As the summer months continue to heat up, it is important to mind what storage items might benefit from a climate-controlled environment. From furniture and appliances to collectibles such as vinyl records and comic books, the temperature of your storage environment can make or break your most valued possessions.
Furniture and Appliances
Cracks and rotting can be caused to furniture by excessive moisture or humidity. Wooden furniture, most specifically, should be stored in a climate-controlled facility. Leather furniture and other goods can also be severely affected by moisture. Extreme cold can also cause cracking.
As for those stored appliances, the risk of moisture and humidity in a storage unit can cause rust or mildew.
Vinyl Records
We here at Blue Crates love music and thought it was important to provide tips on the proper storage of vinyl records.
Vinyl is a very delicate form of music media. For ultimate preservation, a large collection of vinyl records are best stored in a climate-controlled environment. This is especially important if there are rare and collectible albums involved. Vinyl records are easily damaged by humidity, extreme cold, and direct sunlight. This media should always be stored upright and records should never be stacked on top of one another, as this causes them to bend and warp. They should also be stored in with no slanting and always be covered in both inner and outer record sleeves.
We find it serendipitous that the crates provided by Blue Crates are the perfect size to store a large collection of upright records, regardless of the vinyl record size. The largest and most popular size for vinyl records is 12”x12” and our crates are 12.5 inches in width and 17 inches in height!
Comic Books
The invention of Comic Books can be dated back to the 19th century, and a pristine condition comic book can be worth quite a bit of money. On the contrary, an improperly stored rare and highly sought after comic book could deflate its value to nothing.
Comic books are printed on lightweight paper with thin covers and are not as resilient as most other forms of books. Their fragility can cause them damage such as creases, folds, and scuff marks. Hands should always be clean when handling them and they should always be returned immediately to a plastic cover (bonus points if it is the same cover which it originally came in!). There are various styles and sizes of comic book specific storage boxes that can be purchased. However, these storage boxes are not climate controlled and we are sure it doesn't come as a surprise that humidity and moisture can affect the condition of comic books.
The importance of climate-controlling stored possessions can be easily glossed over and just as easily regretted, once the damage is done. We hope that these climate control storage tips help motivate you to evaluate the safety of what you store and where. Worry not about the possessions that you have stored with Blue Crates, as we pride ourselves on the daily monitoring of our very own climate-controlled facility.
