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My old rental house has a storge space that is entirely enclosed in wood, but seems to have very little humidity. There is no ventalation that i can see, but my cardboard boxes are fine, and my photos have not stuck together after being stored there. I have no clue why this is the case! Anyhow, my new house has a "concrete vault" storage space, under some stairs made out of block. It is thick concrete on 3 sides and I need to replace the door. I was thinking of buying a "metal security grill door" (they have the at HD). IT's one of those doors with all the little holes similar to screening. Would this be a good thing to put there? How do those holes keep out insects? Do I need to somehow screen it also? Does anyone build these steel doors for relatively cheap that has a "finer mesh, screening type, composition"? Mahalo!
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try a bucket of rock salt in the vault - rock salt works like dri z air (I wont make they claim its the same stuff - but Ive bought a lot of rock salt....) change it out every couple of weeks
leaving an old school light bulb 25 watt light bulb going 24/7 will keep things dry as well - I keep one in the car with a leather interior parked in the shop to keep the leather from going bad.
It helps control and dry out musty areas - living on a boat was good practice for Puna - grin
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Incandescent light bulbs make a great heating source ... but a 25W bulb running 7x24 will add between $5-15/mo to your HELCO bill (depending on the exact rate).
Put a computer down there instead -- a small enough system (Intel NUC) burns about the same power, and provides more useful output. Use a KVM-over-Cat5 extender to bring the monitor/keyboard upstairs.
Julie,
How high up are you in town ? Over / under Komohana for example ... Upper Kaumana I heard you mention as well.
Down in town you should not have to do anything special beyond simple boxes. The big plastic bins even o.k..
This is assuming these are stored inside the house ... I would not store any photos or keep sakes in 'outdoor' kine storage.
aloha,
pog
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thanks for the good suggestions, so far. I am currently at about 800 ft I think? off of Kuamana, but my new house is possibly at 1,000? up in the old camp by the waterfalls up Waianuenue. It is so much cooler up here! I drive down the hill to go shopping and I practically melt. Even ORchidland is much hotter. Anyhow, I just want to leave the room and forget it. I'm just thinking that thick concrete probably condenses somehow and may not be the best for storing cardboard boxes and photos. I thought the "ventilated door" might solve the problem. I am too cheap to leave a lightbulb on, and I wouldnt know what to do with old buckets of salt. IT's a fairly small space. Actually, quite "vaultish".
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salt lives in a metal container - and on a boat - goes in the oven when its cooling after baking, the heat driving the moisture - waste not - haul not - grin
More than likely the condensation - fun to see it on the outside of the windows, at this latitude, in the mornings
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The security screen type doors from the depot rust out really quick. I have to replace 2 on my house
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Thanks Seeb. Who did you get to install them? HD wants 230 per door. The doors aren't that expensive. It's the installation that is killer. How many years would you say they lasted? How do they do with preventing bugs/misquitos?
