Collection Storage Vs Home Environment

Well I turned down the ventilation in the bathroom a couple of notches, (there is stil flow, which you can feel with the hand under it), and a damp clot left hanging on the radiator which is turned off. It raised RH from 33 to 38% and temp stable at 20-21 Celcius constant. I will try to keep it on this level and not overexaggerate.

It's better than nothing. Says stamps should be at 40-55%, that's very hard if you can't afford a humidifier-device and when you are living in Scandinavia, with minusdegrees for months during wintertime.

This is my strategy, and when the spring and summer comes I will turn on the ventilation full speed and air my home during the day and evenings in an attempt to reduce RH vs the higher indoor temp.

I've now also put my stockbooks in slipcases and they are placed in a darker room which has no access to sunlight. Nothing more I can do now but pray LOL!

At least it should prevent foxing/mildew, or reduce the risk.


How does this sound?

Sounds fine.
You are doing your best,
personally, I don't see coldness as a problem
It's the large swings in temp or humidity, that I have experienced
(living in Thailand) that would worry me.

Thank you Rod! Always a pleasure "talking" to you.
I hope you enjoy your stay in Thailand.

Ok, so here is my wannabe-budget "humidifier". It looks absolutely hilarious! Goal is to keep it at least around 40% wintertime and then change strategy when spring comes. lol! There is just no way in this cold climate (in the absence of an expensive humidifier) I can keep my indoor humidity 50-55% which google says is "ideal" for stamps. Then I would have to shower constantly, so no I'll try this then move on.

I live in Finland. I have never given thought over humidity nor heared anyone being conserned on it. So, most likely what you do now is more than enough.

I'm not concerned about too low humidity other than I've seen many mint stamps have become harder in the paper and shows early signs of gum-creasing & I'm afraid there's even a risk of cracking, due to the TOO dry air (because It's not too hot in here)! I want to preserve them, and try to reverse it so I don't have to soak off the gum entirely, even if it's not too hot or too high humidity in here (which I know is a far worse problem for postage stamps).

I live in the Northeast US, where we encounter quite dramatic variations in both temp and humidity.

Obviously, keeping the entire house at a constant temp throughout the year (just for the sake of the stamps) would be prohibitively wasteful and expensive... so I try not to sweat (ha!) it too much.

I have considered getting a used wine fridge in which to store albums/stamps...

For anyone who is interested in learning more about paper archival environmental conditions I have posted a reference on Stamp Smarter
https://stampsmarter.org/Learning/H...anufact.html
Don