Do not use plywood. Plywood (any kind of chipboard) has formaldehyde in it. This will off-gas into the room and cause metals to corrode, paper to yellow and become brittle, and natural fiber textiles to breakdown. Formaldehyde is also a carcinogen.
I'd stay away from vinyl as well, but there are some good reliable flooring materials out there, I'm afraid you will just need to do some homework on it. Try DuPont first, they make a number of archivally stable products. They may be able to reccommend some kind of flooring or at least fill you in on what you should be looking for. Also, check with flooring manufacturers.
Our storage areas are all cement, with no floor coverings. Come to think of it, of all the museum storage I have seen, they have all had cement floors. But, all of these storage areas were on the lowest level of the building, too. So, since this room has a reinforced floor I would ask the contractor about whether cement could be a flooring option.
Lana Newhart-Kellen
Registrar
Conner Prairie Museum
>>> [log in to unmask] 08/05/02 06:27PM >>>
I am looking for information on the proper flooring for a small collections
storage room that will be used for archival materials and located on the
second floor of a soon-to-be built building. The floor will be reinforced,
so structurally it will be able to handle heavy storage units. Right now, the
floor is designed to be plywood with some vinyl covering. What kind of floor
covering should be selected that would be safe for collection items?
Also, there will be a small heating/ac unit in the storage room. Specs call
for a Change'Air Unit Ventilator Model CAE-1100; this kind is most commonly
used in schools, motels, fitness centers, etc. Is this unit acceptable for
collection storage or is there a better one?
Cost is a factor for both flooring and unit. So, not a lot of money
available to go expensive.
M. Dakin
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