Safe Photo Storage is All About Location
Photo-safe archival storage containers for your printed photos and other memorabilia are important, but what is even more important is where you store them in your house. When it comes to safe photo storage, location is key!
Where You Store Your Photos Matters
I have seen photos stored in damp basements, musty crawlspaces, dank garage storage rooms, uninsulated storage units, and hot, humid attics. None of these locations is suitable for your photos.
Printed photographs are essentially paper with a lot of ink on them. And what happens to paper when it’s exposed to heat and humidity? It warps, it gets moldy, and it tears…all bad news.
Add the extra bonus of creepy crawlies and furry rodents who like to chew on things, and you have a real recipe for disaster.
Where Not to Store Your Photos
The boxes in this picture are from my very own family.
I asked my cousin to bring me some of my grandmother’s photos that were being stored in my great-aunt’s basement. I had no idea what was there, but I was excited to dig into the box.
This is what he brought me, a box with a water line and a trunk that smelled of mold and mildew before I even opened it.
Next, I had to go to a local hardware store to buy some PPE (gloves and a high-level dust mask).
Because I am allergic to dust, mold, and mildew, I wore PPE diligently. Also, I put the boxes on the screened-in back porch to allow for better airflow and to not spread mold spores to the house.
I quickly concluded that some things were such a health hazard that they had to be thrown away. It broke my heart.
Ideal Photo Storage Locations
In a perfect world, your print photos should be stored in archival boxes in a climate-controlled environment, like anywhere inside your home (except the attic, basement, and garage unless they are climate controlled). But even the highest quality archival boxes won’t save your photos if they are in a bad location.
Make room in an interior closet or under a bed for bins of loose photos or boxes of memorabilia.
Another consideration is to think about what is above your safe storage space. I had a client who was storing her family photos in an interior closet that seemed very safe. Except for the fact that the water heater was located directly above that closet. One day the water heater broke, and water poured down on the family’s photo collection. Luckily she caught it quickly, but it was still a sad day.
So this is your PSA to remind you that WHERE you stored your photos matters.
Your photos are your family’s precious memories. Don’t treat them like trash.
Have you ever had to “rescue” photos from a bad location situation?
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Thank you for the reminder about being intentional about where we store our photos. As evident from the stories you shared, it matters!
Thank you for the reminder! I really need to take care of all the photos at my Dad’s house. Ultimately, I would love them all to be converted to a digital format, but for now, I just need to make sure they are stored properly. Thank you!
Great reminder! Over the years, several of my client’s stored photos in unprotected areas, resulting in damaged photos that needed to be tossed. It was sad. Thanks for sharing the dos and donts. I will be sharing that with several of my clients.
You mean don’t leave them in a shed — for a couple of decades — that is not only outdoors, and not climate controlled, but is also used for gardening tools and other outdoor storage? LOL! (There’s a photo in my blog post — “Mom’s Boxes Part 1: The shed” — that will make you cringe.) I won’t say it didn’t hurt anything, but I will say we were really lucky. And even though they weren’t flooded or anything like that, and it was dry desert heat, I have to think that temperature extremes probably sped up the deterioration of the box contents unnecessarily. Ugh!
Sad to lose photos from an inside closet! Who would have thought? I think this is both a great reminder, and also a potentially difficult challenge. Climate-controlled storage is needed for so many items, and is often limited. Plus, that tends to be the accessible storage, which is often required for the items being used every day.
Maybe self-storage should offer smaller, climate-controlled spaces at much lower rates than the traditional large units? If you live in a NYC apartment, that might be the cheaper option!
These are such important reminders. The only built-in shelving in my home is in my walk-in closet, which has far more room than I need. For years, I stored my photo boxes on those shelves until I realized that the wall behind the closet was, as you note, where the water heater lives. I relocated the boxes to a less convenient but safer spot, and have been much more eagle-eyed when discussing photo storage with my own clients. Just recently, a client had lots of memorabilia displayed and stored in a finished basement, right under a ground-level basement window and some pipes, and I immediately spotted the problem thanks to greater photo-situational awareness. Thanks for the always-wise advice.
These are all great reminders. I’ll be helping my MIL with a massive photo project. She’s already gathered them all in one location and soon the sorting will begin. Wish us luck!
What is your opinion of photos stored in a finished basement with an operating dehumidifer not near any plumbing.
Also, what is your opinion of using Scotch 3M #415 double-sided tape for affixing photos onto acid-free paper album. (ISO 19816 meant for encapsulation)
You are probably ok with your photos in a finished basement if it’s climate controlled. The big worry is water from floors above or water beneath ground level.
As far as the tape is concerned, I’m not sure about the Scotch tape. I would suggest looking to an archival company like Archival Methods or Gaylord for their offerings. https://www.archivalmethods.com/category/corners-tape.
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