To store beds for a couple of years?

[Glasscabinet]

I’ve done some googling but can’t find much info from UK sites…

We’ve been offered some essentially brand new beds from a family member but realistically we won’t need them for two years. I’ve seen that you can buy mattress covers online, but would they protect the mattresses from mould?

Without turning our house into a storage unit, the only place to really store them would be our garage. It’s fairly watertight but it’s a separate building therefore it gets pretty cold in there during winter etc.

Is it best to just give them a miss? Really annoying as it could save us £££.

You can't get the mattresses in the loft space? Could you put another mattress on your existing beds, making the beds a bit higher. Or I would keep the mattresses indoors in the warm for a few weeks, turning them every few days, to make sure they are as dry as possible then put in the storage bags, buy a load of silica gel packs to go in with them to help take up any moisture, check regularly and replace the silica gel packs as required. Keep off the cold garage floor with spacers. If the beds are good worst case you can buy new mattresses when you need them.

I think they’d be better offered to somebody who needs them now and not years down the line.

If you really want to save them, don't rely on just plastic sheeting. I’d put a proper fully zipped encasement on first from idustmite to seal the actual fabric, then wrap it in heavy duty plastic with duct tape. Definitely throw some huge silica gel packets inside the layers too, or it’ll get damp

Mattress covers themselves won’t stop mattresses from getting cold / damp in an unheated space with limited air circulation. They also won’t stop mice from chewing through if they can get into the garage space and (family experience they loved nesting in a mattress which had been left in an outhouse for a short spell in a mattress cover during decorating)

I think if you can’t keep them in the main house then let them go to someone else. I don’t think you can keep them mould free.

When DS1 outgrew his toddler bed but DS2 was still in a cot, we put the toddler bed mattress underneath DS1s single bed wrapped in 2 fitted sheets. It didn't get mouldy, the sheets just got a bit dusty.
(It got moved occasionally to hoover/play on).

I stored all my belongings in a garage for a couple of years whilst I went travelling, including my mattress. I completely sealed it in plastic mattress protectors and kept it off the floor. It was fine. Worst case scenario, you will have to throw them out. Seal it in with silicone moisture sachets