Luggage attic storage
 

Hi all,

I've read some instances where storing luggage in the attic space melts the wheels. Is this a common occurrence? Does it happen in all attics, or those with (or without) the radiant barrier?

I have a few pieces of soft side (and some hard side) luggage that I'd be bringing down with me, but will they get damaged being stored there? Am I safer just wrapping them in plastic and storing them in the garage proper?

Thanks!

Kevin

Been putting ours in the attic for 17 years. No damage due to heat.

I don’t to it after experiencing some damage.

Storage space is limited for all of us. Far as I know no one has a basement, I so miss mine.
Where to store things? Realize heat rises. Your garage, hot as it is, is cooler than your attic.
Access to the attic is also limited. Most of the fold down staircases are not very safe. Power staircases are available for like $3,000. Wrapping them in plastic? Fabric, old bedsheets are a better choice. Depending on the plastic the luggage is made of and the plastic used to wrap they can amalgamate-stick to each other.

Have you considered under the bed?

We’ve kept ours in the attic for two years now. No issues.

Not really - they are too thick to be stored under a bed.

Don't leave any bacon in your luggage. The heat in the attic storage will fry the bacon.

Five years, no issues with luggage, Christmas decorations, and grandsons scooters.

Do yourself a favor and store NOTHING in your attic. It only invites the opportunity to turn your house into a parking lot for stuff you'll never use again --- probably the same problem you're currently dealing with in preparing yourself to move down here.

sometimes the wheels turn to rice after years up there

Luggage in Attic
 

We store ours in the attic. In fact my DW stores our holiday candles in the attic and they have not melted yet.

Yes avoid the attic way to to hot. I stored my good quality suitcases in the garage and after 2 years the plastic on all the wheels broke off. Just not enough room inside home to store stuff. Must be very careful what you store in the heat of the garage.

My wife and I have a single luggage set, 3 pieces that nest. They fit nicely in the guest bedroom closet. The attic is too hard to access and quite awkward for large items.

It depends on the amount of attic ventilation you have. I have two solar attic fans put in by the Solar Guys and now my attic never gets over 100 degrees even on the hottest days. Without the fans it can get to 150 degrees and cause damage to items stored there. My guess is people who have no issue have good ventilation vs those who don't.

We noticed that one closet had a high ceiling, so we added another, higher, row of shelves. Great place for things you need infrequently but don’t want to trust to the attic (furnace).

no idea why people here think this..... we've been here and on the coast since 2006.... NEVER had anything melt in the attic. but of course proper ventilation... Our other house was 2600sf and the attic had 9 vents compared to 2000sf and 3 vents.... that's the difference I put in a solar attic fan and it resolved the issue for $1000. The vents that I wanted were going to cost twice as much so I settled for the fan and it does provide the same as I was getting in the other house with more vents.

hope that helps

You’ve gotten a lot of opposing responses….. here is mine .

We’re on our third home , the second has the reflective barrier .

We have stored everything in the attic space above the garage since 2006 without any problems .

We place the luggage in large plastic garbage bags and have had no issues.

Oh, and no signs of “amalgamation” due to the use of plastic ! :)

I’ve lived in South Florida my whole life and we always store our suitcases in the attic with no issues. This is the first Ive ever heard of such a thing happening.

No damage - give it a try and see for yiurself.

What one poster said about the attic being difficult to get into will be true---if you live here long enough. We have items up in ours (can't remember what they are now though---so must not be important) BUT we don't go to fetch them as any ladder isn't safe at this time in our lives. I've been thinking about asking for a younger person to help us THEN if the stuff is still salvageable, it will go to thrift stores. Attics/garages do get hot here. Florida weather isn't the same as up north.

Our house, garage faces south. Been storing wheeled , soft sided luggage for over 3 yrs in garage attic. No problems with wheels; we use the luggage almost yearly in fall or spring for short trips, theen back into the attic. We don't have any special exhaust fans or opening up there to let the hot air out. However, the heat destroyed the soles of my hiking boots after 2 yrs of storage, my error.

Hot
 

I put shelving around the garage - I'm guessing it gets near 110 up there and no barrier works for hours

If the heat would melt the hard plastic wheels, wouldn't it be hot enough to set your house on fire ?

I have lived in FL for 51 years. My last house had an attic you could walk around in like a large room. We stored EVERYTHING in it and never had anything damaged or melted. Our teeny tiny attic now has our luggage, Xmas decor, baby books and items, and a few other items being stored for future grandchildren and nothing is damaged or ever been damaged. I think that when suitcases fall apart, it has nothing to do with heat. My brand new one was damaged in transit by handlers. It never even made it to my attic. 🙄

Luggage Storage
 

My dad, a mechanical engineer, lived in FL, used to put hooks in the garage ceiling, then ropes, then tie the luggage up high to use for the occasional trip but have out of the way in his rather neat garage.

We kept our TravelPro spinners in the attic. When I got them down last spring, on two of them the hard rubber extension handle and the outside buckles that keep the suitcase from falling open had gotten sticky from the heat. Just two out of the four, but that was enough for me to find somewhere else to store them.
I assume this was because they were up in the attic over two summers prior to last spring due to Covid lockdown/ageing dog, and we were unable to spend those two summers elsewhere.

When we moved here in 2001, I made the mistake of storing luggage in the attic space above the garage. The leather luggage got mold all over it and I had to through it out. In the master bedroom, we have a linen closet that go all the way up to the high ceiling. It was a waste of space for it to go all the way up. A carpenter/handyman cut a hole above that closet, put a bottom floor in there and added 2 large doors. He painted it the same color as the walls and nobody notices it until I point it out. It is a huge storage space for luggage and other things. See how high up your linen closet goes because you might have a room for another cabinet. You will need to use a 2 step stool or ladder to get your luggage. I love it.

I've stored luggage in the attic for 24 years and have had only one older suitcase lose a wheel due to heat.

Been storing things in the attic for 30 years with no issues.

Don’t worry I’ve had mine there for yrs

Two of our closets have built ins (from the previous owner). They are too high to store things I'd use every day, but the perfect place to store suitcases...

Ditto with us. Two of our rolling suitcases wheels were shot from storing it in the attic

Heat or not luggage is fine. Just be careful with cardboard boxes as they can mysterious disappear when stored in someone else's attic storage. Or, the two boxes were just taking up too much space?

Mine have been in the attic for storage for 13 years without a problem. I have a lot up there. decorations etc, and the only problem I ever had was plastic bags falling apart from the heat, so I don't use them.

I just took my luggage out of the very hot garage and made room in a closet. I was worried that the fabric around the zipper would degrade and have nightmares of my luggage busting open in the middle of the airport!

Kevin - time to take the plung and make a hard decision and live with it.

We lost a really nice and fairly new suitcase by storing it under the bed. :cry: I decided I didn't like the odor it had from previously being in the attic a short time, so when we came home from a trip I decided to store it under the bed. As the original poster said, it was too thick, so I opened it and slid it under the bed open. Didn't take my cats long to find that and prefer it to their beds, so I threw an afghan in it to collect their hair (and make it more comfy, truth be told) so we could use it again. Welll... that never happened...using it again. Because now we felt bad to not only be leaving them, but to take their preferred sleeping spot. This was also a factor to be considered when we looked for a new mattress and framing. It always has to be high enough to accommodate their bedding and an adjustable bed is definitely out! So...guess who runs THIS house? :D

Yup
 

We found this out the hard way..in the middle of the super long walkway over the highway in Green Airport in Providence RI!
Wheels just disintegrated…and we had to drag them the rest of the way…and buy new suitcases before we came back!
They have been stored inside ever since!

Attic
 

It’s strange and I’d like to know the answer.
Yes we have had items self destruct in the attic. Thin bulbs on X-mas items. Different types of totes. Some totes have been there for years. Others after a few years became brittle and crumbled easily. Apparently different plastic reacts in different ways. I’ve plastic containers of automotive fluids that cracked open and leaked in the garage.
Wish there was a code on containers that differentiate.

We had a Little Giant aluminum ladder in the garage with plastic wheels. Over time the wheels dried out in the heat and completely disintegrated. Since our luggage would be expensive to replace we store it in a bedroom closet. I’ve also heard from snowbirds that the heat over the summer months destroyed the grips on their golf clubs in the garage. There is of course a limit of what you can realistically store inside the house.