After receiving a large mold cleaning job here at the lab, we put our Abatement Specialist to work cleaning and organizing this collection for storage while the owner was re-building his house.
There were boxes and boxes of family photos, family books, collector items, art objects and paintings….all exposed to mold!
After cleaning all items, we now set to organizing them for storage. We find that an easy way to know what you have and where to locate things is to photograph each item, assign it a number, and log it into a file, either on computer or in a binder.  We do both.  You can make notes there….about the condition of an object, painting, or book, dates you worked on something or even reminders to yourself. We then do a print-out of that file and put it into a binder as a copy for the client.  After carefully packing each item, putting precious items into a “zip-lock” baggy for extra protection or organizing “by-year” photos (you can find giant zip-lock bags for large items @ Home Depot and Osh)…TAPE an Inventory List Sheet, which has been put into a page protector, to the outside of the crate.  Clear crate containers are handy to quickly & easily identify your items.  If they are all the same kind they’ll stack well too. The number of each item can appear on the Inventory List sheet.  Add a second sheet to the inside of your box, just in case the outside sheet gets damaged in moving….Happy Preserving & Storage!