How To Prepare Books For Storage
Posted on: 21 July 2016
Books may seem small individually, but over time, accumulated books can actually take up the majority of space within your home. Storing your books is a good way to free up some space within your home or apartment without having to part with your favorite or most valuable volumes. However, care should be taken to store your books properly to prevent them from becoming damaged.
Storage Positions
The position in which your books are stored is of the utmost importance, as improper positioning and stacking can cause the spines to break or roll. Ideally, you should purchase a bookcase to be installed within your storage unit and store the books all standing upright with their spines facing outward (as you would with any other bookcase). If this is not an option, you should instead stack your books on the floor. Start with your largest book in terms of the size of the cover, not the thickness of the book, and stack upward. As the size of your books decreases, this stack should take on a pyramid shape. If possible, place a thin piece of material between the bottom-most book and the floor to help protect against moisture exposure.
Remove Inserts and Use Dust Jackets
Remove any inserts that may still be in your book, including bookmarks. If left in, the acids which may be on these items can cause damage and discoloration to the pages that they are in contact with and can speed up the deterioration of older volumes of work. Furthermore, you may want to unfold any corners that may be turned down to mark your place, as this can cause damage to the paper itself. You should also reattach the dust jackets to your books if they've been removed in the past, as these provide another layer of protection to your books.
Climate Control
When looking for a storage unit for your books, you must look for somewhere that is climate controlled. You want to avoid high levels of humidity, as these can cause the glue within the spine of your books to break down and can also promote the growth of mold and mildew within your volumes, which can destroy the books. Additionally, you should search for storage units that do not have any direct sunlight – this is because extended exposure can fade the colors of the exterior of your volumes while also expediting the breakdown process of the glue and paper of your books.
For more information, contact King Arthur Self Storage or a similar company.
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