DO you take care of the boxes?

Nowadays after taking out the item if it fits those transparent plastic bags i'd wrap them up with one, then i'd chuck them in a tupperware/box.

Recently i found out those that i didn't wrap them up are prone to mold growing all over them, and inside them. And i couldn't tell the difference between mold & foxing on those white cardboards coz some couldn't be wiped off. Not a big deal since they are just box, the items themselves are easier to take care but not the box when you chuck them away for 10 years.

I know many of you folks just chuck them in a big box & store them in the attics, do you put moth ***** & silica gells in them? Since attics/basements can also become humid.

I keep them boxes so i can put the parts in them & not get mixed up, and most of the boxes are good looking, well not that good looking after the mold invasion.

I just have mine in my closet for now but they're safe enough there. Shippers I always throw away though.

Do you check on them, coz closets tend to gather heat & humid.

Mike86 said:

I just have mine in my closet for now but they're safe enough there. Shippers I always throw away though.

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Yeah I've checked them a few times, no damage that I can see to any of them.

Did you look closely esp the surface & those with transparent Plastic? it's easy to spot mold on them. If it's really clean you're doing good.

The boxes I do save. I.e the NECA plastic "boxes" are real easy to cut up on the backside with a exacto knife so one don't harm the front and get it all cut up. Have all my boxes in our storage.

I store every box in the attic. Never know if I'll need to sell something so it's good to have original packaging in good/great condition.

I used to toss the shippers but not anymore. If for some reason I want to sell one in the future, it's just easier to re-use the shipper. In regards to mold, I'm in Calgary and it's extremely dry, here. No chance of it even in closets and crawl spaces. It would sure bug me if I were to open a box and find it, though.

I keep all the boxes and their shippers. I've never had an issue with mold with boxes or comics and I've lived in quite a few different climate areas--even had to resort to putting stuff in storage a couple times.

I keep all mine + shippers in the loft although they seem to be spilling out to other parts of the house, (small loft). I have just premoted a space at the top of the stairs to a display area for my Star Wars figures and may actually use one wall as a box display wall as there are some boxes that are just to nice looking to hide away.

I'm sure we all love to recieve our nice new figures in 'wow packaging' but I do sometimes wish they came in minimal brown plain throw-away boxes, 1. so we could throw them away without feeling guilty and 2. to save a few $/£ of the price, I know if they were avalible this way as an option that's probably how I'd buy them.

All my boxes and shippers are on shelves in my basement with two dehumidifiers. I've never had a problem.

I sealed them in garbage bags and packing tape and stuck a lot of them in the attic. I'm so sick of looking at boxes in the garage.
These are prop replica boxes though, mostly Predator masks.
We have one of those attic doors with the stairs that fold out and some of the bigger boxes won't fit through there Some probably wouldn't have made it through the front door but we have double entry doors.

Did you put those silica gels & moth balls in the box before you garbage bag it? And did you do it in closed dry rooms? Coz if not you might still get problem the day you decide to open it up.

The best bet is to wrap them up when they are still fairly new. Wrapping old boxes when they are already exposed to the environment for long time doesn't 100% help.

Vitus said:

I sealed them in garbage bags and packing tape and stuck a lot of them in the attic. I'm so sick of looking at boxes in the garage.
These are prop replica boxes though, mostly Predator masks.
We have one of those attic doors with the stairs that fold out and some of the bigger boxes won't fit through there Some probably wouldn't have made it through the front door but have double entry doors.

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potato said:

Did you put those silica gels & moth balls in the box before you garbage bag it? And did you do it in closed dry rooms? Coz if not you might still get problem the day you decide to open it up.

The best bet is to wrap them up when they are still fairly new. Wrapping old boxes when they are already exposed to the environment for long time doesn't 100% help.

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Dry room yes.
Moth balls and Silica no. Would the silica help much inside the empty styrofoam box? I thought the cardboard was the main problem.
What do you wrap with? Shipping plastic wrap? I have some of that too.
At this point I care more about the Styrofoam than the cardboard. I can always get more cardboard if I ever needed to but would like to avoid it too!

I throw out the figures and display the boxes in glass cabinets. Those things are art !

well if the box were exposed to humid environment prior moving to dry room, humid might get trapped inside the box. putting silica doesn't help alot but it helps absorb some of the moisture inside. The foams are white and should there be mold/foxing it'd be hard to remove. They usually turn brown/grey after time anyway. And put there long enough, it'd crumble into pieces. Moth balls just extra precautions should there be humid & spores inside, but they don't last long.

i use those transparent plastic bags you can find some book shop uses to wrap their magazines, but size is limited so only up to medium sized boxes fit, some hardware shop do sell ultra big plastic bags which can fit a person. I tried those garbage bags before, but seems they aren't as good since they are very thin and humid might just pass tru.

foxing inside the box seems common especially light surface areas.

Vitus said:

Dry room yes.
Moth balls and Silica no. Would the silica help much inside the empty styrofoam box? I thought the cardboard was the main problem.
What do you wrap with? Shipping plastic wrap? I have some of that too.
At this point I care more about the Styrofoam than the cardboard. I can always get more cardboard if I ever needed to but would like to avoid it too!

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same here, some figures are too old or broken & i don't like them but them box arts can't be found nowadays so i kept the box & wrapped it up.

SAB said:

I throw out the figures and display the boxes in glass cabinets. Those things are art !

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I actually use the contractor grade bags for the Statues and PFs and other small stuff. They are pretty thick.

But I can't find them big enough for the bigger stuff so I used the biggest garbage bags I can find for those.

Still have stuff that doesn't fit in a bag though

I guess my biggest worry is crumbling Styrofoam... I would have no good way of storing or shipping if I ever needed to without those.

Boxes are all bagged and taped in the loft.

Never understood people who throw the shippers away, it's not like they take up more room if you put the picture box back in them.
Keeps the cool picture box safe and handy if you sell on. I hate buying items without their original shipper, only have two.

potato said:

same here, some figures are too old or broken & i don't like them but them box arts can't be found nowadays so i kept the box & wrapped it up.

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You got it man.
These expensive figures will fall apart. The joints will break, the abs will leak, the panties will turn pink and the rubber will crack.
But those boxes ...take care of them and they'll be with you forever !