I leave my gourds either outside or in an unheated barn. The gourds that are too thin will crack and rot no matter where you put them. The gourds I leave outside, I put them on wooden palettes up against a side of a building.
Kate

I don't have the problem with cold, but I have dried them in a number of different areas. I'm shelves, on my kitchen counters on window sills. Something i have done is when i start to see patches of skin molding or discoloring on the gourds I get a sharp knife and just start scraping it off. They seem to try faster this way and i haven't lost any gourds doing this. I did have one that collasped in on itself but i think that was for another reason.