The basement is the preferred storage place in many homes. However, you should be careful of what you store in the basement because some things can easily get damaged there. Here are examples of four things that you should never store in the basement:

1. Important Documents

Don't store important documents and papers such as school records, medical records, rare books, and photographs in the basement. Basements are notorious for dampness. Even if the room isn't leaking, it can get damp due to interior moisture sources, such as humidifiers and unvented clothes dryers. Getting your documents wet is one of the surest ways of damaging them permanently. The water may weaken the papers and increase their ease of tearing, cause mold growth, or even damage the ink.

2. Hazardous Substances

Flammable materials, or those that give off dangerous fumes, such as paint or oil, should not be stored in the basement, either. You don't want such materials down there when a fire breaks out; they can easily fuel the fire before you notice anything. And don't forget that evacuating the basement may be difficult. Also, basement air isn't usually very fresh, and toxic fumes may just worsen it.

3. Electronic Appliances

As explained above, dampness is a common issue with many basements. Water conducts electricity, which means it can connect different parts of your electrical components and lead to a short circuit. Don't be surprised if a home theater you stored in the basement (in a good working condition) is suddenly not working when you take it out for testing a few months later.

4. Clothes Materials

Apart from moisture, pests are also common in basements. Rats, ants, termites, and other pests may infest your basement before moving into the main rooms upstairs. The risk of pest infestation is even higher if you are storing items that the animals can feed on, such as paper and wood products, in the basement. Storing delicate clothing materials in that mix is akin to asking for their damage; the pests may feed on them. The same advice goes for other products made from natural materials, such as mattresses.

As you can see, the basement isn't such a great storage area after all. You may use it to store items that don't get damaged easily, such as gardening tools. However, anything that can be affected by temperature, moisture, and pests should go to a dedicated storage facility. Note that some storage areas do not accept hazardous materials, such as paint; confirm this before storing such items in a self-storage facility.