The Villages, FL: Top Things to Know About Storage
Unpredictable Weather
The overall climate in The Villages is very warm and humid because of its low elevation. The city faces two major seasons: May to September is hot and rainy and October to April is dry and cool. The fall and winter months have less rainfall but are still pretty warm. What makes The Villages, and Florida in general unique, is its strong afternoon thunderstorms that occur almost daily. Residents are accustomed to the daily lightening, heavy rain, powerful winds, and sometimes hail that are caused by air masses from the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean that greet them every day. When the city isn’t be drenched by rainfall, its dry season brings a lot of wildfires.
Needless to say, the weather of this city can be a bit tricky. When you’re looking to rent a storage unit, you should definitely keep a few things in mind. First, be sure to find a facility that has covered loading/unloading zones. Even though you may carry an umbrella everywhere with you, you don’t want to be trying to shield yourself from the rain every time you need to grab things from your storage unit. Also, be sure to ask facility managers what affect wildfires have had on their facilities in the past. You should definitely get insurance on your belongings in case of a fire that gets out of hand, and try to store in an indoor unit so ash and debris don’t get into your unit.
Not Enough Storage Space
The Villages is a small retirement town in which people are settled and not likely to move. Once you have settled down here, you won’t want to deal with clutter and will do your best to clear up some space in your home. You may have antiques, classic cars, and other collector items that you want to keep safe, and the best way to do that is to put your stuff in storage. Given the humid weather in The Villages, you don’t want to have to worry about keeping the temperature in your house under control at all times. You’d be better off storing in a climate controlled unit. This is especially important because now that you’re retired you’ll probably be fulfilling your life-long desire to travel and won’t be around much. By putting your stuff in storage, not only will you not have to worry about keeping the temperature in check, but you also don’t have to worry about safety. If you want to go on a six-month tour of the world, you can do so without giving the safety of your belongings another thought.
This all sounds pretty great, but the only problem is that The Villages only has four storage facilities in the city. If you’re looking to move here or already live here and are thinking of cleaning out your garage, book a unit quickly so you’re not stuck with a crowded home. If not, you can always store in neighboring cities that are just a short drive away.
Fore!
The Villages is known for its numerous golf courses—39 to be exact. The majority of the courses are free for residents, and fees are only charged for riding a golf cart on the courses. There are also country club championship courses, and the residents of The Villages are automatically members of the clubs so they have access to those courses as well. Golfing is pretty much a year round activity for residents, and you’ll often see people out during the winter as well. Chances are you may not want to store your golf clubs at all, but you might want to take a break from golfing at some point, might have gotten injured, and might even face a cold winter. Instead of leaving your golf clubs in the back of your closet for them to get scratched up, you should consider putting them into storage.
Getting your golf clubs ready for storage can be a bit tedious, but if you follow our steps, you won’t have a problem. Golf clubs are best stored in dry, temperature controlled environments. Although it may be tempting, especially if you go golfing very frequently, don’t store your clubs in your car’s trunk. Doing so is definitely not worth it because your clubs will keep hitting each other and will get scratched up while you’re driving around. You also don’t want to keep your clubs in a hot place, and the insides of cars get hotter than the outside temperature on hot days.
Very hot temperatures can cause the epoxy affixing the club head onto the shaft to break down after some time. Heat can also cause the glue under the grip to break down, so the grip will start to slip.
Instead of risking the quality of your clubs, put them into a climate controlled storage unit. However, before doing so, you’ll have to do a little prep work. Make sure the clubs and the bag are clean and dry. Clean the clubheads and wipe down the shafts with soap and water. Different grips require different cleaning methods: soap and water work for all rubber grips, while rubbing alcohol on a clean rag will work for synthetic grips.
Making sure the bag and clubs are dry is key because mold or mildew will grow quickly on the grips and in the bag if you don’t dry them properly. If mold grows, you’ll pretty much have to say bye to your equipment!
Living in a humid area can make storing golf clubs even trickier. High humidity can lead to rust, so be sure to put chrome cleaner on your clubs to prevent rust. Among other problems, extreme temperatures can cause steel shafted clubs to become stiffer and the shafts might also become more brittle due to interior rust oxidation. Therefore, storing in a climate controlled unit is absolutely necessary, especially in a humid area like The Villages.
Climate control is also important for the winter. Cold weather can dry out the grips and cause them to harden and crack. If it’s very cold (not common in The Villages, but possible), add some baby oil or Vaseline to your putters to keep them from rusting.
If you want to get fancy with your storage, you can even invest in some storage racks for your clubs.
Lastly, store your gloves with your clubs so you’re not looking for them come golfing season. Wash your gloves with soap and cold water, lay them flat and allow them to air dry, and put the gloves on to stretch them out again before storing them.
Once you’ve done all of the prep work, you’re ready to store your golf equipment. Taking all of these steps is a bit time consuming, but it’ll all be worth it when you find your clubs in good condition when you’re ready to go golfing again.
