Hey everyone,
I’m trying to figure out the right way to store my cards, and I’m curious how others in similar climates handle it.
I’m in the EU, and humidity here swings quite a bit:
Winter: around 30–45% RH
Summer: often up to 70–80% RH
For raw cards, I currently keep them in a box with a rubber-sealed lid, plus a few silica gel packets inside (about three VaultX folders stacked horizontally).
Humidity: I’ve read that going too dry (below ~30% RH) isn’t good, while staying above ~50–60% isn’t ideal either. Without a proper dry cabinet it’s hard to control this, and dry cabinets are expensive (and use electricity), so I’m unsure whether they’re actually needed or just overkill.
Storage orientation: Is it important to store binders vertically, or is horizontal stacking perfectly fine for only 3 binders with 624 cards each?
For graded cards, I know PSA slabs aren’t completely air-sealed, so in very humid conditions moisture can still get in over time. Do people store their slabs in sealed boxes with silica gel as well, or even use dry cabinets? Or is that unnecessary?
Would love to hear how others deal with similar humidity fluctuations.
I live in north wales half way up a mountain so my climate is often very high humidity I have a dehumidifier but even with that on still always above 60%! I just store my raw cards in a zip vault x binder in dragonsheild sleeves then in toploaders, I then throw in a few silica gel packs, seems to be good enough cards stay lovely and flat no warping or curving and ive had them this way for over a year now. I heard its best to store binder vertically but I just have it horizontal but then again my binder is not full of raw cards so likely get away with it
I don’t have many graded cards so I the ones I do have I basically do the same just put them in my other vault x binder with a few silica gel packs.
To be honest I think how you currently store them is totally fine! maybe storing graded cards in a air tight box with silica gel packs is a good idea and will likely be more than sufficient.
There’s endless ways to optimize environment control it is easy to go down the rabbit whole lol but my experience is that few silica gel packs and a sealed container or vault x binder is enough
I personally use non-sealed cardboard boxes with some silica gel inside, but honestly it’s just for the sake of it, I doubt they have any major effect on RH. It’s still better than a completely air-tight environment though.
Running a dehumidifier during the wet months is a good idea imho: you don’t need research lab humidity control, but avoiding these huge swings would be better. Try aiming for a 40-65% range.
Dry cabinets are probably the gold standard, although you have to factor in the cost, inconvenience and maybe the fact they immediately signal to thieves that what you have is valuable. So probably a bit overkill? They’re interesting though.
Relative humidity <65% is ideal. I would aim for 45%-60% for comfortable living. Of course, 65% RH at higher temperatures is much worse than 65% at lower temperatures, as the absolute amount of water that is held in the air is significantly higher.
Silica gel packs do almost nothing, unless you have a large amount of the ‘rechargeable’ kind where you bake out the absorbed water and a very small area that they are accounting for. I would consider them anxiolytics more than anything for TCG collectors.
I would recommend buying a large dehumidifier that covers multiple thousands of square feet, even if your residence is smaller. This will ensure a timely removal of water from the air, as the smaller dehumidifiers simply can’t process as much air over the same amount of time.
I live in Missouri which is a humid climate and I 3D print. Keeping my hygroscopic material usable is a chore (rechargeable silica, active dry boxes etc)
Outside of a dehumidifier in my house I don’t take any steps to mitigate moisture for my cards and I’ve never had an issue.
Silica is only useful if you are actively managing it (cycling it out once it absorbs all of the moisture it can hold). Once it becomes saturated it will inevitably release the moisture it absorbs back into the environment. If the environment is a sealed box the moisture has no way to escape so it can do more harm than good if you don’t keep an eye on it.
Not sure how my climate compares to yours but I wouldn’t sweat it too much.