How to Safeguard Your Art Collection from Hurricanes

Hurricane season begins on June 1st and lasts through November 30th, and your art collection is at risk What steps are you taking to prepare? 

While hurricane season is unpredictable, it has the potential to bring about deadly and destructive storms. In 2017, when Hurricane Irma indirectly hit Miami, roughly 80 percent of the area’s homes and businesses were left without power for a week or more, and its estimated that the storm caused $224 million of damage in the county. That figure contributed to the $8.5 billion worth of damage hurricanes caused worldwide that year.  

It’s important to safeguard a variety of your personal assets and affects, and your fine art collection should certainly be included within those preparations. While physical damage from a storm is a major concern, so are power outages and change in temperature, both of which can severely deface the value of an art collection. Rather than wait until the last minute - when everyone is scrambling to implement a hurricane plan for their art collection causing costs to rise and producing an insurmountable amount of stress - you’ll want to ensure that your collection has a contingency plan in place.

Don’t be unprepared this hurricane season. These 5 tips can help ensure your prized artworks stay safe during a storm. Below, we offer five tips to safeguard your art collection during a summer storm.

Know How Much Your Collection is Worth

Document and assess each of the artworks in your collection so you know what you have and how much it is worth in its present condition. Get an appraisal on each piece to see if the value has increased or decreased. Be sure to check that your insurance covers your collection at its current value price.

Properly Package Your Artwork 

Protect your collection during a storm by removing it from the walls and placing any outdoor sculptures or works inside your home or a storage unit. Once everything that can be moved inside is indoors, wrap each piece in protective plastic or thick blankets to keep it secure and help prevent any possible breakage.  

Keep Your Artwork Stored

A secure storage unit with climate-control is ideal to keep your artwork safe during a storm. However, not everyone enjoys access to a secure storage facility. If you don’t have a secure storage space for your artwork, you should move it near the center of a room and keep it away from the windows. Be sure the artwork is also a few inches off the ground in case there is any flooding.

While your artwork is being stored away in preparation for a storm, be sure to also keep it away from direct sunlight and heat or humidity. Also, refrain from keeping it in an attic or basement as these spaces are either too damp or dry for artwork.

Knowing where to store your art can be a challenging task when you don’t have a climate-controlled storage unit. It may be a smart decision to look into a storage facility before hurricane season hits so you can transfer your items without worrying about finding an alternative.

Have a Restoration Plan

Once the storm is over, you’ll need to have a restoration plan. Even if you are lucky and don’t endure any real damage, you’ll need to ensure your artwork is placed safely back in its original location.

If your collection has been harmed during the storm, it’s important that you assess the artwork to determine the cost of damage. This will help provide some insight on how you can go about restoring, if restoration is an option.

Get a Customized Hurricane Preparedness Package

While the steps listed above can help secure your collection during a storm, there are other options that can provide more security, such as LogicArt’s Hurricane Preparedness Package. You can never be too prepared during hurricane season and this package can help ease your mind.

LogicArt’s Hurricane Preparedness Package Can Keep Your Art Safe

 Hurricane season can be a scary and stressful time of the year. When you are prepared, you can stay safe, keep your valuables intact, and remain calm.

LogicArt’s Hurricane Preparedness Package can help. A team of white glove professionals will assess your collection to determine a personalized solution for the hurricane season. This package provides an outline of how your art will be protected, with guaranteed service if a hurricane should arise.

Once the collection has been assessed and there is a cost-effective plan in place, your collection will be packaged in fine art crates that are custom-made to outlast any storm, should a disaster occur. The collection will then be transferred to a 40,000-square feet storage facility with a generator until the storm has safely passed. After it is safe to travel, your collection will be transferred back to your location where it will be properly re-installed.

Because costs can inflate during a natural disaster, LogicArt’s Hurricane Preparedness Package locks in your rate so your price never goes up, helping to ease your mind even more. 

Clients with the LogicArt’s Hurricane Preparedness Package can also enjoy several special discount services too, such as periodic maintenance to preserve artwork, conversation experts when needed, and a climate control storage facility.

Hurricane season is right around the corner. Lock in your peace of mind and ensure your art collection will preserve its historical and economic value for generations to come..