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If youve been subject to a flood, hurricane, burst pipes, or some other
form of home disaster, you are becoming well acquainted with the
effects of water damage. Your best bet in a situation such as this is to
find a good flood recovery company and have them take you through the
steps that will get you back on solid ground and restore as much of your
belongings as possible. If you have had books soaked by water, these
take special care. Many people see their collection of books as one of
their most precious belongings and are loathe to see them destroyed. If
you want to make an attempt to save them, here are some possibilities.
The air will be your friend when it comes to recovering your books from
water damage. If your books have fewer than five hundred pages and they
are non-coated, you can attempt to get rid of the excess moisture
through air drying procedures. First of all, to prevent further
destruction, keep them closed and stand them on a table covered with
thin towels or some other form of absorbent surface. Let them stay
there, draining the excess water out onto the towels. Take some paper
towels and gently put them in between the covers of the book and the
pages themselves. Replace them when they get too wet. Continue doing
this, letting the books drain out, and circulating the air with fans,
until they go from being soaked to merely wet.
Your next step is to freeze the books. This will prevent the water
damage from getting worse. It stabilizes the material and will prevent
mold from beginning to grow on the pages. Unfortunately, the best course
of action is to freeze them quickly, as this will stop ice crystals
from doing additional damage. The home freezer probably wont be
adequate in this instance. If you do have access to a freezer that is
this cold, however, you will want to use it for this purpose. If not,
take your chances with the home freezer and understand that some
additional problems may occur. This is still likely to be your best
course of action.
Once the books are frozen, commence to freeze-drying them or thawing and
air drying them. Freeze drying is the best way, as it will take the
water directly from its solid state into a gaseous state, bypassing the
liquid stage which can lead to the running of the books inks. However,
comparatively few people have access to vacuum freeze drying.
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