Storing processed Negatives - Inside or Outside the Darkroom?

[DanK]

Does anyone store their processed negatives inside their darkroom? any Ill effects?

Trying to free up some space in my shop, and have always stored negatives in clear file pages in binders outside of the darkroom. I have room in the darkroom for them (on the dry side), but worried about chemical vapors (fixers, toners, etc) affecting the negatives over time....

Anyone stored negatives in a darkroom longterm without ill effects?

How about prints?

Thanks in advance,
Dan

[Jody_S]

In one of my several moves in the last 5 years (post-divorce), I stored several boxes of negatives in an outdoor shed on the back of my property, as I rented out the house. That winter, a raccoon decided one of my boxes of negs would make a great nest to raise her 4 cubs. It took 3 of us to remove mama and the 4 babies (to a safer location). My negs were covered in muck and smelled strongly of urine. After a wash & dry, 95% of them are just fine. In fact my negs survived far better than my digital files, I've now lost about half of those due to multiple hard disk failures and the occasional boneheaded erasure.

I think we worry far too much about them. The 2 major issues I've had are heat and direct sunlight. And scratching from leaving them unprotected in the bottom of a sock drawer, when I was 9.

[jp]

I keep about two years worth in my darkroom. The rest stay in a safer place in my detached garage; where there is dehumidifier and fire risk is lower.

[jk0592]

Dry side or wet side, there is always more humidity in the darkroom than elsewhere in the house. There is also the odd powder chemistry that might float in the air... I keep the negatives in safe sleeves inside a binder, in library shelves inside the house.

[Jim Noel]

I wish I kept all of my negatives away from the dampness of the darkroom, but I am lazy and have a habit of not putting them where they belong after a printing session.
Even with this neglect, I have not had any damage.

[Ari]

In the darkroom, but in a closet.
No damage, even in my laziest moments.
They're tough little buggers...

[Vaughn]

I would just take a look around -- are there any hoses, etc that if they leak/break/etc, will your negatives get wet?

New Mexico is relatively geographjcally stable compare to the West Coast -- we have to worry about what a good shaker might do to our darkrooms.

What is above your negative storage area? (a general question just to think about.) Bathroom? Laundry room? Kitchen?

I have lost prints from dampness (under the house -- I know dumb). I have lost 50 mounted 16x20 prints due to ants nesting inside the print boxes (stored dry in the garage during the summer until I could figure out where to keep them in the new-to-us house). But I still have the negs -- even though the paper is no longer available (Portriga Rapid).

Vaughn

[John Olsen]

I keep mine in plastic sleeves in binders inside a metal cabinet, but in the darkroom. After each wet session I run a heater for awhile with the door open to dry out the air. I printed some negs a few months ago that were from 1988 and they still looked fine. A few years ago I had to leave them all in boxes in a storage locker that ranged from very hot to freezing for two years with no apparent damage. They must be pretty tough.

[ic-racer]

I store my enlargers and all the lenses in my darkroom, and it is humidity controlled so those things don't get buggered up. This makes it a good place to keep the negatives and prints. I use hanging files in those plastic bins from the office supply store.

[Drew Wiley]

Nuts! Just plain nuts! Unless you have a dedicated dry room for mounting prints,etc.
you're risking exposure not only to humidity but to chemicals fumes, fingerprints w/
fixer on them and who knows what else. I won't even put an enlarger in the same
room as a sink or process line. Not everybody has that particular luxury. But negs??? I just can believe it! Sounds like raising pet hamsters in the D-Con factory.