How To Properly Store Your Books While In Storage

14 May 2015
 Categories: , Blog

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If you have come to the realization that your collection of books is getting far too big to keep in your small apartment, you may be considering alternative storage solutions. Putting them in a storage unit can be a great way to get them out of sight for now, but still hold on to them for when you want to revisit those books later. These are some considerations to make so that your books are properly stored away.

Use Climate Controlled Self Storage

Instead of using your existing standard storage unit to store your books, you should upgrade it to a climate-controlled unit. They offer heat, cooling, and humidity controls that will keep the unit at a constant temperature.

Your big concern when storing books is the humidity. If humidity levels are too high, the moisture in the air can ruin a book. Moist paper can be a place where mold can potentially grow. Low humidity is just as bad, since it can cause pages to become brittle.

The ideal climate settings for storing books is a temperature below 70 degrees, and humidity between 30%-50%.

Clean Your Books

If your books have been sitting on an open bookshelf prior to moving them to storage, they may have a layer of dust on them that should be cleaned off. The dust can easily stain the book if it is left there for a long time, or transfer to other books that are clean. Just give your books a light dusting to get rid of the surface level dust on them.

Properly Place Books In Boxes

As you are loading your books into boxes, pay attention to how you are placing the books into the box. Your initial instinct may be to place the books spine up, which will let you easily see which books are in the box immediately when opening it. This is one of the worst ways you can store a book, as the weight of the spine will be put on the pages, causing them to bend and loosen from the spine over time

The Library of Congress recommends storing books flat or spine down, and to use a box that is lignin and acid-free.

Store Boxes Off The Ground

Since your books will be in storage, you never know what may happen when you are away. Avoid placing boxes on the floor, which can make them susceptible to water damage during a flood.

Follow these tips, and your books will be well-preserved in self-storage. Contact Epic Group Inc for more information.