How and where to store books, unusual ideas and how to fight insects
Library collections follow strict book storage rules: they respect lighting and temperature standards, remove dust, monitor humidity and air circulation. The printed monuments of past centuries are kept under special conditions. It is also useful for family owners to learn how to properly store books and organize a home library in a small apartment.
Optimal conditions for the storage of literary literature
If it is misplaced, the appearance of the book deteriorates: the pages turn yellow, the font fades, the cover discolors and deteriorates. To keep your home library in good condition, you need to pay attention to indoor conditions:
- Temperature;
- humidity;
- day light.
Heat and direct sunlight will dry out the paper and weaken it. The pages of a book kept in the sun for ten years break and crumble into dust. Humidity is a favorable environment for the spread of mold.Therefore, the garage and cellar are not suitable for long-term storage of literature. In a damp, unheated room, the pages acquire a putrid smell, dark spots and deformations. Favorable conditions for storing books:
- shadow;
- temperature + 18-22 degrees;
- humidity 60-65 percent.
A dry room on the north, northeast, or northwest side of the house is suitable for a home library. A separate library is placed in a shaded part of the room, which does not have a central heating battery.
What type of furniture is suitable
The furniture is chosen according to the number of books and the size of the room. There are four options for storing literature:
- bookcase with glazed or open shelves;
- sideboard, wall with open compartments or with doors;
- open or glazed hanging bookcases;
- open shelf.
Closed furniture is necessary to house a large library. Behind the glass, the immortal works of the classics will be protected from dust. It will be enough to wipe them once every 2 weeks with a dry cloth.
Hanging shelves are a space-saving option. They are placed at any height and in any room.
Open shelves and shelves are suitable for storing small collections or special literature. Reference books, encyclopedias and manuals that are constantly needed at work are easy to find on the shelves, especially if you sort them alphabetically and by subject. In a small bookcase, located on open furniture, one can quickly put things away.
Choose a storage location
The room for the home library is chosen based on its purpose.The living room will accommodate art publications or most of them. Special literature can be distributed to other rooms.
Living room
In the large hall, bookcases will divide the space into zones. All methods of placement of literature are used in the living room: shelves, bookcase, multifunctional furniture.
Food
There is a place for cookbooks on the hanging shelves in the helmet cabinet. Cookbooks are placed away from the stove and food preparation area so that spillovers do not stain bindings.
Bedroom
It is not recommended to store books in the break room. They will collect dust on open shelves or under the bed. A closed library with collected works of classical and contemporary authors is more appropriate in the living room. In the bedroom, a shelf or space on the bedside table is enough to put a few novels to read before going to bed. You can also put a floor lamp with a bracket.
Children
Adult books should not be kept in the preschooler's room. Otherwise, the child will want to paint them or put them on paper planes and boats. Fairy tales and developmental books should be arranged so that the child can reach them easily: closer to the floor, on a shelf, in a separate box or on a shelf above the desk.
Part of the literary fund that will interest him or be necessary for his studies can be transferred to the student's room: Russian and foreign classics, adventures. Then you need additional shelves or a bookcase.
Corridor
Part of the wide and long corridor can be occupied by a library. In a narrow aisle, shelves hang along the wall at the top and rarely used books are kept.
Balcony or loggia
An open balcony is not suitable for a library, since the temperature in winter and summer is out of reach. It is possible to store literature on a closed loggia for a short time if:
- air the room in the summer;
- wrap each volume in several layers of cling film and fold into boxes.
The film will protect publications from moisture. But on an unheated loggia it is difficult to achieve the optimum temperature, so the room is not suitable for storing rare specimens. If the loggia is heated and used as an extra room, it can be turned into a library and the books can be stored as usual.
Cabinet
The work room is suitable for storing most titles, as is the living room. The study library can be completely filled with bookcases. If the working area is in the bedroom, then it is better to limit yourself to a shelf or a shelf for special literature.
A desk with built-in shelves will help place a large number of reference books.
hidden places
In the apartment you can put books on the mezzanine. The disadvantage of long-term storage in tightly closed places is dry air. As a result, mezzanine pages may turn yellow. In a two-story private house, the perfect place for an impromptu library is under the stairs. The shelves can be closed with doors or a screen.
Unusual ideas
Books can be stored without shelves and cabinets - in organizers. Widgets save space and sort posts by genre. The following items are used as organizers:
- wooden boxes;
- cartons;
- wicker baskets;
- plastic containers;
- bags for storing clothes with zippers;
- the suitcases.
Organizers are placed under a bed, a ladder, on a wardrobe and decorate on their own: they decorate boxes in vintage style, covered with fabric, decorate boxes in the technique of scrapbooking.
Library maintenance rules
The main enemy of books is dust. It causes allergies and promotes the proliferation of paper-damaging insects. How to maintain your bookcase to get rid of dust and other damaging factors:
- once every 2-3 days, wipe the floor of the room with a damp cloth, and the back of the book with a dry cloth;
- storing literature behind glass - in cabinets or on shelves with glass doors;
- put a cover on the binding;
- do not place radiators next to a bookcase and shelves.
If the room is too hot in winter or summer, you can install an air conditioner and regulate humidity with a humidifier. Enclosed furniture will keep animals away from books. Cats love to climb on high shelves. After a walk with a pet, scratches, torn roots with traces of teeth appear on the covers. Don't leave volumes on a table, sofa, or chair if your dog likes to chew on things. Better to put the literature in place or hide it in the drawer of the bedside table or desk.
A book with full, blank pages and a binding is a pleasure to pick up. Therefore, the new edition should be handled with care:
- do not read while eating, bath procedures;
- use a bookmark;
- mark points of interest in the text with a pencil.
Softcover literature demands more respect than hardcover. Softcover editions are placed on the shelf at a distance from each other so as not to crease the corners.
Storage tips for a small apartment
A large library cannot be placed on the territory of a one-room apartment. Therefore, some of the books will have to be wrapped in cellophane and boxes, taken to the loggia or to the attic. When storing in the attic, the boxes are not placed on the floor so that rats and insects are not interested in the literature. It is best to place them on top of other boxes in a dry place.
It is easier to place books for constant reading with the help of shelves, special furniture and non-standard design solutions. These are usually open storage areas, so you'll need to spend more time cleaning.
Hanging shelves
Wooden and metal shelves are placed above the desk, next to the sofa, bed. The variety of shapes and sizes allows them to harmoniously fit into the interior. It is a convenient way to place a small amount of books in a small space and emphasize the style of the interior. Small shelves are also fixed on the slopes of the windows.
Niche
Niches are rare in standard apartment layouts. Deepening as a place for storing books is provided for when selecting the design of the dwelling, then it is built from drywall. A niche will not help save space, but it will look more original than a shelf or shelves.
Bed
Special models with built-in shelves at the bottom are convenient for those who like to read before bedtime. An organizer bed will replace a bulky bookcase.
Window sill
Books can be stored compactly on shelves under the windowsill, but only if there is no central heating battery nearby. A window in the shaded part of the apartment makes it possible to place literature. The method is suitable for storing books in a children's room.
Armchair
An original solution that will save space in a one-room apartment is a square-shaped bookcase chair. It consists of shelves built into the back of the backrest, below and around the seat.
If the bugs start
In books at home, a book louse or hay eater starts. The insect feeds on pastry dough, mold. Hay eaters settle in heating pipes, closed cabinets. They appear due to the fact that the room is not cleaned.
Books, spoiled by hay-eaters, loose in the street to get rid of adult insects. Book lice lay eggs in large numbers. To destroy them, the reading is left in the cold or in the sun. General cleaning is carried out in the room: dust is washed off, shelves are washed and treated with disinfectant.