Framing anything isn’t only done for beautification or interior décor; it’s also done for preservation. Even if that preservation is only temporary. Frames act as protective casings for anything printed on paper that you want to display and keep in good condition. For the frame to act as a protective casing for the long haul, it ought to be resistant to moisture. How resistant it is depends on where you display the frame. In a kitchen and bathroom, there may be tweaks needed for additional protection.
The 3 steps required to keep moisture out of your frame
1. Frame your photos in a low-humidity environment
If you assemble your photo frame in an area where humidity is high, some moisture is likely to become trapped inside the frame. That’s a bad start! Consider the area you are working in when assembling your frame. The kitchen table is often the place for this type of project. Right after cooking though, humidity will be high.
Before assembling any of the frame components, make sure the environment is suitable. Dust-free, low-humidity and at room temperature are the ideal conditions.
2. Use a board barrier
A picture mount is the board barrier used to keep prints separated from the glazing in picture frames. Without a barrier to the front of the print, there would be no air space. Without that, condensation causes damage. Prints get stuck to glazing, then you have to unpeel them if reframing, and with that comes the loss of ink pigments on the photo or print resulting in white spots. It’s possible to display photos without a mount, but for protection against damage, spacers should be used instead. The air space is the important part.
The same can be done to the reverse of the frame to keep the paper separated from the MDF backing board, which the majority of picture frames come supplied with.
MDF is sufficient for most indoor spaces, but in higher humidity areas, you may want some additional protection. The most budget-friendly option to separate paper prints from MDF backing boards in frames is a sheet of kitchen foil. All it does is act as a board barrier.
For displaying frames in higher humidity areas, or if you’re hanging the frame on an exterior wall where it’s more likely to be exposed to temperature and humidity fluctuations, it’s possible to switch the traditional MDF backing board out and replace it with a foam backing board for added moisture protection.
3. Seal it
Once your frame is assembled and you’ve inspected it to make sure the placement is as it should be, seal it using gummed tape, or paper tape as it’s better known. Gummed tape is an acid-free adhesive, unlike common sellotapes or glues. The advantage to sealing isn’t just that it locks moisture out of the frame, but it also prevents pesky thrips and similar tiny insects from creeping through tiny crevices in frames.
With the photos or art prints suitably housed in the frames and sealed with the appropriate materials, the protection offered by the frame will be longer-lasting.
