I should greatly appreciate help from any list members familiar with the
problems raised by the following:

Our new museum is going to be leasing newly-built storage space while the
building we are acquiring for our new museum is under renovation. The
storage space is on the ground floor. The flooring is concrete. We plan to
store our art library (approx. 20,000 vols), paintings and works on paper
there. For this purpose, we plan to set-up shelving units to store all of
the items which will be in crates, boxes, etc.

A colleague just informed me that the concrete floors will tend to absorb
large amounts of moisture, and that nothing sensitive should be
placed/stored directly on the floor. This remark raised a concern that the
moisture might even affect the items stored up on the shelving units.

My question to the members of the list is: Will concrete floors (the
supposed moisture they absorb) pose a threat to books, works on paper or
even paintings if those items are stored up on the shelves? Are there any
special steps that would need to be taken? Do we need to cover the floors?--
Again, I want to mention that the space is all on the ground floor, i.e.
above grade, but the concrete is (I assume) laid over the ground. Is the
moisture absorbed from the ground below, or the air above, the concrete
floor? Or have I been altogether misinformed about concrete floors absorbing
moisture?

Mark

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Mark Ast, Ph.D.
Curator
Museum & Library of Barbizon
        & Pre-Impressionist Art
The Schlesinger Foundation
email:  Mark Ast <[log in to unmask]>

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