Storing paper and pictures in a dry room

Paper is more sensitive to its surroundings than almost anything else in a house. It takes up moisture from the air and gives it back, and every swing in humidity makes the sheet expand and contract a little. Cockling, that gentle wave across a print, is the visible record of those swings.

Where not to keep it

Three places cause most of the damage: a loft, which cycles between hot and cold every day; a garage or cellar, where damp condenses on cold surfaces; and an outside wall in an unheated room. An interior cupboard in a room that is lived in is usually the best storage a house offers.

Flat, and off the floor

Store sheets flat rather than rolled. A rolled sheet remembers the curl and has to be flattened later under weight, which takes weeks. If something must be rolled, use the largest diameter tube you can and roll it with the image outward so the surface is in tension rather than compression.

Interleave with unbuffered acid-free tissue, keep the stack shallow so the weight does not emboss the lower sheets, and lift the box clear of the floor. A shelf thirty centimetres up has saved a lot of paper from a burst pipe.

Framing choices that matter

A mount that holds the sheet away from the glazing is not decoration. Paper pressed against glass will eventually stick to it, and condensation on the inside of the glass goes straight into the fibres. Whatever else is economised on, keep the air gap.

Hang out of direct sun. Light fades pigment and yellows paper, and the damage is cumulative and permanent. A wall opposite a window looks bright and is the worst place in the room for anything on paper.