Storage room for documents

[geneP]

I'm going to have to build a room on the side of our storage building to store the wife's paper documents. With temps often over 100 in the summer AC is a necessity to preserve the paper. The plan is to make it as energy effecient as practical and install an 110V air conditioner. I'm planning on 8'x8' with 6" floor and ceiling framing. These are my thoughts so far: Wafer board roof covered with tin and 6" batt insulation. The floor will have 6" insulation with visqueen vapor barrier on the bottom and hardware cloth underneath to keep rodents out. I'll use 2X4 walls and the highest R-value insulation. I'm thinking of wafer board for the interior walls.

Am I missing anything or can I do something better? Understand I want the AC to run as little as possible while being practical on the construction. I'm sure sprayed foam insulation and 6" walls would be best, but the size of the room might not make it worth a contractor's time to come. All comments welcome.

 

[coveredbridge]

Is it necessary to retain the original documents? If not, you may want to consider purchasing a scanner and scanning the docs into electronic files.

 

[bigtiller]

With the air conditioner not running much, will the humidity be a problem?

 

[WVBill]

I think humidity and bugs will be your biggest enemies. In Mississippi, having a good AC running (probably almost constantly) will keep the humidity down. A tight seal is probably what you need to keep the bugs out.
Spray foam insulation will help on both counts.

I second what coveredbridge said - store them electronically and you won't have either of those issues. A good scanner and a big disk drive will cost a lot less than building, insulating and cooling the room. If you get a scanner with an automatic sheet feeder it will reduce the effort getting your paper into electronic format.

 

[Western]

Is it necessary to retain the original documents? If not, you may want to consider purchasing a scanner and scanning the docs into electronic files.

:thumbsup: Or have it done., I don't think library's store paper anymore, do they?

I have a 4 door file cabinet full of paper items, like receipts ,manuals and the like and I thought that was excessive

 

[twinjayhawks]

I used to keep all of the paperwork, receipts and invoices for our business and home and now I use the Neat scanner system for all of them. No more papers to file and store. I keep multiple backups of the electronic files to make sure I don't lose them. I would recommend this to everyone... it is so easy and fast.

 

[Bird]

And how long do those documents have to be kept? Like Dennis, I thought I was going to extremes. I have a 4 drawer file cabinet for most receipts, manuals, and other assorted documents. A few of the most important documents are in a little fire safe. But every year, when I do the income tax return, I also go through the file cabinet. Some of the documents get shredded but most, especially anything related to income tax, go into a cardboard box that's stored in the shop with the year written on the end of the box. It's not always climate controlled, but I figure those documents will last for many years.

 

[moored4]

I'm going to have to build a room on the side of our storage building to store the wife's paper documents. With temps often over 100 in the summer AC is a necessity to preserve the paper. The plan is to make it as energy effecient as practical and install an 110V air conditioner. I'm planning on 8'x8' with 6" floor and ceiling framing. These are my thoughts so far: Wafer board roof covered with tin and 6" batt insulation. The floor will have 6" insulation with visqueen vapor barrier on the bottom and hardware cloth underneath to keep rodents out. I'll use 2X4 walls and the highest R-value insulation. I'm thinking of wafer board for the interior walls.

Am I missing anything or can I do something better? Understand I want the AC to run as little as possible while being practical on the construction. I'm sure sprayed foam insulation and 6" walls would be best, but the size of the room might not make it worth a contractor's time to come. All comments welcome.

I think the air controlled room is a good ideal for the "papers". Get it all finished! And then tell the wife about saving them electronically. Now you got you a nice little office, all you need is a chair, a desk, and maybe a bunk bed for about 6 months, cause you might have to sleep out there for a while!:laughing:

 

[PossumHound]

I used to keep all of the paperwork, receipts and invoices for our business and home and now I use the Neat scanner system for all of them. No more papers to file and store. I keep multiple backups of the electronic files to make sure I don't lose them. I would recommend this to everyone... it is so easy and fast.

I can second twinjayhawk's suggestion. Neat Receipts suggestion. An excellent system and comes with either a portable or desktop scanner. Use on for my travel receipts and it works great!

PH

 

[forgeblast]

What about going with a spray in foam over the batts, I would help with the rodents.
Not sure if putting in the reflective insulation would also help.

 

[geneP]

I like the idea of electronic storage much better than building a room and maintaining it. I'll see if I can get her interested. Thanks for the ideas.

 

[dave1949]

I have no idea what it costs, but there are companies who specialize in document storage. Iron Mountain is one that is big around here. Companies also use them for off-site storage of computer backup and disaster recovery tapes/disks.

One thing about document scan & store software to compare; be aware that some use a proprietary file format that only their software can read. The long-term viability of, and your satisfaction with, the software provider becomes something you also have to consider.

Dave.

 

[Egon]

Get a small shipping container and vacuum bag the documents. :thumbsup:

 

[nikdfish]

Write once DVD (DVD-R; DVD+R) media is pretty stable - good for at least 10 years if kept away from heat & sunlight. Archival versions claim stability of 100+ years if properly maintained. It is cheap to buy, making multiple (or periodic) copies an affordable option, and doesn't have the mechanical failure potential you find with a hard drive. The enemies of optical storage are typically heat and UV. Also, you should avoid add on paper lables, they have the potential to jam some readers as well as the ability to pull/tear the backside reflective layer. Inkjet printable discs are less prone to damage from felt tip labeling (from grit in the nib) than bare discs as well as giving a more legible result.

Retrieval software availability for archived data is a real concern. If you maintain actual document images in a universally readable format (.jpg, .png, .tif, image based .pdf, etc.), as well as any proprietary file formats being generated, you don't have to worry so much about being able to get at the data at a later time when the current software or operating system may not be available.

Nick

 

[Egon]

Transfer the documents onto clay tablets.

They do have a proven track record!:thumbsup:

 

[Redbug]

Well, I just blew coffee on my laptop...thanks Egon!