The storage question

[Roy J. Tellason]

On Thursday 16 August 2007 17:42, Jason T wrote:
> On 8/16/07, Mark Tapley <mtapley at swri.edu> wrote:
> > ...lots of good stuff...
> >
> > >Any advice is appreciated!
> >
> >         Heh. Sure hope you meant that literally; apologies if not.
>
> Indeed!  And thanks to everyone for piping in on this.  It's great to
> hear from so many on the subject.  So far, I've distilled this:
>
> - The consensus does seem to be "no tapes or disks," which won't be a
> big problem for me as they don't take up much space and can be kept at
> home.  I do have some boxed original software (CBM, Apple, etc) I'd
> like to store because of its bulk.  I suppose I can extract the disks
> in most cases and take my chances with the shrink-wrapped stuff.

I've got some disks in storage,  dunno how well they're doing,  but I haven't 
seen any obvious problems.

> - Paper will be a problem, as I had hoped to move a magazine
> collection there at least through the winter.  It was suggested that
> allowing it to "breathe" is better than keeping it (and an amount of
> moisture) trapped inside plastic would be the better choice. Perhaps
> leaving them boxed but without plastic, plus a desiccant of some kind
> (a bag of silica gel in each box?) might do the job.

I have magazines sitting there in storage too,  and a fair amount of other 
paper.  None of this stuff seems to be suffering any ill effects.  But then I 
don't recall seeing any other signs of moisture in there. I did get burned 
pretty badly throwing some stuff in storage a number of years ago,  in the 
town where I'm living now as it turns out,  and there was a bit of an opening 
in the rear wall of the place.  This was apparently enough to let some 
nontrivial moisture in,  ruining a portion of my books that were in there in 
the process,  stuff that's literally irreplaceable.  I knew I had a problem 
when I went over there one winter day and found a sheet of ice at the bottom 
of the door,  extending into the unit once I'd pried the rubber seal at the 
door bottom loose enough to open it.  Moisture has been a real concern for me 
ever since,  though I haven't had much of a problem with it in any of the 
storage places I've had since then.

> - Concrete floors = dust and moisture.  The storage facility itself is
> basically a garage - 10x15ft, about 9-10ft high with a large sliding
> door.  The floor is heavily painted concrete (apparently thanks to the
> previous tenant as no others were like this.)  I'm thinking a false
> floor constructed of bricks and plywood plus a plastic tarp might help
> keep the bottom items dry.

Concrete floors are not a problem in my experience either,  particularly since 
I've got enough junk stuffed in there that you can't see most of the 
floor.  :-)

> - Things are going to rust.  See moisture problems above.  I guess it
> isn't unreasonable to wrap a uVax II in plastic with a bag of silica
> inside.

I've not found that to be much of a problem either,  really.

> - I'm going to abuse the newfound space and just get more crap until I
> can't move around my house.  Quite likely.  That will be a matter of
> willpower on my part.  Thanks to Mark Tapley for a great rundown of
> his method of self-control.  :)  Despite the storage, I'm still going
> to have a packed basement, garage, closets and office.  But the stuff
> has started to occupy permanent positions in the kitchen, dining room,
> living room, etc.  No comps, classic or otherwise, in the bathrooms as
> of yet.  I'm hoping I can develop a "one (or two) projects at a time"
> mentality this way, keeping a lot of excess gear down the road a bit
> might help me focus and see things through to completion.  Yeah, I
> know, good luck on that too :)

That's way worse than I am.  In our last place the junk overflowed my office 
(the larger of the two bedrooms in that apartment) and had started down the 
hall,  at this point I have much of that up in the attic,  some in the 
basement.  It's a tradeoff between heat and dampness.  :-(

> This has also made me rethink my plans for moving to a new house
> (perhaps in a year or so.)  Part of my criteria was enough outdoor
> space that I could build a large garage or barn to hold all my gear,
> but even if I managed that it would be unheated/cooled, much like a
> storage facility, and thus only fit for certain storage.  Perhaps I
> should just settle for a large (dry) basement.

I too have as a goal sufficient space that I can have one or more 
outbuildings,  both for storage and for workshop space.  I've had way too 
much time spent in basements,  and detest the idea of doing such,  if I can 
avoid it.  So it's on my list,  if and when we stop renting and look for a 
place to buy...  Better yet,  I hope to end up far enough out in the country 
that I won't have to worry about permits,  etc. when it comes to putting 
something together that suits my requirements...

> OK, this is becoming too much like a 12-step support group.  Back to
> our regularly scheduled collecting...

:-)

-- 
Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and
ablest -- form of life in this section of space,  a critter that can
be killed but can't be tamed.  --Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters"
-
Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James 
M Dakin