I think dry heat is OK. We get some pretty hot temps anywhere in Australia and I've not found problems with my books. Humidity is the real killer. I had a some books and mods with me when I was living in Rangoon. April's are high 30 degrees C average and total humidity - and mould grows everywhere.

JZavoda wrote:
Damp or humidity is a killer. But wouldn't high heat also damage anything with binding glue?

I guess it is a question of length of time exposed. And each climate is different, so my experiences are probably not relevant. mandalaymoon, there are probably some dealers in rare books in Phoenix - why don't you see if you can contact a business there and see if they have any advice?

mandalaymoon wrote:Most RPG books don't have glue bindings so maybe if I separate them out.  Phoenix is certainly dry... I don't think anything can survive the heat and humidity of Rangoon summers with limited electricity for AC...  

Some of the older ones used the glue binding. I think FGU as publisher used it quiet a bit. Aren't all the TSR square bound books bound with glue?

Air conditioned storage would be the way I would go.  But if you decide that the garage is your option, you might want to think about setting whatever containers you store your collection in on wooden pallets.  They will keep them several inches off the floor and prevent any accidental flooding from damaging the boxes.  I know Phoenix probably doesnt get a whole lot of flash floods, but if the hot water heater is in or near the garage, it might not be a bad idea.  I had several boxes of comics get damaged from a leaky hot water heater about ten years ago.  If I had just elevated them off the floor a bit, I wouldnt have had any problems.  You can usually get the pallets from the local Wal-Mart or Target.  Some places dont mind if you take a few, but it would be safe to ask first.

And depending how high you plan on stacking your boxes, crates, containers, etc...you might also consider buying a roll of Mover's plastic wrap to surround everything with to keep it from teetering and falling over.  You can buy them from U-Haul and other similar places.

FormCritic wrote:And post a note on every bin, box, bundle, stack and storage container:

"Dear Family Members:

    This is not junk.  Please do NOT throw it away, give it to a charity, sell it in a church bazarre, flea market, Goodwill or any other organization no matter how much they beg.

    To repeat.  THIS IS NOT JUNK AND I WANT THESE ITEMS KEPT FOR MY RETURN!  

    Should I die, give these items to my heirs and have them get the entire collection appraised!

   NO SERIOUSLY......THIS STUFF IS VALUABLE AND I WANT TO KEEP IT!"

Your loving son and brother."

Put the note on the outside over every container and a copy lying on top of the items inside.

Of course what your family will read is this:

Please do NOT throw it away,

Give it to a charity, sell it in a church bazarre, flea market, Goodwill or any other organization

Actually put the first one on the outside and the second on the insides along with a list of items in each box, says that you also have a copy of the list as well and will be checking the contents of each when you get back... and "What they hell are you doiong opening the box!"

LOL

Brette:)

JZavoda wrote:You need to string some live grenades around the boxes (of course you'd need to protect the boxes from any possible damage and/or blood.

Nice idea, but the plan has some downsides to it.
The bombs would of course demolish the box and the books inside.
Even a steel box would be damaged from the explosions of mutiple grenades going off at one time.

Poison needle traps and hidden pitfalls 10 feet deep with rigid poisoned spikes at the bottom, surrounding the boxes.
The stench of the first couple of bodies will of course keep others from coming any closer, thus securing the boxes from further inspection.
Thats the way to go.

Aneoth wrote:
Nice idea, but the plan has some downsides to it.
The bombs would of course demolish the box and the books inside.
Even a steel box would be damaged from the explosions of mutiple grenades going off at one time.

Poison needle traps and hidden pitfalls 10 feet deep with rigid poisoned spikes at the bottom, surrounding the boxes.
The stench of the first couple of bodies will of course keep others from coming any closer, thus securing the boxes from further inspection.
Thats the way to go.

He needs to turn the basement into a dungeon, maybe model it after tomb of horrors. Perhaps a mulcher instead of the sphere of annihilation.

you absolutely should go with an air-conditioned storage facility if you can. imo the heat/cool heat/cool series of cycles is very bad for paper products. a constant temp & humidity is ideal.