In a private home where it may be impossible to duplicate museum conditions, environmental stability can be more closely approached by careful selection of the locations used for the display and storage of works of art. Exterior walls will be, in certain seasons, colder and more damp than interior walls in the same room. Areas above or immediately adjacent to heat sources like hot air vents, radiators and fireplaces, will be hot and dry and suffer from wide fluctuations in temperature. Kitchens and bathrooms are unsuitably warm and damp for hanging works of art. Attics are often poorly insulated and follow fluctuations of outside temperatures.
Basements are often cool and unacceptably damp.
Ventilation gaps left between each object and the wall will prevent excessive cooling and the build-up of damp. Automatic portable humidifiers and dehumidifiers will contribute greatly to the stabilization of the relative humidity in a room when appropriately sized for the space.