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How close are you to running out of storage space?


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As I was in my basement the other day doing a little organizing and comparing my collecting area to my wifes crafting area I could tell that at the current pace of buying my days that I would eventually run out of room. I would say I have at least a couple more buying seasons to go before I run out of room. How close is everyone else to busting at the seams? Do you have plans to sell once your inventory expands beyond your storage area or hobby room you are allowed? I don't like the idea of selling once I run out of room, especially if I believe the sets are still on the upward trend but you can only stash so much Lego in the crawlspace...

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When you run out of room you just have to get more creative. But even when you are as creative as you can be space will eventually fill up no matter what. I have contemplated using storage units before but doing so cuts into profits and therefore I have steered away from doing this for now. Lack of space is what keeps many from selling Lego on a large scale.

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At first I said I would only take up part of a closet, then that one filled up, now I am beginning to fill another closet... I plan on clearing a decent amount of inventory this Fall/Christmas, and then restocking with next years. If you think about it, in many ways this is a job in it's own sense, except I happen to really enjoy the benefits of this job!

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My wife told me I was running out of storage space about 25-30 sets ago! Little does she know that I built those new storage shelves in the basement primarily for Lego...

i built a huge storage closet in the laundry room with locks and everything. it's full. i built another one on the other side of the room. it's full. i have a four stall garage, but really don't want to store anything out there due to the wide range of weather we get in wisconsin (very humid in summer / below 0 in winter). i have already contacted my parents who live a few miles away that i may need my old bedroom back! lol surprisingly, they didn't say no! they also have a large basement with excellent storage racks. there is no way i am spending money on a storage unit, and i buy to hold on to sets for at least 2-3 years before i sell, so quick flipping is not an option.

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rockefeller, how many total pieces do you have in your collection? Personally, I may be more inclined to store things in the garage than in the basement, with a garage, if you do a decent job of packing things, they will do fine in cold and warm weather, plastic and paper don't mind temperature changes and well closed garbage bags will keep moisture problems to a minimum. I have seen multiple times how destructive water can be and it always flows into the basement, it is kind of asking for problems down there. Now, where is my collection stored right now? In the basement :( we don't have room in the garage and my collection is small enough that it can be toted up and placed on blocks to keep it off the floor.

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As soon as I move the 30 or so sets that are sitting in my office up to my storage room I am about out of space. But since I can't stop I will find some more space somehow :)

I've seen your storage situation, trust me, you have all kinds of room, it will only be a problem when it comes time to sell.

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rockefeller, how many total pieces do you have in your collection?

Personally, I may be more inclined to store things in the garage than in the basement, with a garage, if you do a decent job of packing things, they will do fine in cold and warm weather, plastic and paper don't mind temperature changes and well closed garbage bags will keep moisture problems to a minimum. I have seen multiple times how destructive water can be and it always flows into the basement, it is kind of asking for problems down there. Now, where is my collection stored right now? In the basement :( we don't have room in the garage and my collection is small enough that it can be toted up and placed on blocks to keep it off the floor.

I have about 60 sets....the problem is that they are big sets, death stars, tower bridges, haunted houses etc............another problem is that I live in an apartment and while its not small by any means (1600 square feet) I have other stuff taking up room. Its time to start looking to buy a house I guess. My ideal home would have a finished basement so I could use it for storage/man cave but here in Texas basements are a rarity. I miss Colorado where 70% of homes have a finished basement.
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I'm in the South as well where there are no basements so my sealed investments take up two good sized bedrooms. And the only place I have left to display my own personal used collection for display is in my garage but it does get very humid in the summer...I wonder if the bricks will be ok in the heat? Thinking about getting a portable air conditioner or fan or something to help cool the garage down this coming summer as temps can easily get into the 90s....any suggestions?

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I'm in the South as well where there are no basements so my sealed investments take up two good sized bedrooms.

And the only place I have left to display my own personal used collection for display is in my garage but it does get very humid

in the summer...I wonder if the bricks will be ok in the heat? Thinking about getting a portable air conditioner or fan or something to

help cool the garage down this coming summer as temps can easily get into the 90s....any suggestions?

please excuse my ignorance, but having lived in the frozen north known as wisconsin my entire life, i am curious as to why homes in the south do not have basements? every house up here has one.

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I have about 60 sets....the problem is that they are big sets, death stars, tower bridges, haunted houses etc............another problem is that I live in an apartment and while its not small by any means (1600 square feet) I have other stuff taking up room. Its time to start looking to buy a house I guess. My ideal home would have a finished basement so I could use it for storage/man cave but here in Texas basements are a rarity. I miss Colorado where 70% of homes have a finished basement.

You'll rarely find a basement in the DFW area. The water table is too high here. If you do find one you'll have a pump that runs non-stop just to keep the water out, and you'll be constantly fighting mold. Some really old houses have root cellars or storm cellars, but that's about all you see in this area.

The good news is that housing is relatively inexpensive here...should be no problem to grab a decent place with a could of extra rooms for you to fill.

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i built a huge storage closet in the laundry room with locks and everything. it's full. i built another one on the other side of the room. it's full. i have a four stall garage, but really don't want to store anything out there due to the wide range of weather we get in wisconsin (very humid in summer / below 0 in winter). i have already contacted my parents who live a few miles away that i may need my old bedroom back! lol surprisingly, they didn't say no! they also have a large basement with excellent storage racks. there is no way i am spending money on a storage unit, and i buy to hold on to sets for at least 2-3 years before i sell, so quick flipping is not an option.

Lucky you! My parents would probably not be quite as understanding if I wanted to take over part of their house for Lego storage...

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please excuse my ignorance, but having lived in the frozen north known as wisconsin my entire life, i am curious as to why homes in the south do not have basements? every house up here has one.

Some parts of the South do...technically "South" is all the way up to Maryland.

In Texas we typically do not because the water table is too high. However, some parts of Texas have basements and even the occasional house in the DFW or other populated areas will have one. Basements that I've seen in the DFW area always have a pump running and they're constantly fighting black mold, which can be a real problem down here and can cause a house to be condemned.

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As I was in my basement the other day doing a little organizing and comparing my collecting area to my wifes crafting area I could tell that at the current pace of buying my days that I would eventually run out of room. I would say I have at least a couple more buying seasons to go before I run out of room. How close is everyone else to busting at the seams? Do you have plans to sell once your inventory expands beyond your storage area or hobby room you are allowed? I don't like the idea of selling once I run out of room, especially if I believe the sets are still on the upward trend but you can only stash so much Lego in the crawlspace...

Sounds like a good time to start the divorce papers. :)

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I have about 60 sets....the problem is that they are big sets, death stars, tower bridges, haunted houses etc............another problem is that I live in an apartment and while its not small by any means (1600 square feet) I have other stuff taking up room. Its time to start looking to buy a house I guess. My ideal home would have a finished basement so I could use it for storage/man cave but here in Texas basements are a rarity. I miss Colorado where 70% of homes have a finished basement.

A 1600 square foot apartment! Things really are bigger in Texas.

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I guess a condo would be a better way to describe it.......I say apartments because its a community where all the layouts are pretty much the same. @ emes thanks for the explanation for no basements, I have asked several people about it and no one really knew the answer.

There are likely several reasons. Another reason is that if you look at the houses down here they tend to be less well-built than comparable houses in other parts of the country. Our houses don't really have to stand up to the cold that much, so all we really have to do is figure out how to cool them. This is why our homes are generally way less expensive than those in other parts of the country they have to be built to stand up to more extreme weather. In that type of low-cost market all adding a basement does is really add cost.

About the water table...my mother lives in Arlington near the lake on what used to be ranch land that my family owned until they sold it off in the 70's. She has about 2 acres left, and on her property is the old ranch well. You only have to go about 10 feet before you hit significant water in that well, and I've never seen it dry, even in our biggest drought years.

Texas is interesting because it's a really big state with really only 1 natural lake, but a ton of small springs and lots of water not far from the surface...

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I filled up one of our closets in the spare room after my wife emptied it for this reason, I then started to fill up the closet in our 2nd bedroom, at which point I started to get the "What are your long term plans?" speech from the wife. Realizing that there was no way I could continue to find storage space inside, I just threw everything away in a fit of rage. Kidding, of course. I shrink wrapped each set and placed them in bigger boxes. I then taped the heck out of the boxes and now have them stacked in our garage. Thankfully we have a three car garage and only two vehicles. We live in CA so they should be okay. Now the closets are completely empty so it must be time for some serious shopping!

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I'm running out for sure. My main problem is that I have to hide everything from the 4 year old. He wouldn't understand (yet) the concept of leaving the boxes closed. So I'm storing in Rubbermaid in the garage, and then am wrapping big sets in brown paper to hide in other parts of the house. Fun!

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I've so already run out of room. Course I'm a real 'closet' case when it comes to storage. Heh heh. The main way I deal with things is use a repeating cycle of "Buy, Stash, Build". I buy the set, then stash it in the closest. When I get a chance to, I take one out, build it for display, let it sit for a while to admire or play around with. And then take it apart, store the parts, and start the whole thing all over again. Everything I buy is for myself so storage isn't much of a problem, really. I still always need more plastic drawers for parts though!

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