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Glad I moved the comics outta the basement
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23 posts in this topic

yeah, despite having bought some valuable comics back in he day, I never gave it a second thought when I put them down there.  Though it did have heat and at least I placed them on some wood to get them off the floor.    I wish my kids collected them so I could pass on this wisdom I finally have!

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18 minutes ago, lizards2 said:

I moved my wife and kids to the shed years ago, to make safe room for more comics!  :banana: 

Now, I just have to figure out how to get greggy out of the guest bathroom...., hm

You'd better be careful, if your wife gets too wet in the shed she could get wrinkles...

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Quote

. I would NEVER store my comics in a basement, attic, shed or garage. Just too much that can go wrong in so many ways.

the worst thing that happened down there was a scene out of that 'Dirty Jobs' show.  About 10 years ago we noticed a smell coming out of the kitchen sink.   Poured bleach/lemon etc solutions down there to try & deodorize it.  Did several dishwasher loads with a cleaner solution.  I swapped out the dishwasher hose in case it was moldy.  Nothing helped.

Then we noticed a small drip down the basement wall underneath it.   The basement joists extend about 4 feet beyond the basement wall, covered by an addition we had built.    The joists aren't thick enough to properly support the weight of the back house wall extending that far out.  So they slightly bend backwards (later supported to address that)

The kitchen waste pipe drops down into the space between the joists, turns 90 degress to come out into the basement and eventually ties into the sewer line.

Well that copper pipe had a defect (obviously not 9.8 copper!) so water leaked out every time the water was on.  Over a couple month period it turned the pink fiberglass insulation which filled that space into sludge and eventually leaked out when it filled enough to overcome the backwards pitch.

When I climbed up the shelves to poke my head in there I almost passed out from the smell.  I had to scrape all that sludge out of there (filled a few kitchen trash bags) , sprayed a bleach solution all over the wood. Next day we had to knock out cinder blocks so we could access the space better.  Then I had to put my 6' 4" frame into the crawl space (with just 2' clearance) to cut away the plywood under the joists.   Ugh.  took all day to fix.

Thankfully the comic boxes weren't on those shelves getting sludge dripped on them

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50 minutes ago, lizards2 said:

Now, I just have to figure out how to get greggy out of the guest bathroom...., hm

Just wake him up. Some sweet DC 100 pagers should make for some good smelling salt as long as they're high grade. 

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57 minutes ago, PunisherPunisherPunisher said:

I never put my comic boxes on the floor in the garage, always up high just in case of a flood, fires on the other hand is another issue

Rumor that the word S.H.I.T comes from ships that stamped Store High In Transit on certain boxes. Cannot confirm..

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12 hours ago, csaag said:

3 months ago when I had to stay home for 2 weeks while my wife recovered from a surgery.

I actually moved about 1/3 rd of them upstairs, the ones I really cared about while I was educating myself on the whole grading process.

It was just more comfortable to go thru them in the family room vs the basement.

Had a triple hit tonight.   The drain strainer in the laundry tub clogged; the hose itself broke lose any was dumping water onto the floor, and the cold water faucet was left open (the way the pipes are, nothing comes out when the washer is filling)    She estimates it was running ~ half an hour.

The thin indoor/outdoor carpet which covers the entire floor was, and has ton of junk on it, was ~90% soaked as were alot of boxes.

Amazingly the 10% area which was relatively dry was right where the remaining comics were.

The only plus out of this is I get to throw out all of her water damaged junk while the comics can stay.

Whew! Close one

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15 hours ago, csaag said:

yeah, despite having bought some valuable comics back in he day, I never gave it a second thought when I put them down there.  Though it did have heat and at least I placed them on some wood to get them off the floor.    I wish my kids collected them so I could pass on this wisdom I finally have!

Buy some sturdy metal shelving and put them on there.

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It's imperative to shut off the water taps to the washer when not in use.  

I worked with someone who left her taps to the washer open and one day she came home from work to find that the cold water hose had split during the day and well..."water water everywhere but not a drop drink."  It was not a pretty sight.

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16 minutes ago, pemart1966 said:

Buy some sturdy metal shelving and put them on there.

I have lost my carpet in both basement rooms due to flooding when the sump pump died during a rain storm and luckily had the comics on shelving units so they were safe. You can get good ones at Walmart or whatever for around $40-$50. I now have 4 shelving units loaded with comics, you can fit 4 short boxes on each row or 2 longboxes.

Edited by Bird
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16 hours ago, csaag said:

yeah, despite having bought some valuable comics back in he day, I never gave it a second thought when I put them down there.  Though it did have heat and at least I placed them on some wood to get them off the floor.    I wish my kids collected them so I could pass on this wisdom I finally have!

If the books are cool enough, you could adopt me.

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Amazon has very sturdy rolling shelf racks that fit 20 short boxes for under $60. Having the unit roll is well worth the few extra dollars. I have four portable units containing 80 short boxes in a space that would only hold 40 in regular racks.  You do need a bit of strength to push/ pull a fully loaded unit, and I recommend unloading the rack halfway if moving from room to room.

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As a volunteer firefighter I'll add this tidbit, make sure to clean the lint out of your dryer. I've been to a number of dryer fires over the years. Smoke damage to your basement stored books and possible water damage if the fire spread and we have to hit it with the hose instead of an extinguisher.

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I'm glad your comics are okay.  I agree with the rolling steel shelves.  I would also add that you put something else, (heavy), on the bottom shelf.  The comics should be above any potential flood level.

Most of the steel shelves from Home Depot, Lowe's, Target, Wal-Mart have a removable screw on the bottom. This allows you to buy standard wheels with 3/4 screws and add them to the bottom of your shelves.  No tools necessary.  

Edited by NelsonAI
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