Dust and the way it settles on the things we mean to keep.
Dust on your furniture is not just dirt, it is a mix of human skin cells, fibres from clothing and household textiles, pollen, outdoor dirt and dust brought in by feet and clothing, fungal spores and even tiny pieces of meteorites that have fallen to earth. Each surface in your home is collecting a record of events as they happen.
Dust doesn’t settle evenly. On horizontal surfaces it piles up whereas on vertical surfaces such as walls the amount of dust that settles is minimal. Also, the creases and folds of objects such as folded blankets collect more dust on the surface than the top. In objects that are stored for long periods of time the pattern of how the dust has settled can reveal how long an object has been in storage and whether it has been stored upright or on its side. Such observations by museum conservators are called how museum conservators manage particulate accumulation and enable them to date the storage conditions of artefacts and to identify areas where damage may have occurred as a result of the environment.
The chemistry of dust changes dramatically according to the location in which it is accumulating. Dust in storage which has been packed in a cardboard box will begin to react with the box after a few months as the cardboard starts to off-gas a number of weak acids. In a damp, humid environment, these acids will react with the dust to form a very weakly corrosive material which can transfer to come into contact with metal or paper surfaces. The fluctuation in temperature in a self storage unit can result in the fibres of the fabrics or wood in storage to swell and contract. This will cause the dust to penetrate deeper into the fabric or wood than may initially appear. A thin layer of dust on the surface of an item could potentially become embedded in the fabric or wood over a period of 1 to 2 years.
For wood, fabric and paper items the difference between a damp concrete storage facility and a climate-controlled storage unit can mean the difference between an item being stored and then retrieved in perfect condition, and it deteriorating to the point where it is no longer worth retrieving.
There is more on Self Storage Worcester at https://www.stocknlock.co.uk/locations/worcester.
The things we mean to keep deserve to be stored somewhere which is slowing down deterioration rather than hastening it.
