Nashville, TN: Top Things to Know About Storage

Music Storage in Music City

You don’t have to know what a honky tonk is to know that Nashville is a city that breeds musicians. It’s a mecca for country music, but it’s also where modern rock bands like The Black Keys and The Kings of Leon first got started. And yes, it’s where Taylor Swift caught her big break too. With so many great venues for live music and so many shops selling cowboy boots that were made for line-dancing, it’s hard not to entertain occasional fantasies of starting a band or at least learning how to play the guitar. If you’re a musician in Nashville and you’re thinking about storing some of your instruments, it’s important to make sure you do it right. Make sure your instrument of choice is clean and dry. This is especially important if you’re storing a trumpet or any other instrument that you put to your mouth as they can often harbor moisture and bacteria. Follow the specific instructions for disassembling your specific instrument and always store it in a quality case if possible. Never store it directly on the floor of your storage unit. Instead, place it on a pallet or anything that will keep it off of the ground so that if in the very unlikely event that water enters your storage unit, your instrument (and your future career as a rock star) isn’t ruined.

Storage in Your Neighborhood

There are 659, 042 people who are currently lucky enough to call Nashville home. But the city is more than just it’s stereotypes of hot chicken and cool craft beers. There’s a neighborhood for everyone, and since most people tend to seek storage within three miles of where they live, it’s pretty likely that your neighbors in your apartment building will also be your neighbors in your storage facility. If you live in The Gulch, Nashville’s downtown-adjacent hot spot for energetic twenty-somethings and young professionals who still like to party, you probably live in a high rise. People in this neighborhood are likely to need storage because of the limited extra space that high rise apartments typically afford. They’re also likely to take advantage of popular month-to-month leases on storage as they’re a transient bunch. As much as we’d all love to bar hop forever, eventually we all must accept that it’s closing time and move on (literally). Expect high turnover at storage facilities near this neighborhood. If you can’t get the unit you want now, ask about transferring to it when it’s available. If you live in Belmont/Hillsboro (Statistically the most expensive neighborhood in the city, btw.), you’ll be in the same self-storage market as a large number of college kids. Students typically require storage at the start of summer, so if you know you’re going to need extra space during this time, plan ahead. If you live in Green Hills, you’ll be among a diverse range of young professionals, affluent families and working class folks. The affluent portion of the population is likely to require larger storage units as a result of having a higher disposable income and easy access to great shopping.

Your Storage Options

There are 80 self-storage facilities in Nashville. Among these, you can find a variety of sizes and amenities including climate-control, gated access and truck rental. You can also find boat/RV storage, so if you’ve got one of those big toys, don’t forget to read our article below for tips on finding and using this type of specialized storage in Nashville. Prices on storage units in the area tend to vary widely. For a simple 5x5 unit, you can expect to pay anywhere from $40 to more than $100. If convenience is the most important thing to you and you aren’t willing to drive too far (or at all) to get to your facility, you might get stuck with an expensive storage unit. If you’re okay with the occasional commute to your storage unit, expand your search radius on StorageFront to include options that are outside of your preferred area. You’ll have more options and you’ll be able to get the lowest rate possible.

Surprisingly Crime Stats

One caveat to the whole “outside of your preferred area” thing: Don’t rent in a high-crime area unless you’re sure that the storage facility you’re renting from has excellent security. A facility that’s secure will have fences, good lighting, gated access, 24 hour cameras and most importantly, a staff that patrols the property often. Nashville has 24,213 property crimes annually, 1,163 of which are motor vehicle thefts, so be sure to take extra care when storing your RV, boat or car. While it’s true that chances of becoming a victim of crime in Nashville are more than double the statewide average, the stuff in your storage unit doesn’t have to become a part of that statistic.

Tennessee’s Tornado Alley

Nashville experiences hot, humid summers with temperatures in the high 80’s (Did someone say climate-controlled storage?) but it also occasionally experiences another slightly more dramatic weather pattern. Yep, we’re talking about tornados. Tennessee has an unpredictable tornado season, but the spring months of March, April and May are the most likely months for twisters to occur. Davidson County, the county in which Nashville sits smack dab in the middle of, is part of what is sometimes referred to as “Tornado Alley.” Besides Googling “What should I do in a tornado” now rather than frantically at a later time, you should also consider self-storage insurance. You storage unit and the contents of it are not typically covered by homeowner’s insurance, so if you’re storing something important, it’s worth getting insurance. Costs are typically pretty cheap and many storage facilities even offer it in house making the process of attaining it even easier. Just make sure to check, double-check and triple-check your policy to make sure it protects you against everything including tornadoes.