A Humidity Question

ok guys I live in a high humidity enviorn

so I have dehumidifer, silica gel all in place but that is not good enough

the stamps are sticking in the album

so I thought maybe I could keep the albums (stockbooks) in giant ziploc bags

anyone have any opinions on these. hopefully those wont harm the albums and stamps in them please share in detail

I don;t think that the ziplocks would harm the albums but if you are in a high humidity area you will only be locking the humidity in when you seal the bag unless you also put a silica packet in each bag to remove the humidity.

Richard

you are 100 % on the money. I will go get silica from jp what size do I need for the albums the 3 cubic feet should be good enough right?

Spock,
We have these bags here called "Space Savers". You vacuum the air out of them and they stay sealed until you open then. They come in several different sizes. You could try that.

that sound slike a great idea especial since we dont have ovens for the gel. Where can I find more info on them?

They are actually called "Space Bags". Just doing a quick Google search, I found them at Amazon and many other sites. The only question I have as far as this application, would be the compression of the stamps. Would it hurt them or not? I guess you wouldn't have to suck ALL the air out of the bags.

Of course, also very important is that you keep the stamps/albums vertical, not laying flat. I've seen too many collections completely ruined because the owner would store the albums laying down flat on top of each other.

The use of space bags with all the air sucked out would be the same effect as having the albums stored on their side. the pages would be pressed tightly together.

Richard

ok this is what I have decided I am going to order an oven and am going to order some silica gel from jp and I will also get the ziploc bags and use those for extra protection. if someone has a better idea let me know . I have got a small fortune to protect

Well, just make sure nobody will accidentally turn on that oven, or soft gum will be the least of your worries!

ha very funny. I am not going to toast the stamps I am going to use the oven to recharge the silica gel

I live in the deep south. It's much easier to count the 30 or 40 days each year that are below 90% humidity, not the days that are over. I've always felt like it is better to let the stamps "breath." Obviously you should store albums like books, and not flat.

The mount has a lot to do with how protected they are. I also like to open my albums and leaf through each page once every week or so to keep the air circulating.

If you were rich like Bobgggg you could just build yourself a climate controlled walk-in safe room!

Mmmmm... Stamp toast!

Sounds like a potentially sticky issue!

Mike

We are really gumming up this thread!