I just recently bought a house with a semi finished basement. There is a sizeable space underneath the steps that I was thinking of making into a storage space for my collection. Anybody have any experience building a custom room for their collection in their basement or have any guides they could suggest I could follow?
I know I need to build it in a way that best guards against moisture, just want to make sure I think of everything lol
No matter what your plan for the actual construction (which should be standard finishing, btw - moisture wall, plumbing/wiring, insulation, drywall)…ELEVATE your collection. Do not have it at ground level. Water leaks or infiltration from a storm can pool on the ground, and humidity will condense and pool as well.
Whatever room dimensions you settle on, stick the cards in waterproof plastic boxes on shelves. Buy some sturdy metal ikea shelves, and have the cards at least 3 feet above ground level. Also, you can buy moisture detectors that go in the sump drain, or can just hang out at groud level that will start screaming to alert you if anything goes south. Good luck with the build!
My main advice would also be to keep things off of the ground. Itd also help to know where pipes are in the walls in case there are issues. Another way to help is to use storage bins for most of the collection.
Are you talking storage or are you talking a place you can view your cards? Because if its a place you can view your cards I would think looking into a cigar humidor room, not for keeping it humid but for being able to control humidity and keeping things in a way that are presentable.
I was thinking of using the area underneath the steps as the place I’d finish and use for collectibles storage. It’s decently far from the sump pumps and has no water pipes overhead or near it. Built in shelves would be ideal, with the lowest shelve being a minimum of 2 feet off the ground.
I was going to look into storage bins that worked optimally with binder storage.
That’s an interesting thought, I’ll look into that. I also have a lot of graded/ungraded CIB video games and consoles that are highly susceptible to moisture. At the very least I was thinking of installing a humidity monitor on the wall to make sure I’m always in the 30%-40% range. (Research has noted that as the ideal humidity range)
I’m also going to make sure all walls have vapor barriers, proper insulation, and that all cement walls/flooring have the proper sealant on them before doing anything.