posted on December 11, 2001 11:15:17 PM
We recently moved to another state, and our new home doesn't have all the built-in book shelves we used to have. We have 45 boxes of mostly hardbacks we've collected over the years in a building on our property that is weather-tight and critter-proof but unheated. We're at 6,000 ft and it's cold in these mountains (So. California).
Do you know if cold damages books in the way that heat does? Would these books be okay in their snug boxes until springtime when we can decide on shelving?
posted on December 12, 2001 10:44:44 AM
We've had a storage space for 11 years now with books and a lot of other stuff that's too good to throw away and not good enough to keep in an old home that doesn't have a garage or other sufficient storage. Temperatures range from 110 in the summer to around 0 in the winter, pretty chilly generally. No damage from the temperatures though we don't have lots of old HC's. Weather's not terribly humid however and YMMV.
Four things I would worry about:
1. Pests (mice love to chew paper).
2. Moisture (the drier the better i would think).
3. Stacking the books improperly (i'm sure you know what happens when you lay them on their side with many pounds of pressure from books, etc above).
4. Leaving them there longer than the projected time and finding reasons to stack stuff on top of the boxes of books (we've ruined a few in our time).
In general I think you'd be ok for a few months if you're reasonably careful.
Terry
posted on December 12, 2001 10:51:58 AM
Roadsmith,
While I do not know much about hardback book storage, I do know something about comic book storage. As an avid comic book collector w/ over 4500 comics in my personal collection and another 10,000 to sell.... I have done some research to see how best to store them. Comic books (especially the older ones) are often created with paper that is inferior in quality to those in normal books, so I think this information should be beneficial to you as well.
None of the sources I have run accross give me any indication that cold is bad for the books. What you DO need to watch out for is the humidity level of the area where the books are stored. An ideal humidity level should be between 40-75%. Too much humidity... and you'll get mold (not as much a concern in cold temperatures...but still something to watch out for). Too little humidity... and your paper can become brittle. I hope this helps you out a little!
posted on December 12, 2001 01:43:03 PM
Since I'm in Texas, I really don't know much about the cold, but just to be safe, I think you should ship them all to me.
posted on December 12, 2001 05:54:31 PM
Thanks, everyone, for your good advice.
<br />
<br />We don't need to worry about humidity here; we are in the high mountains of Southern California, where the humidity tends to hover around 10%. Skin and nails dry out fast, and we always have a rule, whether at our cabin or in our home here, that you close the bread bag immediately so the bread doesn't dry out.
<br />
<br />A bigger concern to me will be the book-upon-book stacking issue. As soon as the building that they're in is remodeled, we'll at least put all the book boxes in a single layer. I do understand what happens when books have heavy weight on them.
<br />
<br />Anyway, thanks so much. I feel better, short term, about leaving them where they are. ~Adele<br />
[ edited by roadsmith on Dec 12, 2001 05:55 PM ]
posted on December 12, 2001 05:56:42 PM
P.S. Does anyone know why those "break" symbols appear when I hit "edit" to correct an error in a message? Just started happening, and it's very weird! I'm not aware of doing anything different from before.
posted on December 12, 2001 10:01:20 PM
The humidity must be kept constant. The temperature should be kept constant due to humidity concerns too.
The rule for books is 70/50. 70 degrees temp and 50% humidity.
Books kept cold will have damage if the humidity isn't kept constant. The paper "breathes" and loses or adds humidity as the humidity flucuates. Going from freezing to hot temperatures damages the connective material in the paper, just as freezing and thawing effects road surfaces due to moisture.
As the seasons and weather changes, regardless of where you live unless perhaps a desert, the humidity level changes. The paper taking on moisture and then releasing moisture when the ambient level changes damages the paper. Another problem is mold. Unless you keep the books in a controlled setting, mold can not be controlled.
But another question is - how long are you going to store the books ? If it's just a year or 18 months you might not have any problems.
posted on December 13, 2001 10:01:19 AM
Reamond: We don't plan to store the books more than just a few months, until we can decide where shelving should go in our new place.
I'm not sure of wide swings in humidity over the winter months here.
posted on December 13, 2001 10:28:41 AM
Roadsmith,
Those angle brackets are html inserted by the AW BBS program where you've left a blank line and they display it as a blank line in the list of posts. You might think html would be smart enough to know a blank line when it sees it, but it does not.
You get it when you go back and edit your response. AW has a bug in their BBS program that does not strip them out before hand.
On the subject of how long you plan to store your books... I must warn you that how long you *plan* to store them and how long you actually store them may vary wildly. We certainly didn't expect to leave stuff (I will not say junk) in our storage space, but we weren't thinking 11 years.
The road to hell and storage are paved with good intentions. Or piled with them...
Terry
posted on December 13, 2001 11:29:01 AM
Thanks, terrydarc. I'm always relieved to know there's a system glitch and that I'm not, in my deep ignorance, doing something to cause a problem.
Yes, you're right about good intentions vs. how long we actually do store things. These books are pretty valuable so barring our totally running out of money, we don't plan to put off bookshelves too long!
