Finding safe storage for your precious belongings will give you peace of mind. This is why self-storage facilities are the perfect way to ensure your possessions are safe and secure while they are away from you.
How to choose a secure self-storage facility for your items? Here are the top security features when choosing a self-storage service for your belongings.
Surveillance
Proper surveillance is an essential security feature for theft prevention and is the bare minimum a secure self-storage service should offer. A storage area that offers good CCTV coverage within its interior and around its exterior is sure to capture any incidents, possibly deter them or at least help in their easy resolution.
Once you are sure that video surveillance is abundant, you could inquire about its image quality since if it’s poor, even a thousand cameras could not be enough to catch a burglar. Good image quality and 24/7 taping and monitoring are signs of quality surveillance and secure storage service that will take heart in protecting your items.
Manned guarding is another top security feature of self-storage facilities. The sight of a guard patrolling is often enough to intimidate and repel most potential wrong-doers. Along with good CCTV coverage serving as their eyes, it makes for a faster reaction when they have to protect your storage space.
The combination of good CCTV coverage and manned guarding guarantees that your belongings are in safe hands.
Good lighting for your storage
Good lighting is naturally a crime-repellent security feature for any self-storage facility. Most people would prefer not to wander into dark places at night, as it makes them vulnerable and opens them to any lurking danger. Your belongings would not be any safer.
For one, good lighting greatly aids proper surveillance. Well-lit areas make for a better quality of CCTV footage and help on-site guards register any out-of-ordinary activity easier. It is much harder for thieves to break into your storage unit and make away with your belongings if they need to stealth their way through a well-lit and surveilled area.
Another reason to look for a well-lit storage facility is that you might need to visit it in the evening or later. This is hardly pleasant if you have to stumble to your storage unit in the darkness or have to waste a hand holding a flashlight while trying to get a hold of the item you are looking for.
Make sure to check the lighting in advance!
Secure access to your storage
The need to grab an item could arise at any time of the day, so the storage facility should be available 24/7 while also allowing secure access to your storage at any time. Good surveillance and lithing are major contributors to securing access to your storage area and the storage unit, but there is more.
One major detail to look for when it comes to secure access to your storage space is if the facility allows entry only to authorised people. If access is not controlled or the control comes in the form of a lock and key, are you and your belongings safe there for real?
A gated entry point with a keypad requiring a personalised pin or a keycard will help you sleep much easier at night, knowing your storage space is well protected and that only a select few people have access to the place.
A manned perimeter entry point is another great addition to make for a secure storage facility. Some storage areas offer access to gates and storage units only through the tenants’ phones, which is super convenient and secure.
Fences
The self-storage facility of your choice is recommended to have a secure perimeter fence. This security measure is not just an extra layer of protection for your items but also a safety measure for yourself.
A perimeter fence significantly reduces unauthorised people’s easy access to storage buildings and offers you a stress-free visit to the facility.
Storage facilities that lack other important security measures should have a secure perimeter fence or a wall with motion and damage detection sensors and alarms connected to them.
Chances are you will have to drive there, so a parking lot within a fenced and rigged with alarms perimeter is an advised security feature.
This will keep you and your vehicle safe during your visit, especially if the self-storage facility is remote or dangerous. You don’t want people you don’t know walking around you while you load and unload.
Good security software
One example of good security software that a secure self-storage facility should have is the possibility of keeping logs of the pins or keycards used, when the visit was and to whom the pin or keycard belongs.
Smart storage access, easy pin and keycard recovery, and main gate control are just a few things hinting at good software.
Is an intruder sneaking about the facility? Motion and sound sensors and a good controlling AI could tip off nearby security teams and the property manager.
The quality of that software could vastly differ, as well as its functions, so it is something you should be advised on and inquire about from the company.
Some details that good security software can monitor include vehicles, license plates, and even people’s faces.
They can be set up in various ways to send a notification, set off an alarm or easily track and bookmark an event that one of the connected cameras has detected and store information for it.
Advanced software has fewer false positives and can easily pick up activities and people who are not supposed to occur in the facility.
A property manager of the storage facility
Last but not least, a great property manager could be more important than any security feature you should be looking for in a self-storage facility.
The property manager controls the eyes and ears, monitors your storage space and will be the first one to deal with any discrepancies within the storage facility. If they live on-site, that makes for so much more secure self-storage facility!
The first sign of a great property manager can easily be spotted by walking onto the facility grounds. If the exterior is well-maintained and clean, the property manager will likely protect your belongings as well.
Do not hesitate to ask questions – you are about to entrust your belongings to them. A great property manager will know their facility inside out, have no trouble explaining how secure it is, and introduce you to all you need to know to access your storage safely, for example, potentially.
Conclusion
These top security features are not something you should be compromising on when looking for a self-storage facility for your items.
When you need your belongings in safe storage and properly looked after, call the professionals for quick, secure and stress-free professional self-storage solutions.
