Please help! Mold!

[Berserker | 32]

I recently discovered mold where some of my games were stored away. Surprisingly, it is rather dry in the room. It always has the ceiling fan on and there was a moisture absorbing chemical in the corner. I can only imagine it started creeping up from the floor somehow. Sadly, I'm only now moving them into proper plastic tubs, but now I fear I'm potentially sealing mold in with these tubs? Should I throw some silica packets into my tubs? What do I do? Box-wise, I'm fairly confident that the ones I had in protectors are safe but I'm worried about my larger, console boxes. Will the mold appear on the outside first/primarily or should I be checking the insides more? What's the best way to remove mold from boxes, games, and accessories without damaging them? Thanks in advance for your help!

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

I think a basic inspection of everything by hand should suffice in you being able to tell if there's mold on something or not.  While it's certainly possible that mold could end up on the inside of a cartridge shell, it would first deposit in an easier to get to spot--on the outer surface (and/or label[s]), or the opening at the bottom where the cart's edge connector is.  If you don't see anything there, you're probably good to go.  While it's possible that you'd be sealing up SOME mold spores with everything when moving it into (presumably sealed) plastic tubs, so long as there isn't any moisture available within, your stuff is most likely going to be fine.

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

Did you have cardboard sitting directly on concrete?

[DefaultGen | 5,426]

Is this in a basement or garage? If it's dry, what's with the moisture absorbing chemical? Silica gel packets and DampRid aren't going to be a fix to a humidity issue. That needs to be addressed by air conditioning or at least dehumidifying. Plastic totes and box protectors aren't keeping the moisture in the air out either. You can get a cheap hygrometers to check humidity levels, you want below 50%. I don't know how to address existing mold issues though.

[Code Monkey | 2,011]

A fan isn't going to do anything for mould, you need air circulation, not just movement.

You need to figure out the source of the mould and understand which components of your collection are porous. Is it on concrete? Concrete is porous and can actually suck up water like a sponge so if there's ground water, it can seep. Is your collection in polyurethane bins or polyethylene? Certain plastics are porous and will allow for air movement and some will seal the air inside, you can check the material by looking at the number moulded onto the bottom of the bin.

Proper storage and ventilation will fix it all up.

[Berserker | 32]

Thanks everyone. I believe the chemical is DampRid. It's not on concrete, but there's concrete underneath the wood flooring and no sub-floor between them. I never realized there was a difference in plastic containers. Looks like I've got a fair bit of work ahead of me.

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

Sounds like you need a vapor barrier under that floor. 

[Code Monkey | 2,011]

One more thing I want to mention, your main killer is probably temperature fluctuations. If the temperature varies wildly throughout the year, it's going to cause condensation and the moisture will create an environment for mould. You need to keep a collection like this in a relatively controlled environment for both temperature and humidity. This is crossover knowledge from proper storage of pool cues in my life but it applies to games as well.

[Berserker | 32]

All of this is making me wonder if I'm better off just renting a climate-controlled storage unit...

[Code Monkey | 2,011]

44 minutes ago, Berserker said:

All of this is making me wonder if I'm better off just renting a climate-controlled storage unit...

I've actually seen music instrument collectors purchase items from the coast and when they try to sell them years later, the wood is all warped and there are gaps in the panels. The restoration shop basically told them to just bring the instrument back to the coast for a few months and it'll straighten out again. Some climates just aren't right for storing collectibles.

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

I would never use plastic tubs or any form of airtight container to store shit.  Ever open an airtight container that's been sitting for years?  Fucking stinks.

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

12 hours ago, the_wizard_666 said:

I would never use plastic tubs or any form of airtight container to store shit.  Ever open an airtight container that's been sitting for years?  Fucking stinks.

I think it all depends on where you're keeping stuff and how tight the seal on it is.  My NES collection primarily resides in some large, Rubbermaid style containers and has done so for ~15 years now without any sort of issue, including weird or stinky smells.  If you leave them in a hot/humid area, in direct sunlight, etc., then yeah, you might have more issues than keeping them somewhere out of direct light and in proper climate control (per the manufacturer's intention).  If you're getting random manufacturer/store brands of tubs, that could also lead to more issues, as the materials used, etc., won't necessarily be up to snuff compared to the name brand stuff, but I've rarely heard of folks picking up anything other than the "normal" group of manufacturers for such things (Rubbermaid, Sterilite, etc.).

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

1 minute ago, darkchylde28 said:

I think it all depends on where you're keeping stuff and how tight the seal on it is.  My NES collection primarily resides in some large, Rubbermaid style containers and has done so for ~15 years now without any sort of issue, including weird or stinky smells.  If you leave them in a hot/humid area, in direct sunlight, etc., then yeah, you might have more issues than keeping them somewhere out of direct light and in proper climate control (per the manufacturer's intention).  If you're getting random manufacturer/store brands of tubs, that could also lead to more issues, as the materials used, etc., won't necessarily be up to snuff compared to the name brand stuff, but I've rarely heard of folks picking up anything other than the "normal" group of manufacturers for such things (Rubbermaid, Sterilite, etc.).

To be fair, those tubs are also not air-tight.  The gnarliest shit I got was the time a buddy gave me a bunch of his old VHS tapes and some random shit...among the random shit was a bunch of floppy disks containing Windows '95...which had been stored for 20+ years in a Tupperware container...even though it hadn't seen direct sunlight in years and resided in Alberta (one of the driest areas in Canada), you could literally smell mold.  But then, like you said, the quality of the plastic isn't exactly top tier there either.  But regardless, airtight (or close to it) isn't good for long term storage.

Of course, I think a big reason I wouldn't store shit like that long term is simply because I wouldn't store shit long term.  I like to have my collectibles accessible, so I try to find a spot to display everything.

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

16 minutes ago, the_wizard_666 said:

To be fair, those tubs are also not air-tight.  The gnarliest shit I got was the time a buddy gave me a bunch of his old VHS tapes and some random shit...among the random shit was a bunch of floppy disks containing Windows '95...which had been stored for 20+ years in a Tupperware container...even though it hadn't seen direct sunlight in years and resided in Alberta (one of the driest areas in Canada), you could literally smell mold.  But then, like you said, the quality of the plastic isn't exactly top tier there either.  But regardless, airtight (or close to it) isn't good for long term storage.

I'll concede that a certain level of mustiness isn't out of the ordinary for such tubs or their contents after being removed from someplace like a garage, attic, or unfinished basement, albeit temporarily.  Those stored inside of rooms that were at least insulated and kept out of direct light, if not stored inside of a closet inside such a room, have tended to offer basically no smell or other surprises beyond what was in the room itself.  Most of my experience with such storage, though, has come from name brand, arguably "high quality" tubs, so again, depending on the manufacturer YMMV even in the best/most stable of storage conditions.  I *have* run into mold smell a couple of times regarding such things, but only really on the outside, as after stuff was removed and removed from the area where the moldiness occurred, the stuff lost that scent within a few minutes, without being cleaned/sanitized/etc.  Stuff stored in cardboard boxes, though, is basically begging for something to happen to it if it's put in an attic/garage/unfinished basement, as it can look fine for years but then reveal that it and most of the stuff inside have slowly merged over that time due to moisture, mold, etc.

22 minutes ago, the_wizard_666 said:

Of course, I think a big reason I wouldn't store shit like that long term is simply because I wouldn't store shit long term.  I like to have my collectibles accessible, so I try to find a spot to display everything.

Understandable, and I'd love to as well, but have just never had the room to do so, at least on any sort of scale that would allow everything to come out into the light at once.  It'd be nice, but I'm happy just having the stuff and being able to get it out and enjoy it when I need/want to.  Being a collector but never having had much space (even as a kid) has enabled me to achieve Tetris champion levels in packing and organization, lol.

[goonhoon | 34]

Apologies for hijacking the thread, but what is the general humidity to aim for with sealed games (especially N64)? Thanks!

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

Just now, goonhoon said:

Apologies for hijacking the thread, but what is the general humidity to aim for with sealed games (especially N64)? Thanks!

As low as possible. 

[goonhoon | 34]

Just now, MrWunderful said:

As low as possible. 

I see, thanks! I live in the UK in a brand new apartment building with a proper ventilation but have no idea what the humidity is. All I know is that outside humidity is often 70-90%. Guess I have to wait for some of the desiccant packs and moisture meter and see what can be done.

Besides mold, what happens to the games when humidity is high? Do they start to warp? Do WATA/VGA cases protect the games any better from mold and other humidity-related issues better than if they were stored raw?

[Tyree_Cooper | 769]

too low humidity is also not good. besides, it's really just a matter of time before it all starts to turn bad no matter how careful you are, we're all fighting a lost battle against decomposition.

i am also extremely skeptical about long-term viability of those grading cases the world is now filled up with. if they are really 100% sealed, it means NO air can move in and out, which means the humidity that's already in the paper/booklets has no way to circulate and is forever stuck inside, and i'm no expert but this means shooting yourself in the face. i remember a video of a museum guy who had received boxes full of sealed PC games from a collector, and the first thing he did in his process of archival and preservation was to remove the plastic wraps to stop them from touching the paper/cardboard and to allow proper ventilation. and factory seals have ventilation holes and aren't 100% sealed, so it's nowhere near as bad as grading cases.

i haven't read through the whole thread but if you live in a place where humidity easily goes above 70%, you should get a dehumidifier and a good hygrometer to check that it's doing its job properly (don't rely on humidity shown on the dehumidifier). get the right type depending on where you live, high temperatures = compressor, low temperatures = desiccant.

https://www.andatechdistribution.com.au/blogs/resources/desiccant-or-compressor-dehumidifier

i'm soon going to buy a new one and i've heard CARRIER makes good room dehumidifiers at lower prices than the big brands.