How to Save Water-Damaged Papers and Photos

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Salvaging photos, books, and documents after every flooding incident is traumatic and never easy, since most of them are priceless. Fortunately, you can save most of your papers, documents, and photos, but only if you act fast and work with care and patience.

 

In this article, we'll give you tips on how to save water-damaged papers and photos so that you can still cherish memories and sentiments with your family.

There are several important documents that need saving from floods, such as:

After a flood, it is important to take immediate action to save your documents and other papers to avoid replacing or losing them forever. Here are some simple steps you can do:  

Step No. 1: Carefully relocate your papers, documents, or photos to a dry area having direct sunlight. The quicker you remove the papers from the water, the better.

Step No. 2: For paperbacks or books, put paper towels in-between pages and lay the books flat when drying them so the pages may have air in between. You can do a 20-page spacing out for the paper towels and avoid using paper towels with designs, so as not to absorb the print on your documents.  

Step No. 3: Use a fan to dry paper faster, not a hairdryer or other substitutes. The fan can increase the drying process more efficiently; remember to put the fan near the papers, facing up and away.

Step No. 4: You can place paperweights on the edges of each paper so that it will not curl and fly away.

Step No. 5: Every now and then try to replace wet paper towels with dry ones to make the drying process faster.

 

If after the flooding you happen to be busy with other things or you forget to dry your water-damaged papers immediately, there is still a solution — put the water-damaged papers in a Ziploc bag and freeze them. This will prevent mold from growing on them or the papers from deteriorating.
    

Photos that Can Be Saved from Water Damage

Saving photos can be tricky if you are not careful and don’t know how to handle them properly. Typically, there are three kinds of photos and each can be recovered differently.

 

The drying of photo albums is the same as that loose photos, but small steps must be taken beforehand.  

 

Drying framed photos is similar to drying photo albums; the only difference is the removal of the frames.

With flood- or water-damaged papers, documents, and photos, it is highly essential to act quickly to stop the progression of the damage. At ServiceMaster Pinellas , we offer expert content and document drying services in Clearwater to professionally and properly restore your documents to pre-loss condition.   

 

You can contact us at (866) 599-0871 or through our website at https://www.servicemasterbypwf.com/contact-us/ for your residential and commercial damage restoration services, especially when it comes to property inventory and salvaging sentimental belongings.

ServiceMaster Pinellas 's content and document drying restoration teams will present you and your insurance representative with as many cost-effective options as possible.

 

We have a team of technicians that uses advanced tools and techniques to restore documents by:

Since 1990, ServiceMaster Pinellas , your water damage restoration company in  Clearwater, has been providing comprehensive emergency restoration services to homes and businesses in Clay, Duval, St. Johns, and Pinellas Counties. We also offer other services like: 

For details, check out our website at https://www.servicemasterbypwf.com/.