When a new lab space is not ready on time, interim storage holds your equipment, supplies, and materials between move-out and move-in. Ambient storage suits items that do not need refrigeration, such as packed instruments, lab furniture, glassware, and supplies. Cold storage is for temperature-sensitive materials that need continuous refrigeration or freezing. The right choice depends on each item's temperature requirements, how long it will be stored, and how often your team will need it.
When Labs Need Interim Storage
Storage becomes part of a lab move more often than most teams expect. Common reasons include:
- Construction or fit-out delays: Casework, utilities, or inspections at the new space run behind schedule.
- Lease timing gaps: The current lease ends before the new space is ready.
- Consolidations: Two or more labs combine, and some equipment needs a temporary home while the layout is finalized.
- Phased moves: Some equipment leaves early to free up space while active work continues.
- Decommissioning: A site closes before the organization decides what to keep, sell, or retire.
Lab construction in Greater Boston often depends on several trades and inspections finishing in sequence, so a delay in one step can push the move-in date. Planning for storage early is usually cheaper than arranging it at the last minute.
Ambient vs. Cold Storage: Which Items Go Where
The table below is a starting point. Always check each manufacturer's or material's storage requirements, since those take priority over general categories.
| Item category | Typical storage type | What to check |
| Lab furniture, carts, and casework | Ambient | Disassembly and labeling for reassembly |
| Packed instruments that do not need refrigeration | Ambient | Manufacturer storage temperature and humidity limits |
| Glassware, consumables, and supplies | Ambient | Expiration dates on consumables |
| Archived records and files | Ambient | Retention and access requirements |
| Refrigerated reagents and biological materials | Cold | The required temperature for each material |
| Frozen samples | Cold | The required temperature and monitoring records |
| Hazardous chemicals | Depends on the material | Your EHS team's requirements and applicable regulations |
Questions to Ask Before You Store Lab Assets
How Is Cold Storage Monitored?
Ask how temperatures are monitored and logged, how often readings are recorded, who receives alerts when a reading drifts, and what backup power is in place. Ask whether you can receive copies of temperature logs for your records.
Is Ambient Storage Climate Controlled?
Room temperature storage is not always climate controlled. Humidity and temperature swings can affect electronics, optics, and some consumables. Compare the storage conditions against each manufacturer's specifications.
How Are Items Tracked and Retrieved?
An item-level inventory lets you locate and retrieve a single instrument without unpacking an entire shipment. Ask how items are labeled, how quickly you can schedule a partial retrieval, and whether retrievals are delivered to the old site, the new site, or a third location.
Who Is Responsible for Items in Storage?
Confirm how liability works while items are in storage, and whether your organization's insurance needs to cover them. Our article on insurance and accountability in lab moves covers the questions to raise.
How Flexible Is the Storage Term?
Buildout delays are hard to predict. Ask whether storage can be extended month to month and how much notice is needed to schedule delivery to the new space.
How to Prepare Lab Items for Storage
- Decontaminate first. Clean and decontaminate equipment used with biological or chemical materials according to your EHS program, and keep the documentation.
- Follow manufacturer instructions. Drain fluids, install shipping locks, and secure moving parts as the manufacturer specifies.
- Label for the destination. Mark each item with its owner, destination room, and delivery priority.
- Record condition. Photograph each instrument before it goes into storage.
- Separate the first-day items. Keep equipment your team needs first at the front of the delivery schedule.
Budget for Two Moves, Not One
Storage adds a second transport leg and extra handling: from the old lab to storage, then from storage to the new lab. Build both legs into the budget from the start. Assign destination rooms while items are in storage to keep final delivery to a single trip. Our guide to what affects the cost of a laboratory move explains how storage fits into the overall quote.
Planning the Move From Storage Into the New Lab
Schedule deliveries by readiness, not convenience. Equipment should arrive after the room's utilities are installed and verified, and instruments that need OEM reinstallation should arrive when the service engineer is booked. Biosafety cabinets and other equipment that require recertification after relocation need certifier appointments lined up before delivery. Our guide to coordinating equipment vendors during a lab move covers that sequence.
For temperature-sensitive materials, the transfer out of storage is its own cold chain step. Our article on cold chain continuity for sensitive samples covers how to protect materials in transit.
Explore Lab Storage Options
If your move date depends on a buildout, see our lab ambient storage options and temperature-controlled lab storage to plan for both scenarios.
