Are my records okay?

About 6 years ago I moved to a different country. I only thought I would be gone for a year, but things got complicated fast.

Before I left, I bought 3 of those cheapo flight cases and put all my LPs in there, and stuck them in my friend's attic (in L.A. - it gets pretty hot in the summer in attics). They've been there ever since.

There's nothing super valuable in there - lots of 90s indie rock and hardcore, mostly - but many sentimental and pretty hard-to-replace items. I guess my question is... are my records okay?

feel like this could be a paul auster novel, for pitchfork readers. just knowing they're there, w/a schroedinger's cat dimension to whether or not they're decomposing.

i think you should call your friend and find out?

feel like this could be a paul auster novel, for pitchfork readers. just knowing they're there, w/a schroedinger's cat dimension to whether or not they're decomposing.

written from the POV of the records

protagonist is a retired, cranky recluse, onetime owner of record store that went out of business in 2008, this is a couple of years later, he doesn't leave the house much, listens to internet radio. guy whose loft the records are in is somehow otherly, young, sharp, keen. stilted phonecalls between the two.

i think you should call your friend and find out?

This is slightly complicated. It sounds made up, but it's true: The ladder to her attic decomposed within the last couple of years and she removed it. My belongings - including my records - are all that's up there. I can't really ask her to get it fixed just so she can check on my records. She said "we'll sort it out when you move back here," but I'm not sure when that will be.

The attic is above her garage, so I bet it's really hot in there. I bet the records smell musty now. Once they're back in my future house, will the musty smell that they might smell like eventually go away?

sure

Would the heat have warped them?

yo, i bet theyre ok. you wouldnt BELIEVE the disrepair some collections fall into, only to be rescued when someone decides to sell em all to a store. id be shocked if theyre irreparably damaged. that said, take your anxiety as an opportunity to check up on em, even if you have to like BUILD A LADDER or something.

but like lemme say this: this thread describes my general anxiety to a tee. i guarantee that, over the course of the next five years, i will revive this thread more than anyone else :)

not like it's a competition, i just mean -- i worry too.

i think they'd be fine if they are in cases. direct sunlight and moisture are the killers of records. they would be dry in the cases and protected from sunlight. the actual heat of the attic probably wouldn't do much unless the actual heat of the attic were 200 degrees or higher.

not that it's, like, an ideal place to have records or anything...

Thank you for your reassurances.
I am supposed to be in San Diego over Xmas, and I have started to put together a plan to drive to L.A., buy/rent/build a ladder/trampoline, and go check on them.
I will report back.

godspeed dogg

records warp if theres an imbalance in heat on the record.

i.e. direct sun on one side, other side cooler.

If they are in a trunk, the heat will more than likely be consistent.

let's hope there aren't any in shrink.