the package.

• Call the manufacturer to get the proper directions which will come several weeks, or maybe several months later, from some country you have never heard of, and in broken, incorrect English, if you are lucky!

• Start over!

• Get more adult beverages.

• Realize that all the parts were not included in the package.

• Order them, wait 4 more weeks.

• Try to believe your neighbors are laughing with you, not at you.

• Find out what programs may be available for your rehabilitation after all the frustration.

• Start again.

• Realize that “tab a” will never fit into “slot b”.

• Go for more adult beverages.

• Start thinking about the rehabilitation thing in earnest.

• Admit that you have a problem. That is the first step they say.

• Box the whole thing up.

• Take it back to the supplier.

• Drive to your local storage building dealer.

• Find a nice wood framed steel covered building.

• Buy it.

• Have it delivered to your back yard.

• Rest easy! Now you have the building you wanted to begin with!

Factory Built Storage Shed

Can I Build My Own Storage Building?

The obvious answer is yes! You can build your own storage building, and if you do it right, you can have a fine product for storing your things, or any other suitable purpose. The first thing you will want to do is to find or draw up suitable plans. If you plan to make it movable, I highly recommend placing it on 4 inch wide skids at the beginning. These skids should be made of treated lumber due to ground contact.

Squareness

You will need to make sure that the building material is all cut to proper lengths, and remains square throughout the entire process. If you do not, you will have extremely aggravating problems through the whole process! If you are building on ground that is not completely level, you can not expect to keep the building plum and square using a spirit level. It will have to be done using a framing square.

The floor

The floor should be built with joists of at least 2×6 material spaced 16 inches apart on center, inside a frame of 2×6 material., and covered with half inch thick plywood at the very least.

Walls

Depending on your design, you will now want to add the upper framework with a bottom plate, studs and a top plate. This will provide the framework for the roof. Be certain to frame out a doorway, and add the extra support needed to keep the door from sagging as the years go by. You can build a door yourself, but I recommend buying one suitable for your purposes. Know exactly what size door you will be using before you try to frame out for it.

Roof framing

The roof will need to be built of 2×4 material, and either stick framed, or built with trusses nailed to the top plate.

Siding

Siding can be of any suitable material you desire, but I recommend using galvanized and painted sheet metal steel. This will need to be screwed into the rafters and studs, but first you will need to cut it to the proper size. Make sure that the sheets overlap in the right place before you start threading the screws into place. If you are going to seal the building, you will need to have your filler on hand before you start putting the steel into place.

Other options

If all this sounds a little daunting to you, you should consider buying one instead. don’t let that bother you, I know several framing contractors and general contractors who buy storage buildings from dealers rather than building them themselves! It ends up costing less to buy than to build, because the carpenters that would be building it can earn a lot more for the company by building homes than by building storage sheds. By the way, you can buy kits for building sheds, but, that is another story!

Public storage benefits from financial crisis

The self storage, or public storage industry is booming in the midst of economic crisis, and, to be honest, because of the financial crisis! Foreclosures are forcing people to move out of their homes quickly in many cases, and all those home furnishings, appliances, and other valuables have to be put somewhere for safe keeping. To add insult to injury in such difficult circumstances, the people who are doing the moving and storing, rarely have opportunity to do the kind of research that would lead them to the best long term solution while under the pressure of the short term situation. Families forced to move from their dream home, into smaller homes or apartments usually have more belongings than they can put into their new quarters, and they often suffer the double rental whammy of not only renting a place for their families to live, but also renting a place for their belongings to stay until times get better.

Other reasons for public storage growth

There is however, no single profile of the average public storage renter. Add to the above scenario a growing population of baby boomers preparing to retire and turn nomadic, and others who are down sizing for reasons other than foreclosure, and the figures go even higher.

An alternative to public storage

There is a better way to approach this problem. Buying a building of your own to store your property makes much better economic sense. Sure, you would have to pay for it, but it will be yours, and you will have something to show for your money when it is paid for. Even if you chose a rent to own building, the price is normally equal to the price of renting self storage, and the cost evaporates when the final payment is made, so that you can look forward to rent free storage, and using the building for other purposes when your situation returns to normal.

Apartment renters

It is obvious that buying a storage building is better than renting storage space, but what about people who move from a large home into a small apartment, or some other rental situation? Where would they put a storage building? The short answer is this: Everyone knows someone who has a home and land. This is usually a family member or a close friend, who understands the situation and would be more than happy to allow you to buy a building for placement on their property until the situation gets better. You will not gain all the advantages of having the building placed conveniently at your own doorstep, but at least you won’t be throwing your money away on  rent.

Other renters

If you rent a home, other than an apartment, the owner of the property might be willing to allow you to have a building placed in your rented back yard. At the least, it would not hurt to talk to them about it. In such cases, a ‘landlord lien waiver” may be required. Your building supplier will be able to supply one for you, along with instructions. However you work it out, renting to own, or purchasing outright, makes more sense than paying $50.00 a month for several years to store $500.00 worth of goods.

Storage sheds like this save money on storage expenses