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What to do if documents or books are water damaged

Records can get wet from a variety of sources, from the extreme of flooding to the more mundane leaky water pipe. When records have become wet they are extremely vulnerable to damage. This danger increases as time passes, so urgent action is required.

In any salvage operation, your own safety should come first. Be sure the area is safe to enter, particularly that there are no live electricity wires and no risk of shelving collapsing. In some cases, you may have to take into account infected water, slippery floors, etc.

Paper items should be salvaged and dried out as soon as possible to prevent the material deteriorating further. If left wet, the paper becomes weak and mould will soon start to grow. Mould digests and stains paper, sometimes irreversibly, and poses a serious health risk to people working with the records. Many inks are water-soluble and will run when the document becomes wet. They will continue to run until it is dried out again.

You will need to prioritise what you can salvage. Some materials cannot stand being in water for very long at all, while other records can wait a little longer.

You should consider whether there is any material that can be replaced. If so, that material can be left to one side while the more important material is salvaged. Materials such as current books or newspaper microfilm items are relatively easy to replace so should be put lower on the list of salvage priorities.

Make the water-affected material your first priority.

Also, check all material in the affected area for dampness, whether obviously wet or not, and ensure that anything that is even a little damp is properly dried.

Once you have decided how much of the material needs to be salvaged, you then have to salvage material in order of fragility. The National Archives of Australia suggests items be ordered as follows:

1. Older photographic material such as pre 1950s colour formats, glass plate negatives, deteriorated film negatives, deteriorated black and white prints.

2. Books or pamphlets on coated papers-these papers contain a starch and clay sizing which becomes like glue once it is wet and then allowed to dry.

3. Magnetic media such as audio, video and computer tape.

4. Records with water soluble media, eg hand annotated maps, watercolour sketches, signatures in red ink etc.

5. Paper records which you know were very fragile before the flood, eg previously mould-damaged material.

6. Books with hand-crafted bindings.

7. More modern photographic material like contemporary colour material, recent black and white prints.

8. Paper based files.

9. Books on uncoated paper.

10. Photocopied reference material.

Drying needs to take place in a well-ventilated area. If fans or dehumidifiers are available, these will greatly assist the drying process. Otherwise open as many windows as you can to keep the air moving and to encourage evaporation.

When preparing material for drying remove any wet packaging material, record any information written on it, and throw the packaging away. Drying can be a risky process and each material type requires its own drying method to minimise this danger.

Here are some simple rules for drying various materials.

Plain paper documents/files

Handle with care as wet paper is extremely fragile. Separate wet sheets and interleave every few pages with paper towels or blotting paper. Spread the paper out as much as possible to ensure proper air circulation. Change the interleaving regularly to ensure rapid drying.

Books/volumes

Wet volumes can become badly distorted through water absorption. There is not a lot that can be done about this except to dry the volume out as quickly as possible. To achieve this, interleave the book every few pages with paper towels of blotting paper, sit the book on its base and fan the pages open. Change the interleaving regularly to ensure rapid drying.

Photographs

Place wet photographs in a tub of clear water and separate any that are stuck together. Dislodge any dirt by gentle agitation of the clean water then lay the images face up on kitchen towel. Never wipe the wet emulsion of a photograph. (See the section on Photographs for more information.)

Coated paper (picture book and magazine paper)

While the items are wet, separate each page and blot excess water off. Stand the books up on absorbent paper and fan the pages open. Keep checking the books and separating any pages that stick together while they dry.

Water-affected material will never be 'as good as new'. It will be distorted and stained, inks will have run and bindings will have swollen. But if dried as described above, this damage will be minimised.

When you are sure the material is dry (which may take up to a week) there is still much work to do. The material needs to be checked for damage and decisions made as to what is retrievable and what is not. If anything is dirty the dirt should be carefully brushed away with a soft brush. The material should then be placed in new packaging and returned to storage. You should also at this point ensure that the cause of the original flood has been dealt with. If this proves impossible, the material should be moved to another storage area.

If material has been damp for a long time before salvage, or if too long is taken to dry it out, mould can start to grow. Mould can be a health risk, and it would be well worth seeking specialist advice from one of the institutions listed in this booklet on how to deal with mould, should you see signs of it developing.