Can I wrap furniture in plastic for storage?

Not sealed. Plastic traps condensation against the surface, which causes mould on upholstery and finish damage on wood. Use breathable covers.

Is an unheated garage acceptable?

For sealed concrete and coated steel, usually. For wood and upholstery, no. Unheated spaces swing in humidity and that is what does the damage.

Should furniture be stored upright or on its side?

In its normal orientation wherever possible. Storing a piece on its side puts load into joints that were never designed to carry it that way.

How long is too long?

Duration matters less than conditions. A month in a damp basement does more harm than a year in a dry heated room.

Practical · 4 min read

Storing Furniture Without Damaging It

Cold stores, damp basements and plastic wrap. How to put a piece away so it comes back out the same.

Storage damage is almost always one of three things: condensation under a cover, humidity swings in an unheated space, or load going through a joint the wrong way. All three are avoidable.

Never seal it in plastic

This is the mistake that ruins more stored furniture than everything else combined.

Plastic is a vapour barrier. Wrap a piece in it and any moisture already in the wood or the upholstery cannot leave. Worse, as temperature cycles, water condenses on the inside of the plastic and sits against the surface. On upholstery that is mould within weeks. On a finish it is blooming and water marking.

Use breathable covers: old cotton sheets, moving blankets, purpose-made breathable covers. The job is keeping dust and knocks off, not making it airtight. If plastic is unavoidable for a short move, leave the ends open.

Choosing the space

Heated interior room: the best option by a wide margin, and it costs nothing if you have the space.
Dry, unheated, stable: acceptable for sealed concrete and coated steel. Marginal for solid wood. Wrong for upholstery.
Garage or outbuilding: humidity swings with the weather, and condensation forms on cold surfaces whenever warm damp air arrives. Hard on wood.
Basement: usually the worst. Cool, often damp, poor air movement. Mould conditions.
Loft: extreme temperature swings and very dry in summer. Hard on wood in the opposite direction.

The common factor in the bad options is swing rather than absolute level. Wood handles a steady 30 percent far better than a cycle between 30 and 80. Humidity, heating and furniture explains why.

Before it goes away

Clean it properly and let it dry fully. Anything organic left on a surface is food for mould in storage. Cleaning without wrecking the finish has the routine.
Deal with chips in coated steel first. Bare metal in a damp store corrodes quickly and under the coating. Fixing a chip covers it.
Re-oil wood if it is due. A maintained oil finish slows moisture exchange during the swings.
Photograph it. Condition on the way in settles any argument on the way out.
Remove and bag cushion covers separately, so air can reach the foam. The covers on the Two-Seat Sofa unzip, which makes this easy.

How to stack and support it

Store pieces in the orientation they were designed for. A chair on its side is carrying load through joints that were designed for vertical load, and months of that loosens them.

Off the floor, on pallets or battens. Concrete floors wick moisture and a leg standing on a cold slab collects condensation.
Away from external walls, which are the coldest surfaces and where condensation forms first.
Nothing heavy on upholstery. Compressed foam left for months does not fully recover.
Padding between stacked pieces, because a hard point against a coated surface for months leaves a permanent mark.
Nothing resting on a new finish at all if the piece is less than a few weeks old, because a curing film takes an impression.

Material by material

Sealed concrete: the easiest. Keep it off a damp floor, support it properly because it is heavy, and it will be fine. The weight is the handling problem rather than the storage problem. Moving concrete furniture applies.

Coated steel: fine dry, vulnerable at chips. Check it before and after.

Oiled wood: needs stable conditions more than anything else here. A heated room if at all possible.

Wool: clean, dry, breathable cover, nothing compressing it. Wool is a protein fibre and is attractive to moths, so it wants a properly closed breathable bag rather than an open shelf.

Coming back out

Let a piece acclimatise in the room for a few days before judging it or tightening anything. Wood that has been in a cold store arrives at a different moisture content and needs time to settle. Check fixings after a fortnight rather than on day one, when the piece has stopped moving.

Reality check

Never seal furniture in plastic. Condensation does the damage.
Humidity swings are worse than any steady level. Heated rooms beat garages and basements.
Store in the normal orientation, off the floor, away from external walls.
Clean and dry first; seal steel chips before storing.
Acclimatise for days before judging or tightening anything.

Common questions

Can I wrap furniture in plastic for storage?: Not sealed. Plastic traps condensation against the surface, which causes mould on upholstery and finish damage on wood. Use breathable covers.
Is an unheated garage acceptable?: For sealed concrete and coated steel, usually. For wood and upholstery, no. Unheated spaces swing in humidity and that is what does the damage.
Should furniture be stored upright or on its side?: In its normal orientation wherever possible. Storing a piece on its side puts load into joints that were never designed to carry it that way.
How long is too long?: Duration matters less than conditions. A month in a damp basement does more harm than a year in a dry heated room.