Wet documents: what to do in the first 48 hours

After water damage, time matters. In a warm, damp place, mould can appear within 48 to 72 hours. What you do in those two days often decides what can be saved.

Your safety first

Switch off the electricity before entering a flooded room. If the water came from sewers or a flood, wear gloves and a mask: the water and the documents may be contaminated.

Photograph before you touch

For your insurer, photograph the damage and the affected objects before moving them. Note what got wet.

What not to do

• Do not dry with heat: no radiator, hair dryer or direct sunlight. Paper distorts and inks run.
• Do not force apart sheets or photographs that are stuck together.
• Do not unfold a soaked sheet, and do not press a wet book to wring it out.
• Do not leave damp documents in a closed plastic bag at room temperature: that is where mould grows fastest.

What you can do

1. Get the documents out of the water and out of the damp room, starting with the most precious.
2. Air-dry them in a cool, ventilated room. A fan can move the air, but not blow straight onto the papers.
3. Lay sheets flat on unprinted absorbent paper (white kitchen roll, blotting paper), and change it as soon as it is damp.
4. Books that are only damp: stand them up, slightly fanned open. Soaked books: lay them flat, with absorbent paper slipped in about every twenty pages.
5. Photographs: do not touch the image. Let them dry face up; if they are stuck together, do not pull them apart.

If you cannot dry everything within 48 hours

Freeze. Wrap the documents or books in greaseproof paper, then in plastic bags, and put them in the freezer. Cold stops mould and distortion. There is no rush after that: you have bought time to have them treated properly.

Then

Contact me with a few photos. I will tell you what can be saved, in what order, and how. For institutions and insurers, I also come on site to sort and assess a collection.