Around the year, the UK has people moving in and out of the country for work, education, and tourism. With every person comes their baggage, the literal baggage. But since the cities are so populated there isn’t always space to accommodate everything you own in your living space.
This is especially true for culturally and historically rich and famous cities like London and Brighton. House to corporate headquarters, universities, and tourist attractions, these cities are always attracting people from all walks of life.
Whether you are a student looking for a cheap student storage space, a part of the workforce, or simply a resident in one of these cities you are very likely to face a storage space dilemma.
A storage unit may be the answer to this problem. If you are moving house and find yourself in a week’s bracket between moving houses with nowhere to place your stuff, self-storage units in East London is your answer.
Self-storage units can also be well suited for you if you are a student in London and are looking for cheap student storage space to keep all your belongings for the summer.
Similarly, small business owners can also use self-storage units in east London for inventory, to use as a warehouse, safekeeping important documents, or even temporarily storing extra/seasonal business equipment. Many storage facilities like STORED’s Brighton storage units, catering to all these needs with the wide variety of storage units they have to offer in their facilities.
“There are almost 1,600 self-storage sites across the UK comprising of approximately 45.6 million square feet of self-storage space” – The Self Storage Association the UK
Let’s not forget that while there are lots of facilities with storage units that will meet your storage needs, you need to find a place that offers safe and secure storage. Most storage facilities have surveillance and security cameras, but you also need the strongest locks, that can prevent a break-in.
You will probably be putting important stuff in the units and may not be able to attend and check often, so the best way to staying safe is using great locks.
Be it self storage units in East London or any other hustling city, all these facilities commonly offer you an option to purchase a lock at the front desk. For example, STORED’s Brighton storage units have Padlocks included in their rental charges. This is ideal if you are a student looking for a cheap student storage space.
However, it is always better to buy your locks for the rental units. The storage facilities may be saving costs by offering not necessarily the best quality of the lock, so it’s always a good idea to get your own to keep your belongings safe. However, this may not be allowed in some storage facilities.
The three most commonly used locks on storage units are;
- Padlocks,
- Disc locks
- Cylinder locks
Let’s have a look at how each of these works so you can pick and choose whichever one you want.
Padlocks
Padlocks are the common U-shaped locks that are very easily available from the supermarket. Because they are so cheap and common, they are also easy to tamper with. A duplicate key can easily be made to open these and some can even be opened with a twisted wire.
These kinds of locks are often used in cheap student storage spaces. It isn’t wise to invest in these types of padlocks. If you are going to buy the lock yourself it’s better to rather buy one-time padlocks.
These are similar locks but they are one-time use only and do not come with a key. This means, to open the lock you’ll have to cut it. While this still isn’t the safest option, it is still more secure than the regular padlocks as it is very easy to tell if the lock has been tampered with.
The best type of padlocks is however closed shackle padlocks that have a very thick casing over the u-shaped portion that makes cutting it very hard.
Many storage facilities such as self-storage units East London or Brighton storage units by STORED offer padlocks included in their rental charges without you having to buy them separately. This saves you the cost and hassle of going and buying one yourself.
Disc Locks
Another popular lock choice for storage units is the Disc lock. Although they are similar to the padlocks, as the name suggests, they have a circular shape that makes it very hard for these looks to be cut or be tampered with.
Although you can find a disc lock at a very reasonable price, they are available at a wide range of prices depending on the quality.
These locks are designed with anti-pick pins; hence these are very difficult to break. This means that breaking a lock like this would need a long time & some noisy machinery, which makes these theft-resilient.
Most storage facilities, such as self-storage East London and Brighton storage units have surveillance cameras installed, that would easily be able to catch any such activity in time.
One thing to keep in mind while getting these locks is that they are not compatible with some storage doors. So, it’s always a good idea to check with the storage facility, what kind of doors they have at the facility and if they are compatible with your lock choice.
Cylinder Locks
Cylinder locks are the kind that is often used on your home front door. The key moves the bolts inside the lock to open it. Although these are key locks, what makes these very secure is that;
- They have an anti-pick mechanism
- The lock is placed inside the storage unit so it’s impossible to just cut it open
- They are made of stainless steel, so are much more resilient than ordinary padlocks
While these are the most common and most secure locks for a storage unit, you must remember that your valuable belongings need to be safe and secure through the whole process of moving your stuff into a facility.
To ensure that, it is always a great idea to opt for a storage facility that takes responsibility for transporting your belongings. Brighton storage units and self-storage units East London by STORED offer free of cost door to door transportation of your belongings.
We know that due to the high demand for storage space in the hustling cities many self-storage units in East London and storage units in Brighton are always in the competition of offering cheaper prices.
If you want secure storage space, a cheap facility shouldn’t be the selection criteria but a safe and secure one should be.
