What Not To Put
In Storage
By Discount Movers · Published August 2026 · 5 min read
The Basics
Three Categories,
Not One
There are three different lists and people tend to blur them. There is what a facility prohibits in its contract, which is mostly about fire, flooding and pests. There is what a moving company cannot legally transport, which is a shorter and stricter list governed by hazardous materials rules. Then there is the largest category, things that are perfectly legal to store and a bad idea anyway, because they will be ruined by the time you come back. Most of what goes wrong falls into that third group.
Nothing flammable or combustible, anywhere
Gasoline, propane, paint thinner, lighter fluid, fireworks, ammunition primers. Facilities prohibit them and movers cannot carry them. Empty and drain fuel from mowers and generators before either.
Nothing alive and nothing that was recently food
Plants, pets and perishables. Also the half used bag of rice you did not think about, which is how a unit becomes a pest problem for the whole row.
Anything damp will ruin everything near it
A washing machine that was not drained, a fridge stored sealed, a mattress that went in slightly wet. Mold does not stay in one place.
Documents, photographs and electronics need climate control
Or they need to be somewhere else entirely. Inland San Diego heat in a metal unit is genuinely destructive to adhesives, tapes, vinyl and battery cells.
Do not store anything you would panic about losing
Passports, deeds, jewelry, irreplaceable photographs. Not because facilities are unsafe, but because access takes time you may not have in an emergency.
The Lists
What Is Actually
Prohibited
Flammables and fuels
Gasoline, diesel, propane, kerosene, lighter fluid, paint thinner, acetone. Prohibited by facilities and not transportable by a household goods carrier.
Explosives and ammunition
Fireworks, flares, ammunition and primers. Firearms themselves vary by facility and by law, so ask rather than assume.
Corrosives and pool chemicals
Acids, chlorine, muriatic acid and pool shock. These damage other property even when sealed, and chlorine in a hot unit is a genuine hazard.
Perishables and open food
Anything that can rot, and anything sealed that a rodent can smell. Pet food is the most commonly forgotten item on this list.
Living things
Plants and animals, without exception. Plants also carry pests into a facility where they will spread.
Wet or damp items
Not prohibited so much as guaranteed to cause damage. Drain appliances, dry everything, and leave fridges and washers propped open.
Allowed But Unwise
Legal To Store,
Bad Idea Anyway
Candles and anything wax based
An inland unit in August will reduce them to a puddle that spreads into whatever is beneath.
Vinyl records, tapes and film
Heat warps vinyl and degrades magnetic tape. If it matters, it wants climate control or a cupboard at home.
Batteries and battery powered devices
Lithium cells do not like heat, and a leaking alkaline battery ruins the device it is in. Remove batteries from anything going into storage.
Important documents
Legal papers, deeds, passports and tax records. Not because they will be damaged, but because retrieval takes a trip, and you will want them on a day when you cannot make one.
Upholstered furniture without a cover
Fabric absorbs whatever is in the air over months. Cover it, do not just push it against a wall.
Local Notes
San Diego Heat
And Humidity
The two local conditions worth planning around pull in opposite directions. Inland, through El Cajon, Santee, Lakeside, Escondido and the East County valleys, summer heat inside a metal unit is significantly higher than the outside temperature, and it degrades adhesives, warps vinyl and shortens battery life. On the coast, through Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach, Imperial Beach and up the coastal strip, heat is less of an issue and humidity is more, which matters for timber furniture, leather, artwork and paper. If your belongings include any of those categories, climate control is a real decision rather than an upsell. Our storage page covers what we hold directly, and our page on what movers can and cannot move covers the transport side of the same question.
Where To Take What Cannot Go
The City of San Diego runs a Household Hazardous Waste Transfer Facility at the Miramar Landfill entrance on Convoy Street, just north of State Route 52. It accepts unused and surplus paint from residents at no charge, and it takes propane cylinders, which are the item most often left behind on move day. Drop-off is by appointment only, and the service is limited to City of San Diego residents, so bring a picture ID and a recent bill showing your address. Appointments are made through the City's Get It Done site or by calling (858) 694-7000.
Not everything is accepted there, and the City's page lists what it turns away, so read it before loading the car. Plan the trip for a day or two before the movers arrive rather than the morning of, because the visit is by appointment and a half-empty can of thinner cannot ride on the truck in the meantime.
The County of San Diego operates its own household hazardous waste collection facilities for residents of the unincorporated areas, and those facilities take universal waste such as the drawer of loose AA cells that turns up during packing. If you live inside one of the county's other cities, check that city's program rather than assuming the Miramar facility will take your load.
Batteries Are Not Trash In California
Removing batteries before storage is one thing; what to do with the old ones is another. CalRecycle, the state recycling agency, classifies every household battery as hazardous waste once it is discarded, including AAA, AA, C, D, button cell and 9-volt cells, single-use and rechargeable alike. Putting them in the garbage is illegal in California. Take them to a household hazardous waste facility, a universal waste handler or an authorized recycler.
For the unit itself, the practical order is to remove batteries from remotes, clocks, toys, flashlights and smoke detectors, bag the working ones to travel in your own car, and set the dead ones aside for the drop-off run. Label the bag with the device each battery came from, because six months later nobody remembers which remote took the odd-sized cell. Keep laptops, power tool packs and anything with a built-in lithium cell out of storage entirely and at home where you can see them.
Irreplaceable Items And The Lien Rule
There is a legal reason to keep irreplaceable things out of a rented self-storage unit that has nothing to do with heat. Under California's Self-Service Storage Facility Act, if rent or other charges stay unpaid for 14 consecutive days, the facility owner may terminate your right to the space by sending a preliminary lien notice by certified mail to your last known address. If the sum due is not paid by the termination date in that notice, the Act lets the contents be sold to satisfy the lien.
The practical lesson is that a canceled card, an expired autopay or a change of address can put family photographs, original documents and heirlooms into a lien sale on a timeline measured in weeks. Keep those at home or with a relative. Keep the facility's contact details somewhere other than inside the unit, keep your mailing address current with the office, and if money gets tight, call before the 14 days run out rather than after the notice arrives.
What The Federal Booklet Calls Hazardous
The federal booklet that interstate movers must give customers, Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move from the FMCSA, defines hazardous materials as explosives, compressed gases, flammable liquids and solids, oxidizers, poisons, corrosives and radioactive materials. Its examples of ordinary household items in those classes are nail polish remover, paints, paint thinners, lighter fluid, gasoline, propane cylinders, and automotive repair and maintenance chemicals. The list is useful for a local move to a unit as well, because it names classes rather than individual products, so you can sort your own garage shelf against it before the crew arrives.
The same booklet lists packing perishable, dangerous or hazardous materials without the mover's knowledge as one of the actions that limits a mover's liability for loss or damage. In plain terms, if a bottle of acetone packed in a kitchen box leaks across the load, the claim for the ruined items next to it is weakened by the fact that the mover was never told. Point out anything questionable during the walkthrough and let the crew make the call; the answer is often that it rides in your car.
FAQ
What Not to Put in Storage
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