Outdoor storage

[penguins1 15]

Hi All,

I’ve ended up buying several more Blow molds off of CL this year - my garage attic is basically full. I have an elevated deck in my backyard. If I cover them in black plastic, will they store outside OK?  I live in Texas so mostly heat and rain. 
 

Thanks!

[Doneal 15]

Sounds like your talking about storing them under the deck? I think I would use one of those blue tarps instead of plastic. Not sure how hot it gets under the deck, but it's bound to be cooler than an attic? The UV rays does a lot of damage to plastic so covering them should work.

 

[penguins1 15]

Sorry yeah - storing them under the deck. I have a lot of unused space there so thinking it would be a good solution.  

[Scott Rob 102]

At my old house I had a same type of storage issues. I found black plastic caught a lot of moisture and the blow molds ended up getting black mold inside of them and on outside. I spent some time cleaning them not fun. After that I got sun screen to attach to under part of  porch that block the Sun light and let air flow though it. I also put out some brick put pallets on them to keep molds off the ground the red clay stains snowman quick:) Also I just put bags over the top of each to keep dirt and bird stuff off. Also I live in Georgia and it’s hot rainy and steamy. good luck

Edited November 29, 2020 by Scott Rob

[penguins1 15]

Thanks - great tips. Did you use the sun screw  around your whole porch or just around where your blow molds were??

[Scott Rob 102]

I did it around the whole porch. Mine had dark brown lattice on front and side. I replaced part of side and made a door with padlock. The sun screen worked great to block the sun and noises people.:) I also had other items like wood and stuff mine was 30’ long by 10’. Also the porch above was covered and the long side faces due south. I will try and remember to look on my old phone and see if I have picture of it. 

Edited November 30, 2020 by Scott Rob

[Big J Illinois 479]

No one has a basement?

[penguins1 15]

7 hours ago, Scott Rob said:

I did it around the whole porch. Mine had dark brown lattice on front and side. I replaced part of side and made a door with padlock. The sun screen worked great to block the sun and noises people.:) I also had other items like wood and stuff mine was 30’ long by 10’. Also the porch above was covered and the long side faces due south. I will try and remember to look on my old phone and see if I have picture of it. 

Awesome!  This sounds like a good solution.  Thanks!!
 

8 minutes ago, Big J Illinois said:

No one has a basement?

No basements in Texas!!

[Scott Rob 102]

On 11/30/2020 at 7:37 AM, Big J Illinois said:

No one has a basement?

I do now! at my last house had very small basement area 20x20 and rest was large craw space. I moved blow mold out because had to replace heat and air unit and duck work then had a few other issues. But I always need more storage space! I told my wife next house will be in country and I have planned his and her shipping containers 55ft containers in woods:) Because we have too much stuff!

[Scrooge 17]

Ahhhh yes, the blowmold storage problem....leading to garage, garage attics, sheds and basements which are full...blowmolds outside under lean-tos , tarps, bags. Have i ever mentioned that i used to be into 'doing lawn displays' in a significant way ?...haha... and due to a lack of space and some heart felt soul searching leading to me establishing and adhering to  some priorities... i eventually had to scale things waaaaay back. 🙂 (as some of you display people know...its not just the storage problem which wears you out).  A large temperature controlled pole shed would be my preference but alas that is not my situation. Ive got a medium sized shed, and a garage, and a basement for storage, but ive also got other stuff too. My motorcycle,dirt-bike,  and lawnmower, snowblower, camping gear, ice fishing gear, garden tools, garage tools, etc etc are not going to sit out in the sun and rain (or under a tarp) while my blowmolds sit inside in the cool shade. No. So, about half of my blowmolds were stored inside, and the outdoor overflow blowmolds were neatly lined up in a block of 5 x 10 at the rear of the property in the relative shade of a row of pine trees. I assembled a simple 2x4 ad hoc wooden framework with a tarp draped and secured over everything. It worked pretty well to keep the tree sap and needles and rain and sunlight off the blowmolds.  I used a better quality, uv resistant poly tarp from menards. I didnt experience much trouble with moisture, no mold problems, but i would get spiders and spider webs under the tarp. Those spiderwebs can be irritating.

These days, after the great blowmold purge, ive still got some smaller 'inside use'  blowmolds in the basement, and about 8  nicer blowmolds in the shed which im too attached to to get rid of. (sigh...i know...i know). The 10 large snowman blowmolds i use for my front lawn display are stored 46 weeks per year lined up out of sight behind my shed with contractor grade garbage bags over them. Its been a slow process, but ive finally got grass growing again where the blowmolds under the tarp used to sit.

Re: basement blowmold storage. My goal was to get back to where the (finished) basement is a usable area again. Damn blowmolds multiply like rabbits, and before you know it theyre everywhere. The bar area, dart board, poker table was virtually unusable with all that stuff down there.  Much much better now.  And... moving 50+ large blowmolds from the basement to the front yard at display time... thats a lot of trips up and down the stairs one blowmold at a time... and then again 5-6 weeks later.

Scrooge

 

[55cgas 29]

I've been storing my blow molds under my deck for the last 25 years without issue. I don't put them in anything.

 

[penguins1 15]

19 hours ago, 55cgas said:

I've been storing my blow molds under my deck for the last 25 years without issue. I don't put them in anything.

 

Thanks!  Good to know!!