Storing and displaying in my basement

[Laphroag]

Hi.

After 20+ years in the dark ages I have come back to Lego. My first build is finished (Orthanc) but I have promised my wife that I will find a proper place to store the Lego before starting the next build. We have a rather big house, but with few possibilities. The kids have a playroom, but there is no chance in a certain hot place I will set up my 2400 piece, 73 cm tall black tower for my youngest one to destroy. I find it hard to explain to a 18 months old that he can't play with...well anything.

I do have one option: Our basement. But I don't know if the conditions down there are suitable. It's a cold basement usually used to store outdoor furniture, tools, bikes etc etc. There is no heat and concrete floor. There is only one window, but very little sunlight. As far as I know we don't have problems with moisture. Does this seem like a good place to store Lego? Any precautions I should make?

[Hobbythom]

As long as it is dry I don't see any problems.

[Alfadas]

Well, it sounds good to me. As far as I know, Lego can handle the cold pretty good. I would install some sort of closet you can put everything in. And a table you can build stuff on. And some sort of heating! I also have the Tower of Orthanc, I just put it in the attic. That is my Lego room. I have some (a lot) wood shelves I put everything on and an old table from Marktplaats.nl (dutch ebay). You can buy good stuff there for little money (so you can spend more on Lego!). Hope this helps?

[Saint]

If you only store it = good ! close up the boxes, wrap it up , make sure you don't have any direct sunlight on the storage, and you're good to go !

If you build = bad idea if you don't isolate , put up more lights , make it dust free and paint the basement, NEVER use a heat cannon or such , better to take some extreme mesures to secure the Plastic-Fantastic before even concidering that.

grtz Saint

[Milan]

I am building my first proper LEGO room in my part of the basement right now. I live in a building, not house, and I have similar problems like you. Next weekend materials and bricks (real ones) are coming.

Good floor was my priority, so was the isolation and heat.

As Saint said, iy you are going just to store sets and parts, it ok, but for spending some time there, building, thinking...and not moving, you will need some more work done, heating and floor first..

Hope you will make good LEGO space there!

[Laphroag]

Thank you for the responses. My plan is to just use it for storage and display, building will be done elsewhere with proper working conditions Maybe there will be a need for building a better room down there later.

[BTHodgeman]

The typical issue with basements is moisture, especially in the summer/humid months. That moisture can lead to a 'musty' smell. If you use a dehumidifer and keep stuff off the floor, you should be OK.

Here are the specs of the room I use for storage:

• Basement room with no direct heat. (Forced air heating is only upstairs in my house)
  
• 100% light free (window covered with room-darkening blinds and door shut), except when I am in it
  
• Dehumidifier running non-stop in the summer to remove as much moisture as possible
  
• Carpeted (This helps keep the moisture away from the Lego I store on shelves. I do not place anything on the carpet itself except for storage totes that are used to store Ziploc-sealed lots of polybags.
  

I do also keep a couple DampRid-style jugs around the room. I use these personally to non-scientifically judge the moisture level in the air. They essentially grab moisture from the air and pull it into a container. If they are collecting a lot of moisture, I adjust the settings on my dehumidifier.

[AmperZand]

Most things that develop a mouldy odour can have the smell removed through exposure to sunlight. However, this method should never be used on LEGO as sunlight yellows it.

If your LEGO develops a musty or damp smell:

1. Remove the smelly LEGO from any non-smelling parts
   
2. Dry out your storage space as advised by BTHodgeman above
   
3. Remove any visible mould from the smelly LEGO using your fingers and a soft cloth. Dispose of soft cloth afterwards.
   
4. Loosely wrap the LEGO in uncoated, crumpled paper. Newspaper will do.
   
5. Place a tumble dryer sheet next to the crumpled paper but not touching the LEGO.
   
6. Place all (the LEGO, crumpled paper and tumble dryer sheet) in an air-tight plastic bag and leave in a dark, dry place for 1-3 months.
   
7. Check LEGO for smell. If it's still there, repeat from step 3 with fresh paper and tumble dryer sheet.