Cross Country Move

Scuba Steve

So Im moving from AZ to St Louis in August and having anxiety about my records.  Can someone chime in and help calm me down, or point out any pitfalls Im not seeing?  

I have to store my stuff for 2 months, its about $3k cheaper to store in in AZ for 2 months and then move to St Louis than to move it now and store it in St Louis.  Both storages are 'climate controlled' not to exceed 90 degrees.  It makes sense to me the St Louis storage unit will be cooler than the AZ unit. But will it matter? 

Anyone have experience?  Ive only gone across town with my records before. 

Thanks doods

Frank

Always a good idea to avoid humidity.

ketan

Road trip!

Maybe you can throw a giant silica packet into the container?  And must be a good idea to store them off the ground jic?

dizzybull

Frank said:

Always a good idea to avoid humidity.

Frank would know. He buys records where it gets Africa hot. 

Arizona gets hot as hell but it’s a dry heat. I sometimes wonder how records exist there I’m the first place. St. Louis not as hot but more humidity. I’d say Arizona since it is easier to control for heat than humidity and if they at least keep the storage the same temp as your house you’ll be in good shape. And you can check out all the places beforehand since you live there already. Plus it’s cheaper!

I went to st Luis a few years ago. The arch really is amazing. And St. Louis  Is the only place where you can drink a local beer and Budweiser AT THE SAME TIME. And you can see Chuck berrys house. 

klezmer electro-thug beats

Dittoing humidity. Assuming the storage unit people don't fuck up and lose air conditioning you should be OK in AZ, I think.

Curious about silica packets actually. Would they help while your stuff's in storage/on the move? I asked for a bunch from a shoe store last time I moved as I was hauling a few reels of super 16mm film and figured it'd help - though I don't really know how to store film properly I just tossed them in and hoped for the best.

Don't know if they did anything or helped, but if they do, it could be useful when I next move as I actually have some records with me this time, instead of just leaving them in my mom's garage as I've done previously. And I've still got the film. And some long-term data storage tapes of the film, LTO4.

Basically I have no idea how to store any media long term. I just assume my apartment is OK cause I keep it relatively human temps. Anyone have tips?

dizzybull

In my house we put a few grains of rice in the salt shaker because supposedly it absorbs moisture and keeps the salt from clumping. This might be a Korean thing. But who knows, throwing some rice in there with your film might work. 

billbradley

Packing the records tightly in the box helps insulate them some and also helps prevent them from getting storage warp because they won't have room to flex in either direction.

Scuba Steve

Thanks everyone for the advice, it it helpful in calming my nerves. 

Scuba Steve

Figure I owe you an update... put my 20 boxes of 12" and 12 boxes of 45s into storage in Phoenix AZ August 2021- then delivered St Louis MO in November 2021.  

Uhaul and home depot changed their box sizes since I last moved, the Uhaul small boxes worked great for my 12"s. Also packed my 45 boxes in them wrapped them with bubble wrap.  

No damage to any of the records, I was worried about an AZ summer in 90 degree swamp cooled storage and over-stacking the most, but neither issue impacted my records. 

Thanks to anyone who responded... also... anyone in St Louis??  I don't know anybody here.  Been trying to hang out at Planet Score and the Record Exchange often.  Didn't really love Vintage Vinyl or Euclid.  Where else should I be going to make record friends?