Protecting Valuables from Environmental Damage
Keeping Your Valuables Safe by Monitoring and Maintaining Proper Environmental Conditions.
Perhaps you’ve spent good money on musical instruments, firearms, an art collection, fine wines, baseball cards, and comic books, or maybe you’re into cigars. Maybe you keep important documents in your home, or enjoy photo albums and scrapbooking. And what about that classic car or motorcycle lovingly tucked away in your garage?
Whatever your passion, it makes sense to protect your investments. A big part of preserving valuables and collectibles is storing them in a safe environment and striving to maintain conditions that are stable. That means keeping close tabs on conditions like temperature and humidity that can have a negative impact on sensitive items. And if your valuables stay in a storage area like a basement, attic, or garage, it also helps to strategically install leak detectors. That can help provide warning in time to move things to safety in the event of flooding or water leaks.
Car and Motorcycle Storage and Winterization
Problem
Proper car and motorcycle storage, including winterization, is difficult when conditions aren't right. High humidity can pose a threat to things like electrical components and interior appointments, as well as give your classic a musty odor after long periods of storage.
Solution
Fortunately, your standard-issue concrete garage floor does a good job of wicking away moisture. Some collectors also control moisture by spreading kitty litter on the floor, and by placing desiccates inside vulnerable places such as the trunk. For extra security, it's a good idea to monitor and maintain a reasonable garage humidity. Relative humidity between 30% and 60% is generally recommended. Humidifiers, air conditioning or dehumidifiers can help increase or decrease humidity. Regarding temperature, many say, classic cars and bikes can withstand a pretty wide temperature range, provided proper steps are taken to protect the engine internals. This can include adding fuel stabilizer, removing the battery, or running a trickle charger. For successful Proper car and motorcycle storage and winterization, many also recommend placing the vehicle on jacks to prevent flat spots in the tires from long-term storage.
AcuRite Solutions & Tips
- Monitor Garage Conditions: Place an AcuRite Monitor in the area where you store your classic vehicle, to measure ambient conditions and ensure safe temperature and humidity.
- Use a Temperature and Humidity Sensor inside the passenger compartment or trunk to help watch for, in particular, high humidity
- Monitor for Leaks: Position a Leak Detector in a place where liquid leaks or flooding may occur to get alerted to hazardous conditions quickly.
- Use a Home Environment Display for convenient viewing of conditions measured by Monitors and Sensors in multiple rooms around your home.
- Set alarms to alert you of undesirable conditions. These can include:
- Undesirably low or high temperatures
- Undesirably high or low humidity
- Presence of water leaks or flooding
- Set alarms to alert you of undesirable conditions. These can include:
There are many great resources on keeping valuables safe. Here are a few options we recommend:
- Wine Spectator offers wine storage basics, including wine storage temperature
- Cigar World provides some basics on caring for cigars, such as using a humidor hygrometer in a cigar humidor
- Hagerty Classic Vehicle Insurance offers these steps for proper car and motorcycle storage, including winterization and long-term storage
- Bikebandit.com has 10 steps for winterizing and long-term storing a motorcycle
- Premiere Guitar offers these tips on guitar storage and using a guitar humidifier
