Smelly Lighthouse Binders

Recently, I moved my collection onto custom 13x13" laser-printed buffered 100# cardstock pages housed in Lighthouse Maximum 4-ring binders. It was a lot of work but looks niiiiiice.

When I first unpacked the Lighthouse binders, I noticed that they had a plastic smell - not skunky, but more like a classier "new car" odor. I thought the smell would dissipate pretty quickly, but after sitting in the slipcases for a month, the binders still smell, and the pages have acquired a bit of the binder odor, more strongly on the pages towards the front and back.

Curious, I smelled my two-year-old Lighthouse Vario stockbook, and it has a similar odor.

I don't notice this smell, or any smell, for that matter, on any other brand of binder.

Is the smell normal? Should I be worried about long-term damage to my stamps? All the stamps are mounted in black Showgards.

Thanks for any info,
Steve

Any smell inside the slipcase is trapped there. In it's normal use, it's full. I would try to "air" it out, by directing a fan into the case and the binder as well as the pages. Blowing fresh air across the page over night may be enough to remove the smell, which is probably from the materials (adhesives) used to bind the binder and slipcase Good luck, let us know how it turns out

I think it's the covers. I noticed the odor on new binders and stockbooks before. How old is that Vario stockbook? My older stockbooks don't have an odor, so it's a matter of time before the smell dissipates, like in a car. Your mileage will vary as to how long it will take before you don't notice. I have ones with that type cover that I know are from the 80s with no odor and no problems with the stamps stored long-term in them. I am very happy they have lasted that long with a couple being used and older still.

I've got a lot of Lighthouse binders and the smell (which I don't find offensive, personally) does dissipate over time. My oldest ones are around 3 years old or so and I don't notice any smell on them at all. I've never really noticed album pages taking on the smell. I don't think you've got anything to worry about, long term.

Baking soda will absorb odors (so will fresh coffee). I suppose you could put a few binders (maybe with the pages removed) into a tightly sealed container with baking soda sprinkled inside. I do this all the time for used albums I buy. I cover the bottom of the box with fresh baking soda. Then I put in some hand weights, but anything that will hold the binder above the baking soda will work. Then I lay the open binder or album on top of them, seal the box tightly and leave it for a few days (or weeks). It generally removes the smell. Even if you get baking soda on the album (or pages) it's easily brushed off and will do no harm.

An alternative would be to put a few (open) boxes of baking soda on the shelves next to your albums. But this seems much less efficient and might not work very well.

I think the odor problem is called "off-gassing" and it's common with plastics which are made with some petroleum and other chemicals that apparently need to air out to dissipate. Leaving the albums to air out will work over time, but time might mean a year or more. And storing the binders in their plastic dust cases will just slow the process down.

With musty smells common with older albums, I've had some luck putting the album out in the bright sun for a day or so. I generally lay it on my hammock (not on the ground!). The sunlight tends to kill off the cause of the musty odor -- but I might not do this with album pages with stamps on them.