As it's fairly obvious, I'm a newbie at cel collecting. In fact, this is why I held off so long in collecting cels: the wildly-changing climate of my room.
Thanks to a poorly-sealed window (and no central air conditioning), the temperature and humidity in my room can range, depending on season, from 48-60F during the winter (with 60-70% humidity) to 60-75F on normal summer days (30-50% humidity), and during the rare heatwaves, even up to 90F. Of course, this has me worried thanks to my obsessive-compulsiveness. The weather here on the Oregon coast tends to be more often than not rainy, but thankfully is overall mild.
Anyway, this leads to my questions. Would replacing the old window and properly sealing it be enough? (Here's an idea of how bad it is: it has mold on it.) I certainly keep my cel book away from the window and away from direct sunlight, but I still worry about the overall room temperature and humidity. I'm also wondering about a small portable air conditioner to keep my room at a cooler temperature during the especially-hot days.
And what are the ideal temperature and humidity levels for cel storage? It would be great for me to keep my room in better control anyway because it's also where I keep my collection of merchandise.
Thank you so much for your time everyone, and forgive me if these are really stupid questions. ^^;; I worry so much about somehow destroying cels, which as I said before, is why I held off so long on collecting.
How to improve my cel environment?
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graymouser
- Kuwabarakuwabara - Oh My God!
- Posts: 806
- Joined: Tue Jul 22, 2003 7:42 pm
- Location: San Diego
- Contact:
I am no expert, but I am sure that repairing the window will help a lot. I would hate to think about the possibility of the mold on the window spreading elsewhere in the room and to your cels.
I do not know what to do in general about humidity since I have never had to deal with that problem here in San Diego.
I would also love to hear other people's opinions regarding temperature. I live in the east part of the county so temperatures can get as low as 25F in the winter and often over 100F in the summer. I have not noticed any problems with that range, but I often put on the heat/air if the gets below 35F or over 95F -- just for the comfort of myself and my pets. However, I have often wondered if I should narrow that range for my cels.
I do not know what to do in general about humidity since I have never had to deal with that problem here in San Diego.
I would also love to hear other people's opinions regarding temperature. I live in the east part of the county so temperatures can get as low as 25F in the winter and often over 100F in the summer. I have not noticed any problems with that range, but I often put on the heat/air if the gets below 35F or over 95F -- just for the comfort of myself and my pets. However, I have often wondered if I should narrow that range for my cels.
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Keropi
- Bishoujo art collector
- Posts: 5602
- Joined: Fri Jul 04, 2003 2:10 am
- Location: Southern California
I've lived at my current home for twenty one years. My bedroom is in the northwestern corner of my house away from the sun. The previous owner of the house wallpapered over the mildew on the wall to hide it from potential buyer's view. We couldn't tell the wall was so damp until the mildew appeared through and around the wallpaper. My windows developed some kind of dark growth on the wood.
Even the top of the carpet underneath my bed felt like something sticky was growing or settling on it. Needless to say the papers in my room underneath my bed and inside my closet on the floor became damaged by moisture. Some of the damage didn't show up for ten years or more. The long term exposure to damp humidity caused some of my papers to age prematurely and turn tan or brown. The worst of my papers became brittle and fell apart in my hands like dried leaves.
My solution to the problem was getting a dehumidifier. That solved the humidty problem and I haven't had any since then with any of my papers. I had always kept my most valuable paper collectibles higher up off the floor and away from the furthest corner of my room because those were the areas that had the most stable temperature and humidity. It depends on where the center of your residence is and what side the sun shines.
Frankly I'm not that concerned with temperatures in the ranges you stated. If it was me I'd be much more concerned with the humidity because I've seen what it did to my papers scattered throughout my room. Sometimes back in the early 1990s I got lazy and didn't use the dehumidifier as much as I should have. Later I realized that I was still causing some paper damage because I was letting the humidity rise too high in my room. The damage was cumulative.
I used to use my mechanical humidity gauge for readings, but I prefer a LCD gauge now. The LCD hygrometer won't last as long as the mechanical ones, but it adjusts a lot quicker to humidity changes in the room. LCD hygrometer readings are a little different between each other, but for the one I have I turn on the dehumidifier when the reading says 64% or higher. With my gauge, 67% is an uncomfortable level of humidity for me. If I never used my dehumidifier in the Winter, my LCD hygrometer would often be in the 69% to 70% range. My mechanical hygrometer would get up to the 72%-73% range without the dehumidifier (the mechanical gauge always had a higher reading than the LCDs).
Besides seeing mildew and mold growing on your walls, you can tell that a room might be too damp for long term paper collectible storage if the inside of the windows in the room are frequently wet with water. My windows never have moisture collecting on them since I've gotten the dehumidifier. Throughout the year my room is in the 52-88 degrees F range.
I'm not concerned with cel damage as much as I am concerned about sketch and background damage. Maybe someone could do a test on cel temperature damage.
Even the top of the carpet underneath my bed felt like something sticky was growing or settling on it. Needless to say the papers in my room underneath my bed and inside my closet on the floor became damaged by moisture. Some of the damage didn't show up for ten years or more. The long term exposure to damp humidity caused some of my papers to age prematurely and turn tan or brown. The worst of my papers became brittle and fell apart in my hands like dried leaves.
My solution to the problem was getting a dehumidifier. That solved the humidty problem and I haven't had any since then with any of my papers. I had always kept my most valuable paper collectibles higher up off the floor and away from the furthest corner of my room because those were the areas that had the most stable temperature and humidity. It depends on where the center of your residence is and what side the sun shines.
Frankly I'm not that concerned with temperatures in the ranges you stated. If it was me I'd be much more concerned with the humidity because I've seen what it did to my papers scattered throughout my room. Sometimes back in the early 1990s I got lazy and didn't use the dehumidifier as much as I should have. Later I realized that I was still causing some paper damage because I was letting the humidity rise too high in my room. The damage was cumulative.
I used to use my mechanical humidity gauge for readings, but I prefer a LCD gauge now. The LCD hygrometer won't last as long as the mechanical ones, but it adjusts a lot quicker to humidity changes in the room. LCD hygrometer readings are a little different between each other, but for the one I have I turn on the dehumidifier when the reading says 64% or higher. With my gauge, 67% is an uncomfortable level of humidity for me. If I never used my dehumidifier in the Winter, my LCD hygrometer would often be in the 69% to 70% range. My mechanical hygrometer would get up to the 72%-73% range without the dehumidifier (the mechanical gauge always had a higher reading than the LCDs).
Besides seeing mildew and mold growing on your walls, you can tell that a room might be too damp for long term paper collectible storage if the inside of the windows in the room are frequently wet with water. My windows never have moisture collecting on them since I've gotten the dehumidifier. Throughout the year my room is in the 52-88 degrees F range.
I'm not concerned with cel damage as much as I am concerned about sketch and background damage. Maybe someone could do a test on cel temperature damage.
@graymouser Oh man, I would really hope the mold wouldn't spread. x_x As far as I can tell, so far I haven't seen any mold spread to any of my merchandise or books, but I have no doubt that my house has some degree of mold growth.
@Keropi: Oh no, that's so terrible what happened to you! I'm glad though that you solved the problem and no more damage was done.
Yes, my window is frequently wet with moisture. I'm hoping getting a new window and sealing it would solve the problem, but if not, I would have no choice but to get a dehumidifier in here. Do they make smaller models now? We have some in the house, but they're the size of small refrigerators and are very loud and warm up my room about ten degrees, which is rather uncomfortable, so I don't keep it in my room. If they made smaller models though, I'd certainly put it in here, I wouldn't even mind having to dump the water a lot more if it was just smaller.
Back on the subject of mold, I would not be surprised if there's mold in the ceiling or behind the walls of my room. There's a leak in the roof somewhere above my room, and I can hear the dripping, and see fresh water stains on the ceiling. However, thankfully, it's not so bad that it soaks through and drips, but it's still a concern most likely.
It would even be best if I moved out of here sooner rather than later, because mold might have had a severe effect on my health in one way or another. I became debilitatingly sick during my first year of high school, while the school was having a severe mold problem that actually made one of my teachers sick. (I also knew someone who lived in a house infested with toxic mold, and he and his wife could've died if they never knew about it.) But it's debatable whether it has anything to do with my health, or was just a trigger, because I'm still sick with the mystery illness, with no improvement with change of environment.
Mold - Sucks when it goes near anything. XD
@Keropi: Oh no, that's so terrible what happened to you! I'm glad though that you solved the problem and no more damage was done.
Yes, my window is frequently wet with moisture. I'm hoping getting a new window and sealing it would solve the problem, but if not, I would have no choice but to get a dehumidifier in here. Do they make smaller models now? We have some in the house, but they're the size of small refrigerators and are very loud and warm up my room about ten degrees, which is rather uncomfortable, so I don't keep it in my room. If they made smaller models though, I'd certainly put it in here, I wouldn't even mind having to dump the water a lot more if it was just smaller.
Back on the subject of mold, I would not be surprised if there's mold in the ceiling or behind the walls of my room. There's a leak in the roof somewhere above my room, and I can hear the dripping, and see fresh water stains on the ceiling. However, thankfully, it's not so bad that it soaks through and drips, but it's still a concern most likely.
It would even be best if I moved out of here sooner rather than later, because mold might have had a severe effect on my health in one way or another. I became debilitatingly sick during my first year of high school, while the school was having a severe mold problem that actually made one of my teachers sick. (I also knew someone who lived in a house infested with toxic mold, and he and his wife could've died if they never knew about it.) But it's debatable whether it has anything to do with my health, or was just a trigger, because I'm still sick with the mystery illness, with no improvement with change of environment.
Mold - Sucks when it goes near anything. XD
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Keropi
- Bishoujo art collector
- Posts: 5602
- Joined: Fri Jul 04, 2003 2:10 am
- Location: Southern California
The dehumidifier in my room is 20 inches tall, 12 1/2 inches wide and 13 1/4 inches deep so it's not that big relative to how much it helps. I'm surprised it's still going after about ?thirteen years. The first dehumidifier I had only lasted 5-6 years and the ones my dad used haven't lasted very long either. The last one that died after less than three years.
My dad has to have two dehumidifiers in his room since he has a bathroom attached to his room. The steam from the shower caused mildew to grow on the north wall. The mildew was on the ceiling too. The mildew in my room was starting to grow on my ceiling, but it was minor compared to his.
I don't have my dehumidifier on when I'm sleeping because it would be too noisy. I turn it on after I wake up. When I go to sleep during the colder times of year the LCD hygrometer might show 58%-63% then when I wake up it might show 65%-67%. That's when I turn on the dehumidifier. The past couple of weeks I've woken up and it's said 62%-63% so I didn't turn it on.
When the weather becomes warmer the relative humidity in my room drops so I don't have to use it much. But we have Mediterranean climate here so dampness isn't that much a problem. I've always wondered what WARM-weather relative humidity will do to non-metallic collectibles though.
My dad has to have two dehumidifiers in his room since he has a bathroom attached to his room. The steam from the shower caused mildew to grow on the north wall. The mildew was on the ceiling too. The mildew in my room was starting to grow on my ceiling, but it was minor compared to his.
I don't have my dehumidifier on when I'm sleeping because it would be too noisy. I turn it on after I wake up. When I go to sleep during the colder times of year the LCD hygrometer might show 58%-63% then when I wake up it might show 65%-67%. That's when I turn on the dehumidifier. The past couple of weeks I've woken up and it's said 62%-63% so I didn't turn it on.
When the weather becomes warmer the relative humidity in my room drops so I don't have to use it much. But we have Mediterranean climate here so dampness isn't that much a problem. I've always wondered what WARM-weather relative humidity will do to non-metallic collectibles though.