Outer Vinyl Sleeves, is it a good idea?

All of my records (3,000+) are in outer sleeves.  After they are cleaned, I re-sleeve the record in a high quality inner sleeve.  I like Grooveguard Archival inner sleeves, similar to what you get from Mofi.  I store the record outside the outer sleeve and behind it for ease of access and to protect the outer sleeve.  I like the Sleeve City Deluxe Oversized Ultimate 5 mil sleeves.  They may take up a little more space, but aren't too snug and easily accommodate double albums.

I often leave the shrink wrap on the outer sleeve if it has hype stickers.  While I recognize that sleeves with flaps are "better", I strongly dislike them, especially the ones that come with Japanese pressings with the sticky stuff on them. 

If I see the shrink wrap starting to deteriorate on any of my records, or detect mold, I may change my ways, but I've yet to see that happen and will probably be dead before it becomes an issue.

I use Sleeve City 5mil and oversized 5mil outers for all my single, gatefold, and trifold jackets, and I have for years. I have some 5000 LPs (including many box sets that don't count towards the outer sleeved records). The outers take up extra space but are worth it.

Ask me about records jackets with ring wear....oh, wait, no, don't...I don't have that issue. :)

@baylinor    +1

I keep my home at around 50% humidity and the only mold problems are when I've bought secondhand LPs.  I do what I can to deal with those, and once I can't smell any more mold, I put them also in outer sleeves, which would eliminate any transfer of the odor. 

I use MFSL clear outer sleeves.  The method described by baylinor reduces dust and wear to the jacket as well as not interfering with reading the spine.  Jacket wear does devalue LPs if you ever sell them, and of course dust is one of the main culprits in record noise.

@drmuso 👍

@baylinor I think we're up to +3. Collecting since '64, my collection contains about 4K titles. Started using those plastic lined inner sleeves with a yellowish pattern in the early 70's but found they sometimes leave patterned impressions on vinyl. Then started with VPR 'rice paper' type sleeves (you can now find generic types) as well as the poly outers since the 70's. 99% of my lps have these. A little pricey, but worth it in the long run. As baylinor stated, insert lp jacket 'mouth' first into the jacket, keeps dust out and leaves the index (mostly) readable. Always use poly outer sleeves, always. Keeps the jacket/cover ring and damage free. Store the factory inner sleeve (and any other inserts/posters or whatever) inside the jacket. The vinyl is kept outside the cover (without any damage problems), either inside the poly sleeve in the back, or if particularly valuable in a plain holed generic cover, sometimes referred to as a 'disco' sleeve. At times inside the same poly sleeve or an additional one if necessary. Use the mylar type sleeve with the sealer strip on the more valuable titles along with the outer poly sleeve. Can't remember which one is polyethylene and which is polypropylene (I think this is the 'mylar' type). Dust is a constant battle living in Arizona, and these methods have served me well for decades. If the outside poly sleeve gets distorted in any way, they're replaced with a new one. Oh, never a mold problem here, always dry and air conditioned. All lp's are naturally stored vertically in 1 1/2" X 10" white pine shelving I constructed myself. Many different ways of preserving your valuable collection with proponents of each. These just work best for me, trial and error being my teacher. Regards, Arizona Bob