I've not done this before, so am concerned. Midwest, unheated but dry storage area. A few pieces of good, wood furniture. Am wondering about potential for damage just from continued cold and assuming it remains fairly dry. The storage area is secure, so no leaky roof or puddles.
Humidity is an important factor. Dry N.American air has caused cracks in a lot of European furniture (usually in large thin, flat panels.)
It'll beat up on the furniture. It dries out the wood something fierce and the joints loosen up. A season in the cold won't kill it, but I wouldn't want to have good furniture in an un-conditioned storage space for long in a climate that had big swings of temperature and humidity.
R
I thought the same thing, and filled a big unit until our house was completed. It rained a couple of times, and it was SO well sealed that the condensation wreaked havoc inside. No leaking, just changes in humidity.
I'd wrap items very loosely to protect from dust, and put lots of coffee cans of desiccant around. Maybe a heater on a timer, if the owner would allow it, or even if there is an outlet in a storage compartment.
Steve
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Would oiling the wood heavily help? Then wrapping it to keep the oil in?
I don't know what oiling would accomplish. I think that as long as humidity is low and there aren't drastic changes in temp, it should be fine.
Don Phillipson wrote: ...
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Well, sorta', but...
Generally, where the problem arises is in taking a piece and introducing it into a heated, tightly sealed house w/o additional moisture compensation. In winter in forced air heating, inside RH can drop to the single digits pretty easily.
In an unheated space, there's not the heating of cold air causing such drastic drops in RH and so moisture will stay more nearly in equilibrium. As another noted, it's perhaps more likely to be a condensation or similar problem if it's too high.
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We've owned and operated a self storage business for the last 9 years or so. Never have had any client complaints about household furnishings getting damaged. There sometimes is condensation of moisture on metal things, (filing cabinets, autos, and similar) that can cause rusting. Well packed and covered things appear to be OK. For best protection using a storage service with 'climate control' is somewhat better. Mice can be a problem, too. We have a lot of long term business storage that seems to be perfectly OK, probably boxes of records and other office equipment.
Joe
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