FAQ
Collection Storage Questions
The ones worth asking any facility, including this one.
Come and see the environment before you send anything. Bring your registrar, your conservator or your insurer — we would rather they saw it than took our word for it.
Fine art and collections storage
- Are you above the floodplain?
- Yes, and it is the first question to ask any Florida facility.
- Is conditioning continuous?
- Yes. Facilities that condition only during occupied hours produce the daily cycling that damages work.
- Will you show us the environmental record?
- Yes. Ask any facility for the record rather than the target.
- Do you insure the collection?
- No. Your policy does. Confirm it follows the work into commercial storage.
- Do you appraise?
- No. That requires a qualified appraiser.
- Do you do conservation?
- No. We document and store; unstable work is flagged and stopped.
- Can we access our own racks?
- No. Retrieval is by our staff, by appointment.
- Can our appraiser or conservator visit?
- Yes, on your written authority.
- Do we get a condition report?
- On intake with photographs, and again on every movement.
- Can we wrap furniture in plastic?
- No. It traps moisture and causes the damage you are avoiding.
- Does color photography fade in the dark?
- Yes. Cold slows dye shift; nothing stops it. Digitize anything important.
- What is vinegar syndrome?
- Acetate film degrading and releasing acid that accelerates decay in whatever is stored with it.
- Do you build crates or ship internationally?
- No. Those are specialist trades we work alongside.
- What happens in a hurricane?
- The building is secured, access is suspended while unsafe, and we inspect and report as soon as it is safe.
- Can we visit first?
- Yes, and you should.
Still not answered?
Call (954) 565-7233 to arrange a visit. Bring your conservator, your registrar or your insurer.
What we store
Paintings
Stretched canvas and wooden panel respond to moisture in the air by moving. Stored well they are stable for decades; stored in a swinging environment they crack.
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Works on Paper
Drawings, prints, watercolours and documents. The damage is slow, cumulative and usually invisible until it is substantial.
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Photographs & Negatives
Photographic material is chemically active. Color dyes shift, acetate film decays, and both processes are driven by temperature and humidity.
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Sculpture & Objects
Three-dimensional works fail mechanically rather than chemically. The risks are handling, support and the point where somebody decided one person could manage it.
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Furniture & Decorative Arts
Antique furniture is a wooden structure held together with animal glue and faced with veneer. All three respond to humidity, and they respond differently from one another.
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Mixed Collections
Estates, private collections and the contents of a house being renovated. The material is mixed, and the problem is usually documentation rather than environment.
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Tell us what needs to move.
What, from where, and roughly when. You do not need an inventory to start the conversation, and if the job belongs with an armored carrier we will say so on the call.