If you are experience the aftermath of a flood or have suffered severe water damage in your home or a storage area that contained important photographs you really don’t want to throw away, it is possible that effective water damage restoration could save many photos. Water damage restoration needs to be started as soon as the damage is discovered, preferably before photos stick together or to mattes and photo frames they may be positioned in.
If the photographs have not started to stick together but are wet, set them out on a clean surface immediately, facing up. You may want to set something heavy on the corners to hold them flat if they are starting to curve inward. Water damage restoration is relatively easy in this case, as most photos will dry out with clear pictures. If the picture is not clear, you can contact a photo restoration service to try and bring back the previous coloring.
If you have photos that are stuck together, then you need to use a water damage restoration process that involves soaking and freezing. Try not to touch the front of the pictures because wet photos can be very fragile. Soak them in slightly warm water for about an hour, changing the water if it becomes too dirty before the time is up.
If you are concerned with losing our pictures entirely by this soaking process, it is a great idea to take another picture of the one on top if possible. Most digital cameras will allow you to focus in close on a photo and recapture the image in a new picture. This digital file could later be sent to a service providing water damage restoration service if all else fails.
After soaking, the pictures should be loose enough that you can pull them apart with minimal damage. This will work in many cases, but may not work in all situations.
The soaking process can actually be effective for photos that are stuck to the glass of a frame. You may be able to still take a new picture of the picture in the frame, or scan it into your computer with the glass. This in turn could also be provided to a service providing water damage restoration.
Wet photos should be rinsed in clean water and then stored in a plastic bag, either individually or with wax paper between each photograph. After freezing them you can let them thaw out then let them air dry face up on a table or clean cloth or piece of plastic.
Do not dry wet photographs in direct sunlight. This method of water damage restoration for wet photographs may not work for photos that have been stuck together for very long periods of time or which were not in great condition to begin with.
If your home was in a major flood where your belongings sat for a long period of time before you could salvage items, make sure to take other precautions against parasites and diseases which are often in toxic flood waters. Pictures may need to be sanitized in other ways if they were covered in such water for a long period of time.
