Nobody plans a move around storage. You plan it around a closing date, and then the closing date moves.

That's the part that catches people out here. You're out of the old place on the 14th and into the new one on the 28th, and suddenly two weeks of your life needs somewhere to go. Or the buyer's financing slips a week, and "somewhere to go" becomes a month.

If you're moving in or out of McClellanville, here's the practical version.

Plan for the gap, not the move

The single most useful thing you can do is stop assuming your dates will hold. They frequently don't — inspections, financing, and repairs all push right, never left.

What that means in practice:

• Don't sign anything with a term. A move is exactly the wrong time to commit to a fixed lease. We rent month-to-month, and we don't require advance notice to leave — when you're out, text or email us a photo of the empty unit and we cancel your billing. If your closing slips two weeks, that costs you nothing extra in penalties.
• Book earlier than you think. Not because you'll need it longer, but because the size you want may not be there the week you finally admit you need it.
• Overestimate slightly on size. The cost difference between a 10x10 and a 10x15 is smaller than the cost of a second trip.

What size you actually need

The rule of thumb is about 50 square feet per room's worth of contents. In practice, for a whole-home move:

• 10x10 — One to two rooms. A one-bedroom apartment, or the contents of a couple of rooms while you renovate.
• 10x15 — Two to three rooms. A two-bedroom house, comfortably.
• 10x20 — Three to four rooms. A three-bedroom house with major appliances, plus the boxes you forgot about.

If you're between two sizes, take the larger one. Everyone underestimates. The number of people who call to size down mid-move is roughly zero.

If you rent wrong, we'll transfer you to a size that fits, as long as it's available. Not every facility does that, and it matters more during a move than at any other time.

The coastal part nobody warns you about

This is the McClellanville-specific piece.

Humidity out here is hard on the things that come out of a house — and harder still on things that sit in a truck, a garage, or a friend's shed for three weeks in the middle of a move.

Temperature isn't really the issue. Condensation is. When warm, damp air hits a cooler surface, moisture forms, and that's what causes mildew on upholstery, warping in wood furniture, and failure in electronics. A month is plenty of time for it to happen.

Worth putting in climate control during a move:

• Mattresses and upholstered furniture
• Wood furniture, especially anything veneered or antique
• Electronics, TVs, and anything with a circuit board
• Photos, documents, books, and artwork
• Leather anything

Fine in a drive-up unit:

• Plastic bins of hardware, tools, and kitchen goods
• Patio furniture and outdoor equipment
• Appliances
• Yard equipment and ladders

Our climate-controlled units run 60–80 degrees on an HVAC system that holds humidity steady — the humidity control is the part that matters here, not the thermostat reading.

Packing mistakes that cost people money

Learned from watching a lot of moves come through:

• Don't use trash bags. They trap moisture against fabric. Two weeks in a bag is enough to ruin a mattress.
• Get everything off the floor — pallets, boards, anything.
• Leave air gaps. Don't shrink-wrap the whole unit into a solid block. Air needs to move.
• Load what you'll need first, last. During a move you will need something back out before you're done. Keep a walkway.
• Photograph everything before it goes in. It takes ten minutes and it's the only inventory you'll have if you need to make a claim.

What we don't take

Before you load the truck: no food or perishables, no liquids, no flammables, no explosives, no toxic materials, no tires. Movers hit the "liquids" one constantly — paint, solvents, and cleaning supplies can't come. If you're unsure about something, call and ask first.

Timing and access

Gate access runs 6am to 10pm, seven days a week. That matters during a move, because moves don't happen between 9 and 5 — they happen at 7am on a Saturday and at 8pm on the day you have to be out.

You can rent online in a few minutes and get your gate code by text and email, so you can set up a unit the night before the truck arrives without visiting an office. There's a free disc lock waiting in the unit.

Where we are

Applecool Storage is at 3119 S Fraser St. in Georgetown — straight up Highway 17 from McClellanville, on the right just past the Georgetown Airport. It's the same road the whole way; you're not navigating anything on moving day.

Call or text us at (843) 833-5360 if you want a hand figuring out the size — it's a two-minute conversation and it's cheaper than getting it wrong.

For current unit sizes, pricing, and directions, see our full page on storage units near McClellanville.