How to Dry Out Water Damaged Documents

5/14/2021 (Permalink)

When you’re dealing with water damage in your home from a basement flood; a burst pipe; or a busted washing machine, your immediate focus is how to get the water to stop and get it out of your home. Once that is over, your thoughts will turn to your belongings, including furniture, rugs, and photo albums.

Your photo albums or loose photos that you have in a box or desk drawer contain years and even decades of irreplaceable memories. The potential for water damaged documents can also include family passports; birth or marriage certificates; and treasured books that can’t be easily replaced if at all. How could you recover those if they were soaked? 

We can help thanks to our state of the art drying technology at SERVPRO Stoneham / Wakefield. Our expert document and drying restoration team uses innovative vacuum freeze-drying techniques, including the same freeze-drying methods used by the Library of Congress to dry valuable historic documents and books. In fact, our vacuum freeze-drying process is the only method approved by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the General Services Administration (GSA). 

We also use gamma irradiation (no, it’s not the same thing as gamma radiation that you probably first learned about due to the Incredible Hulk) technology to safely and effectively sterilize and remove any bacteria from water damaged documents that were involved in a flood or septic tank backup.

Thinking ahead and you want to ensure you have copies of your priceless photos and documents? We also offer the creation of digital versions of your documents that you can access at the touch of a button.

Did you find this blog after a flood or burst pipe that resulted in water damaged documents? We’re your local Massachusetts document drying experts. Contact us here at SERVPRO of Stoneham / Wakefield for help with your water damage remediation.