Preserving hardcover books?

[ubuntu]

I am an avid reader and recently graduated to reading eBooks on kindle. I still love my collection of hardcover classics but the mold problem in my new apartment is getting difficult to handle. A friend suggested I use a dehumidifier but then I heard dehumidifiers make the room very dusty. So I was thinking of using a room air purifier since it can tackle both dust and mold and comes with few health benefits. At my workplace they use this particular Clair BF2025 http://go-clair.com/. I'm planning to get the same model for my home.

This should suffice I guess ? What else can I do to preserve hardcover books ?

[cromag]

An air purifier may (or may not) be effective at removing mold spores from the air, but it won't do anything to stop mold from spreading on surfaces. If you already have mold, get a dehumidifier.

[Dr. Drib]

I've never heard of a dehumidifier that makes the room dusty. That sounds like an urban legend.

Yes, a dehumidifier will remove moisture from the room. The filter needs to be taken out and cleaned, of course. (After all, you clean your house, car, apartment, clothes, dishes, your body, etc. - so why not clean the filter on occasion?)

Too, you need to have circulating air - fresh air that, on occasion, enters the room, swirls about the room like a dancer on tiptoes.

Dust the room and keep it clean.

Most paper in books is acidic and will begin to yellow with age. [After all, over time, you too will get old, wrinkled, and decrepit - just like most of us.] Storing them in closed boxes [or closed rooms without circulating, conditioned air] increases the breakdown of the paper, turning it yellow. They will eventually deteriorate over time. But you'll most likely be dead by then, so there's really nothing to worry about.

The best thing for a book collection is to control the humidity in both winter and summer.

AN AIR CONDITIONER IS YOUR FIRST MOST IMPORTANT INVESTMENT.

Buy book sleeves to protect your dust jacket [DJ]. A dust-jacket can add up to [approx.] 60% to the value of a COLLECTIBLE book. PROTECT THE DUST JACKET.

Do not store you books too tightly in a bookcase. They need the circulating air....

Check your book collection frequently, lovingly...

To find out the 'value' of books and the availability of titles, go here:

http://www.abebooks.com/

To find out more about preserving and book collecting in general, do a Google search. You will get THOUSANDS of results.

-----I'm a book collector, and I value my book collection. It defines me. It is a part of my life. They will always be with me until the day I die - perhaps tomorrow. Or in 14 years and 2 months.

ADDED: Your health is more important than your book collection. You need to get rid of that mold problem in your apartment before you tackle your book collection.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

The best thing for a book collection is to control the humidity in both winter and summer.

That's the key word: controlled humidity. That doesn't mean "take all the moisture out of the air". Too dry an atmosphere will make the glue in the binding dry and crack.

If you can afford it, the best thing for long-term storage is climate-controlled storage, where both temperature and humidity are kept at controlled levels.

[mrscoach]

If you have a mold problem in an apartment you should insist that it is tested and then treated. If it is toxic mold then you have way bigger problems than your books. Depending on where they are in relation to the mold you might lose them anyway. Your health is more important and might be at stake.
If the apartment owners refuse to test then you might contact the health department, or just find a company yourself to have the testing done. You need to know what kind of mold it is, and why it is there.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by mrscoach

If you have a mold problem in an apartment you should insist that it is tested and then treated. If it is toxic mold then you have way bigger problems than your books. Depending on where they are in relation to the mold you might lose them anyway. Your health is more important and might be at stake.

Pretty much any old book can be subject to "foxing" (which is a fungus attack). It doesn't necessarily indicates storage conditions which are injurious to human health.

[mrscoach]

I assumed he meant the apartment had mold because he specifically said the mold problem in his apartment was getting hard to handle. He never said it was the books that had the problem. I meant that if he had toxic mold anywhere near the books that they might include the books in the cleaning process because that stuff can be pretty aggressive and they are aggressive in the cleaning.
How old or new are the books we are talking about? Newer hard backs can be of low quality and easily destroyed.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by mrscoach

I assumed he meant the apartment had mold because he specifically said the mold problem in his apartment was getting hard to handle. He never said it was the books that had the problem. I meant that if he had toxic mold anywhere near the books that they might include the books in the cleaning process because that stuff can be pretty aggressive and they are aggressive in the cleaning.
How old or new are the books we are talking about? Newer hard backs can be of low quality and easily destroyed.

Sorry, I didn't read the original message carefully enough. You're right, of course: a mold problem in the apartment certainly needs to be tackled!

[ubuntu]

Originally Posted by cromag

An air purifier may (or may not) be effective at removing mold spores from the air, but it won't do anything to stop mold from spreading on surfaces. If you already have mold, get a dehumidifier.

I checked the specs of the Clair air purifier and it says it can remove mold spores. Few of my colleagues use the same one at home and they say the mold problem is controlled to a large extent after using the air purifier.

[ubuntu]

Originally Posted by mrscoach

I assumed he meant the apartment had mold because he specifically said the mold problem in his apartment was getting hard to handle. He never said it was the books that had the problem. I meant that if he had toxic mold anywhere near the books that they might include the books in the cleaning process because that stuff can be pretty aggressive and they are aggressive in the cleaning.
How old or new are the books we are talking about? Newer hard backs can be of low quality and easily destroyed.

Most of the books are like 10-15 years old . I also have few copies which were passed to me by my Grandparents. Its like a huge collection. I have a reading shelf just dedicated to my collection and my obsession to keeping them intact looks like borderline OCD to few of my friends

[David Munch]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

I've never heard of a dehumidifier that makes the room dusty. That sounds like an urban legend.

Low humidity means less water bound in dust particles, making them lighter, and thus more prone to become volatile. How big the effect is in a normal home is probably not very big though. And I would just recommend opening a few windows once in a while instead.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by ubuntu

I checked the specs of the Clair air purifier and it says it can remove mold spores. Few of my colleagues use the same one at home and they say the mold problem is controlled to a large extent after using the air purifier.

It would be good to remove the conditions that encourage mould growth as well. Perhaps using both a purifier and a dehumidifier would be best?

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by ubuntu

Most of the books are like 10-15 years old . I also have few copies which were passed to me by my Grandparents. Its like a huge collection. I have a reading shelf just dedicated to my collection and my obsession to keeping them intact looks like borderline OCD to few of my friends

Welcome to the club.

[cromag]

Originally Posted by David Munch

Low humidity means less water bound in dust particles, making them lighter, and thus more prone to become volatile. How big the effect is in a normal home is probably not very big though. And I would just recommend opening a few windows once in a while instead.

I had a mold problem in the basement of a house I owned in the 80s. A dehumidifier solved the problem (I lived there for 7 years without it returning). I never experienced a noticeable increase in dust.

[David Munch]

Originally Posted by cromag

I had a mold problem in the basement of a house I owned in the 80s. A dehumidifier solved the problem (I lived there for 7 years without it returning). I never experienced a noticeable increase in dust.

As I also mentioned, the effect is probably not that big in a home. But in a work environment where a lot of small particles are produced, it makes a big difference. That's also why you'll see humidifiers under the ceilings in many of those places, spraying out water vapor.