I may want to take advantage of an appliance sale now for my daughter and son-in-law for their new home now being built. The problem is the time frame. The house won't be done for a while so I'm probably looking at storing the new, factory boxed appliances until early May. Is there any problem putting them on pallets on a cement pad in my barn? What would it take to make this doable?

-- Gary in Indiana (gk6854@aol.com), January 26, 2002

Answers

Gary, I would think that as long as the barn is very dry, you shouldn't have a problem. Mice would be my only other concern.

-- clove (clovis97@Yahoo.com), January 26, 2002.

I'd put plastic over them, to keep off any dust or water. If they don't weigh too much, I'd be inclined to hang them from the roof rather than stand them from the floor. Otherwise, stacks of bricks to raise the pallets off the floor (shame if your barn got flooded), and ideally sheets of metal or stiff plastic halfway up the stacks of bricks to form shields against rodents and insects.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), January 27, 2002.

Rats me eat your wires off. Happy Future,jim

-- Jim Raymond (jimr@terraworld.net), January 27, 2002.

I stored a houseful of furniture in one of the self storage places while I was building my house. I kept adding new purchases to the storage as we went along, including a new freezer. On move day, I was horrified to find that rats had been having a field day in there. What they didn't chew up, they urinated on, rat droppings were everywhere. They completed removed the insulation from the freezer, every upholstery item had to be taken to the dump, including mattresses. The smell was awful and I learned later was a major health hazard. This is just something to think about in advance. Putting out rat pellets or traps may prevent a problem later. Good luck. C

-- Carole (carle@earthlink.net), January 27, 2002.

Mice ate the insulation and wiring in a freezer I wasn't using also.... I'd be careful about storing stuff where they can get to it.

-- Deb Foster (DFoster987@aol.com), January 27, 2002.

Ditto on the mice and rats, but otherwise I'd do it and not worry about moisture bothering the motors. My machines were in my cellar for years, NOT a dry place, and they were fine.

-- Jennifer L. (Northern NYS) (jlance@nospammail.com), January 27, 2002.

I use traps baited with peanut butter to "survey" the rodent problem. I find the peanut butter gets their attention and keeps them out of stored feed. Check the traps and reset every day. If the appliances come in boxes, leave them in the boxes.

You can see if rodents are starting to chew on the box.

-- Darren (df1@infi.net), January 27, 2002.

To be on the safe side, set out some mouse/rat poison called Just One Bite. Awesome stuff and will take care of any rodent problem you might have. would definately give you peace of mind anyway.

-- (nil@tiredofspam.com), January 27, 2002.

It might also depend on what kind of animals you have in your barn. Chickens, for instance, make quite a lot of dust, more than you'd imagine.

-- mary (marylgarcia@aol.com), January 27, 2002.

Cats might spray the applicances too.

-- Charleen in WNY (harperhill@eznet.net), January 28, 2002.

I'll second the mice problem. We had mice get into the insulation on our stove, and you couldn't stay in the house once you turned the oven on. We discovered the problem on Christmas day with 14 people over for Christmas turkey that had to be baked. We took the stinky stove outside, got a new stove from the want ads, and finished the dinner a couple of hours late. Mice in stoves are BAD NEWS!!!

-- Laura Jensen (lauraj@seedlaw.com), January 28, 2002.

What do you think the appliance store does with them before they sell them? Keep them in a hermetically sealed peanut butter jar perhaps? GL!

-- Brad (homefixer@SacoRiver.net), January 28, 2002.

You can also use moth balls inside the appliances to keep the mice away. We do this with our lawn tractors and mowers through the winter. They love to make their little nests inside of these. Just be sure you don't let the little children near the moth balls they might think they are gum balls. Good Luck !!

-- Helena (windyacs@npacc.net), January 29, 2002.