Almost all storage companies forbid illegal, pirated and harmful things from being stored in their facilities. This move is to ensure the safety and the security of the self-storage unit and the items being stored. However, there may be some items which are not entertained by a particular self storage unit even though another storage unit allows it. For example take the case of jewelry; there can be one storage unit which will not take the responsibility of storing expensive jewelry while another one will allow you to store such items.

Be it a moving company, a public storage unit or a self storage unit, they will forward you a published list of items which are forbidden from being moved or stored. It is quite important that you understand which of the items are allowed to be stored generally and which are forbidden. The following is the guideline which will give you a general idea about things which are restricted and not entertained by the storage units. For more queries of a specific nature, you should get in touch with your storage company:

1. Combustible and inflammable materials: The inflammable materials of explosive nature are strictly forbidden. Prominent examples are acid, lighter fluid, gasoline, explosives, firecrackers, fertilizers, paints, matches, car batteries, nail polish and remover, liquid bleach, charcoal, kerosene, pool chemicals, paint thinner, motor oil, weed killer, ammonia, pesticides, cleaning fluid, propane, lamp oil, chemistry items, aerosols etc.

2. Perishable food items: These are not encouraged to be stored. In fact there are specialized warehouses or storage units that do store items which are perishable in nature for a temporary period. It has been noted that storage units that store personal belongings do not encourage storage of perishable items. The perishable food items are vulnerable to insect and rodent attack. There can be a vermin infestation and the loss to the storage facility could be humongous. Also insurance companies do not provide any kind of cover for goods destroyed if they are stored with perishable food items.

3. Plants and crops: Plants do not tend to survive when they are moved to a different climatic condition. Plants are also prone to pest attack. If you travel to another state and store plants in the new self storage location in that state, you open a door for new kind of pests to appear in that area. The pests can quickly multiply and wreak havoc, destroying other goods also in the process. The toxicity can spread to other plants in the state you are moving to and can be quite damaging to the human and animal health.

4. Extraordinary high valued items: There are some items which have to be stored in specialized storage units to ensure the longevity and safety of these products. Examples would be personal video and audio tapes, important papers and documents, furs, tax records, bank statements, computer software, CD's, and diskettes, medicines etc. Some of these items which command an extraordinarily high value must be kept in a self storage unit only if it is specialized to store such items. Normally items over $100.00 per pound for each article are termed as a high value item although your self storage unit may have a different way of defining this term.