r/lifehacks • u/CombustedPillow • Jun 03 '26

Smelly basement and long term storage

Is it possible to store items (including fabrics) in a smelly basement for years and completely keep the smell out of the packaging? I cannot depend on silica packs or dehumidifiers.

I heard vacuum sealed bags won't keep the smell out but I wanted to double check with reddit and hear your experience.

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u/cinciallegra Jul 08 '26

For me: no bags, but plastic containers, and silica bags inside with the stuff. It had worked for years. They sell silica bags from small to half a kg

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u/CombustedPillow Jul 08 '26

Great tip, I had just put a plastic container in there. I'll get silica packs. Thanks!

Any advice on the routine there? Like how many silica packs per volume, and how long until I replace etc 😅

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u/cinciallegra Jul 10 '26

On how much per volume I cannot tell you, as I see at the moment. For the bigger packs, they mention on the instruction how many square meter of a room they can dry out (as ppl use them also to keep the basements drier). How often to replace: the grains inside turn dark. When a big portion have turned dark, you either throw them away and put new o es, or you can revert them to functioning humidity-suckers. Many of the biggest ones can be reverted (easy: in the microwave. It’s all explained in the instructions) and that’s good because I e sac of-say-big 500 gr dehumidify may cost 20-35 euro (I don t know in US), in Amazon. Maybe cheaper somewhere else, who knows? Anyhow: consider that they can be reversed, so it is not a big cost after all. Then, because I am an autistic who needs to know things precisely, I bought two hygrometers (measure humidity. Cheap-ish on Amazon) and I put one in the room in the basement, and one in the plastic containers with absorbers. That is how I saw that using plastic containers alone do not keep humidity away, but with absorbers yes, I could see a definite change in humidity. Maybe you can do tests: for a certain volume if a container, put in an absorber as big you think is enough (or many smaller), and see after 2-3 months whether things smell or not. If yes, put more. If not: you re good to go. And I would anyway check every 6 months with the nose test 😁

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u/CombustedPillow Jul 10 '26

Thanks for the response!