Ideally, you will place your books on the shelves for everyone to admire them. Still, there are many reasons why that maybe isn’t a possibility. Lack of space, relocation or home renovation are the most common reasons why people have a need for an additional storage solution. No matter what’s your reason, the most important thing is to store your book collection safely.
Store your book collection in plastic bins
The best way to ensure the integrity of your books will be to store them in plastic bins. These bins can be seal shut which makes them able to provide protection from critters, sunlight, and moisture.
All the things that can cause great damages to your books.
Besides, they are very suitable to keep in your home, but also in the storage unit. The good advice will be not to overpack plastic bins with books. That will make them very heavy, and you can injure yourself trying to lift them.
However, there are also plastic bins with wheels. Investing in such bins will mean that you can just roll and shift them around your home whenever you feel like it.
Forget the cardboard boxes
It seems like a cost-effective solution to store your book collection into cardboard boxes. They are cheap and you can even find free cardboard boxes in NYC at every corner. Still, just because something is free, it doesn’t mean that is the best solution. In most cases, if something is too cheap, at the end costs you more.
That is exactly what will happen if you store your book in cardboard boxes. You will have to set aside a significant amount of money to restore your library since your books will be ruined.
Cardboard is quite resilient material, but when it’s facing humidity and extreme temperatures, it loses every single time. Over time, cardboard boxes begin to deteriorate and dissolve. They lose their sturdiness and get moldy.
If you store your book collection into cardboard boxes, it will suffer a lot of damages from the climate conditions. Not to mention the nasty critters that can come to have a paper feast.
Since these boxes can’t be seal shut, the insects and rodents can easily get in them. Or even chew they way in.
Any good moving company will tell you that cardboard boxes are excellent for moving but horrible for storing items for a long time. If you’re still on the fence, just contact some of the Financial District movers and they can explain to you all the dangers of storing your books in cardboard boxes.
While it isn’t really a green solution, plastic bins are a much safer option. When it comes to long term storage cardboard boxes can’t even compare with plastic bins.
Where to store your book collection?
Just because you put your books into plastic bins, that doesn’t mean that you can store your book collection anywhere. Any paper item is very sensitive to humidity and drastic changes in temperature.
So, the attic, basement or shed won’t cut it.
No matter what the cozy corner you will find to store your book collection, make sure that it’s an indoor space.
Space under the bed or the backs of your closet is a great place to keep plastic bins with books. Space underneath your stairs or study table is also a possible storage solution.
You can even make these bins useful by making them a part of your room decoration.
Maybe storage unit is the better option?
When you have a large book collection and no place in your home to store it safely then it’s time to consider renting a storage unit. Surely, it may seem pointless to rent the whole unit just for bookkeeping (pun intended).
So go through your home, and see if you have some other things that are cluttering it. If you don’t, you can always consider sharing a storage unit with somebody.
Still, since there are many types of storage units, they come in various sizes. Contact some of the storage facilities in Manhattan and search for the smaller unit that can perfectly fit your book collection.
Also, when you’re thinking about the storage facilities, you should opt for a climate controlled storage unit. Since the humidity is the biggest enemy of paper, you should store your book collection in the unit where you can control its level. To keep the book safe, the humidity level should ideally be around 35%. Levels of humidity above 50% will cause damages to your books, no matter how did you pack and protect them.
Climate controlled units are the best solution for book storage. They are a bit more costly, but with little effort, you can find affordable storage in Manhattan that fits your budget.
Protect your books
Take measures to ensure the safety of your book collection while in storage:
- Direct heat is very dangerous – It is common sense to store your book collection away from the direct heat source. Not only because the paper is very flammable, but also because it can cause a lot of damages to your books. Temperature above 60-75 degrees isn’t suitable for safe book storing.
- Keep them away from food – Books are a paper snack that insects can’t resist. Bookworms are the common enemy of books, but other bugs can also be lured to them. Especially if there are some leftover crumbs that you haven’t notice. To bug-proof your home and keep your book safe, store them away from eating areas.
- Put them away from direct sunlight – If you want to store your collection on the wall shelves, make sure that sunbeams aren’t directly falling on it. Direct sunlight will damage your books by bleaching out the binding. While that can give them some rustic look, it is very harmful to the paper.
- Wrap it properly – Forget plastic wrappings with bubbles or newspaper. There’s only one material that you should wrap your books in – clean, white packing paper. Any other protective material will do more harm than good.
