Self-Storage Container Insurance - Are there insurers which cover Mould/Mildew Risks?

lildannys95

Hello!

We took out a container rental to store various household items like a mix of old and new furniture, rugs, carpets, clothing, electricals and more sentimental family items like photos, etc in as we are planning to do some home refurbishment and building work, but since lockdown started that has been put on hold. 

I have read online that there can be a higher risk of mould/mildew in outdoor based containers particularly, and that a lot of people find their insurance policies exclude various different things, and I want to obtain an insurance to protect against this particularly being an outdoor container, but I am having a hard time finding any such insurance as mostly they are excluded.

The storage facility is registered and recognised by various insurers but do not offer their own policies directly. I have looked at a couple so far, but many insure and exclude many different things, but the main issue I want to insure against is Mould or Mildew just to put my mind at ease as that appears to be common for just in case anything like mould happened or even, flood, fire, vermin etc.

Does anybody know of any insurance providers which specifically cover self-storage containers for mould or mildew? Or even home insurance policies which may cover this?

davidmcn

lildannys95 said:

more sentimental family items like photos, etc

Bear in mind no insurer is going to provide you with cover for "sentiment", just for things which can in practice be replaced. Can't you find space somewhere else for those items?

Ditzy_Mitzy

lildannys95 said:

Hello!

We took out a container rental to store various household items like a mix of old and new furniture, rugs, carpets, clothing, electricals and more sentimental family items like photos, etc in as we are planning to do some home refurbishment and building work, but since lockdown started that has been put on hold. 

I have read online that there can be a higher risk of mould/mildew in outdoor based containers particularly, and that a lot of people find their insurance policies exclude various different things, and I want to obtain an insurance to protect against this particularly being an outdoor container, but I am having a hard time finding any such insurance as mostly they are excluded.

The storage facility is registered and recognised by various insurers but do not offer their own policies directly. I have looked at a couple so far, but many insure and exclude many different things, but the main issue I want to insure against is Mould or Mildew just to put my mind at ease as that appears to be common for just in case anything like mould happened or even, flood, fire, vermin etc.

Does anybody know of any insurance providers which specifically cover self-storage containers for mould or mildew? Or even home insurance policies which may cover this?

To be blunt: forget mould insurance. A shipping container, when left outside, particularly when left outside in a stack of other containers, is a breeding ground for mould. Household items such as electrical gadgets, fabrics, paper etc. will swiftly be reduced to rubbish. Also, I don't know what the insurance company is supposed to do. They can't replace irreplaceable items nor, I doubt, can they be expected to cover a risk which is almost certainly going to happen and is easily identifiable beforehand. Remember that containers have no mechanisms for controlling temperature or humidity. It's cheap for a reason. 
Proper self-storage, whilst more expensive, is far better. We've used it in the past and had no issues whatsoever. It is expensive, unfortunately. Your choices are:
Pay for proper storage
Risk putting the things in the container
Sell or dispose of large items and find somewhere to store what's really precious 
I was in a similar situation years ago and found that it was cheaper simply to get rid of lots of things.