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Document Drying Services For Your Sewage Damaged Items

Document drying and restoration is easy if it's only for a couple of books. But if water damage affects an entire collection, you will need professional document drying services to recover and restore these items.

Once you are cleared to safely re-enter your library, follow these steps while waiting for document drying services to arrive:

1. Turn down the heat. The room should not be hotter than 18 degrees Celsius, or 65 degrees Fahrenheit. It would be easier for the pros from document drying services if the documents were already cooled when they begin salvaging procedures.

2. Install humidifiers and fans and continuously monitor humidity levels. Document drying services should be able to provide you with generators if the electricity is out.

3. Prepare packing and labeling materials such as freezer paper, cardboard boxes, grease pencils, and name tags.

4. Pack your water damaged collection the way document drying services do :

PAPER
Insert freezer paper between folders. Do not blot documents with soluble ink like watercolor. Quickly freeze these items or air dry. Put coated papers in boxes lined with garbage bags, then freeze. Remove prints and drawings from frames and pack separately.

MAPS AND MANUSCRIPTS
Siphon standing water out of map drawers. Remove the drawers from the cabinet and freeze them stacked up with strips of wood between each drawer. Pack loose maps in flat boxes, or plywood sheets covered in PE. Rolled maps should be bundled loosely and placed in freezers until document drying services arrive with special equipment to unroll them.

BOOKS
Do not open or close wet books. And do not remove their covers. You can wash away grime but do not rub. Run closed books in cold running water and pat lightly with a sponge. Wrap each book with freezer paper and pack spine down in a milk crate.

Books with leather, parchment and vellum covers should be your top priority because they quickly disintegrate when wet.

PAINTINGS
Separate paintings according to damage: damp, slightly wet, torn canvas, flaky paint, and dissolved paint. Drain off excess water, carry horizontally, and pack face up. Never touch the paint layer. Treat wet paintings in this order: first, the most valuable; second, the least damaged; third, slightly damaged and fourth, severely damaged.

Paintings that have slight water damage can be dried in the following way:

Lay down several blotting papers on the table, covered by a layer of tissue paper. Take off the canvas from the frame but do not remove it from its stretcher. Make sure the tissue paper is not wrinkled before you place the painting face down. Mark and trim blotters to the inside dimensions of the stretcher frame. Get a sheet of plywood or thick masonite and cut to the same dimensions, or smaller, to fit inside the stretcher keys. Put blotting paper at the back of the canvas. Remove and put another clean layer of blotting paper. Repeat these steps until the canvas is dry. If the tissue is sticking to the paint layer, leave it in place.

5. Label crates and boxes, indicating the condition of the contents as wet, partially wet, or damp. Use hand tracks and pallet movers to transport them.

6. Move the remaining dry books and documents to an air-conditioned room.

7. Clean and repair shelves after wet books and documents are removed.

These methods will not only help document drying services do their job faster, it will prevent water from further damaging your collection while you wait for professional help.

Article Source: http://articlescrub.com

Richard Barthallo is a water service advocate for Chicago Sewage Damage Cleanup and Document Drying

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