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Vinyl -covered replacement doors ok for slides?


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<p>Hello. My office is about to get a much overdue makeover. I have a large home-made wall unit which looks awful though for a number of reasons I can't knock it down. What I can do is replace the doors and the products I'm considering have a covering of vinyl made to look like beechwood. Sounds grim but aesthetically they're actually OK, and a lot cheaper than getting solid wooden doors made to measure.</p>

<p>My question is whether the large quantity of 120/220 slides, and b&w negs I keep in supposedly archival Polypropylene albums and sleeves could be affected by the vinyl or any gas it might give off. </p>

<p>Thanks</p>

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<p>David</p>

<p>Not sure about vinyl, but just a thought for consideration ... how about faux wood grain painting over the existing surface ... I did this on metal baseboard radiator panels, and they came out pretty decently.<br>

Here are a couple of Youtubes roughly demonstrating the concept -</p>

<p>https://youtu.be/0Oe2HdxiolM</p>

<p>https://youtu.be/RAiv9S4w2Po</p>

<p>https://youtu.be/u_fRpJUyBDg</p>

<p>Jim M</p>

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<p>I think it depends. As a default position I would say it is less than ideal in any space that is tightly enclosed without good air circulation to have out gassing vinyl products nearby. Even wood products, like MDF, are not ideal. But products can vary in the amount of out gassing that will happen and it changes over time and varies with temp/RH. If the door is solid wood with only a veneer of vinyl, then any out gassing will be greatly reduced.<br>

Good air circulation surely helps. If your B&W and color film materials are in archival albums they are less exposed. Paper/print materials, with generally greater surface areas and more adsorbent substrates, are somewhat more susceptible to having problems than film materials. A few considerations to think about.</p>

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<p>Thanks.</p>

<p>Jim , I hate the doors on there now and they need to go I'm afraid. </p>

<p>Louis. I guess your response is what I expected. The unit comprises some cupboards where the new doors will be fitted, and some shelving. I've been keeping albums of slides and boxes of b&w negs/contact sheets on the shelving parts for more than 15 years. I can't see any damage but then I may not notice and I certainly couldn't tell exactly how vibrant and contrasty a slide was over 15 years or more. But I don't keep and film or print materials inside the cupboards. I doubt whether the doors I'm contemplating are wood with a vinyl "veneer" I suspect they're a cheaper material such as MDF with a wrapping of vinyl. Equally I can't recall exactly (the unit was constructed by my father almost thirty years ago) but I suspect that the construction involved MDF or similar and a lot of white gloss paint. So I think I've been a bit away from optimal for a while - probably as you suggest saved to an extent by the archival materials the slides are stored in and the fact that the boxes of negs don't get opened much. I'll see whether I get any other perspectives but for the moment I think I'll go with it. </p>

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<p>I would be more concerned about outgassing of volatile organics in particle board door than the vinyl covering. Solvents are probably transitory, but un-reacted monomers and residuals can condense on the contents, causing damage. I have one thoroughly fogged Elmar 50 mm collapsible lens, due to the decomposition of polyurethane foam in an old camera bag.</p>

<p>Archival sleeves, usually polyethylene, offer a considerable degree of protection to negatives and prints. Only things exposed directly (i.e., line of sight) to the source of heavy volatiles are likely to damaged. PE is, however, is quite permeable to oxygen and ozone - the most common reactive permanent gases.</p>

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