Anyone who has spent a winter in Cedar City knows how quickly the calendar fills up. Southern Utah University students pack in and out every semester. Meanwhile, the Utah Shakespeare Festival brings crews and visitors through summer and fall. Families across Iron County also need room for a garage that stopped fitting the car years ago. Sooner or later, most of them ask the same question. Does the overflow belong in a container or in traditional storage?
The answer depends on how you load and how often you visit. It also depends on what Cedar City’s weather will do to your belongings. Here is how container units and traditional storage compare.
Traditional storage usually means a row of units inside a larger building. Both options protect your things, but traditional storage and containers do it differently. You reach indoor units through a shared hallway or a line of roll-up doors. In addition, climate-controlled traditional storage options are common. Container storage works differently from traditional storage. Each unit is a freestanding steel container with its own set of doors. You drive up and park beside it. As a result, there are no corridors or elevators to navigate. Unlike traditional storage, no one else’s traffic passes between you and your unit.
Secure Box Self Storage sits on North Bulldog Road. Our container storage units in Cedar City range from a compact 5x8 up to a 40x8. Our container units give you another option beyond traditional storage. Most stand eight feet tall. However, we also offer nine-foot wide-door and extra-tall versions for bulkier loads.
The biggest day-to-day difference is how you load. With a container, you back a truck or trailer up to the doors. Then you carry everything in a straight line from tailgate to storage space. This matters if you’re moving a sectional sofa, a chest freezer, or a workbench. Traditional storage units often mean a cart, a hallway, and a few tight corners. For that reason, many people pick a container over traditional storage.
Most customers leave Interstate 15 at Exit 59. Next, they follow 200 North (SR-56) west toward the Cedar City Regional Airport and Airport Road. From there, it’s a short drive to Bulldog Road. This route keeps you off Main Street, which fills up fast on Festival evenings. It’s an easy trip whether you choose a container or traditional storage.
Wide furniture needs a wide-door container rather than a single-door 5x8. Some pieces simply won’t fit through a narrower opening. For example, a large dresser may need the wider doors.
Cedar City sits at 5,846 feet, and the elevation shows up in the seasons. The median first fall frost arrives around the middle of October. Then the snow season runs from roughly the third week of November into late March. Late July brings monsoon thunderstorms that can drop a surprising amount of rain in a short afternoon. Through all of it, a steel container keeps rain, snow, and wind-blown dust off your belongings.
However, a container is not climate-controlled. Because traditional storage sits inside a building, it can offer climate control. So how you pack matters more than it does in traditional storage. First, set boxes on pallets instead of the floor. Second, leave a little air space between stacks. Finally, keep anything that can’t handle a hard freeze out of the container. Our guide to preparing a storage unit for a storm has more tips.
A container has steel walls on every side and one entrance to protect. As a result, your lock does a lot of the work. In addition, every rental includes a welcome bag with a standard disc lock and a few other useful items. Traditional storage, by contrast, puts you in a shared building. Also, you can pay your bill and manage your account online around the clock.
A 5x8 holds about what a mid-sized bedroom does. It suits a dorm room at Southern Utah University or a set of office files. Ski and camping gear for Brian Head and Cedar Breaks fits too. A 10x8 handles two full bedrooms. Similarly, a 15x8 takes a family room, and a 20x8 fits an entire two-bedroom home. Sizing works much like traditional storage, but containers offer more flexibility.
Moving a larger household? The 25x8 and 30x8 handle two- and three-bedroom homes, including outdoor items. Meanwhile, the 40x8 holds a four- or five-bedroom home or a single vehicle. The extra-tall version adds a foot of ceiling height for taller loads. Larger containers also help you avoid renting several units in traditional storage.
Container storage isn’t a replacement for traditional storage in every case. For example, artwork, fine electronics, musical instruments, and irreplaceable papers may need more care. If you’re storing them for a long stretch, an indoor climate-controlled unit may suit them better. In that case, traditional storage is the smarter choice. Climate control is the main reason to choose traditional storage. On the other hand, furniture, tools, seasonal gear, business inventory, and vehicles do well in a container. Easy access and flexible sizing are hard to beat. Still, traditional storage has real strengths for delicate items.
Both traditional storage and container storage can work well. The choice between container and traditional storage comes down to a few questions. Do you want to drive right up and load without hauling things down a hallway? Can your belongings handle Cedar City’s freeze-and-thaw swings? And do you need room for something big? If the answers lean toward easy access and plenty of space, a container is likely the right call. However, if they lean toward delicate items, traditional storage may be better.
You can reserve your container online in a few minutes. Or call us at (435) 261-4487 with questions about sizing or availability. Our office at 1702 N. Bulldog Rd is open Tuesday through Saturday, 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM. We’re proud members of the Cedar City Area Chamber of Commerce, so we’d be glad to help. Reserve your container storage today and skip the hallways of traditional storage.