Water Damaged Papers

One of the first things that you need to be concerned with after a hurricane or a flood is the condition of the important documents that reside in your home with your other belongings. These are often the original and only copies of such documents and losing them could cause us at the least some inconveniences and at the most, a good amount of legal trouble. You should know how to protect these documents in case a flood or hurricane or other water-related event ever affects them, but how to restore them should this happen is something else to be aware of.

Any documents should be removed from water before a period of 48 hours is up. This will almost completely insure that mold does not start to grow on these items, since once mold starts to grow on them, they must be thrown away. Mold loves to eat cellulose-based products like paper and cardboard. Lower the humidity in the home as much as you can and the temperature inside should be around 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Opening the windows and doors throughout your house should also help with lowering the humidity and helping with the air circulation, as long as the humidity outside is not higher than it is inside. Air circulation inside the house will also help dry things out.

Remove any standing water from the home and any documents found in it should be removed very carefully and put on a dry, flat surface. This will allow the paper to dry completely, but do not put documents on top of each other to dry. If papers are stapled together, take the staple out carefully and separate the pages.

The documents that are the most important to you and your family should be taken care of first and foremost. This will include items like birth certificates, social security cards, divorce papers, banking information, and warranties on any large appliance in your home. Other valuable information that is printed, but that you may not have stored on electronic media, will also need to be saved. Company presentation materials, a writer’s manuscript, and other valuable items should also be given high priority.

Items that you need to have taken to a freeze dry facility should be packed loosely in freezer paper. Loose leaf papers should be packed in boxes with other loose leaf papers and books should be packed with books. Keep these materials separated. After you get them packed up, make sure all of your contact information appears on the outside of the box.



Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Texas Residential Water Damage Restoration Contractors and
Water Damage Restoration companies across the united states.