The storage question

On 8/16/07, Mark Tapley <mtapley at swri.edu> wrote: 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. - 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. - 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. - 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'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 :) 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. OK, this is becoming too much like a 12-step support group. Back to our regularly scheduled collecting... -- jht