Drying Documents After a Water Damage

12/1/2021 (Permalink)

Your immediate concern after a disaster strikes your company may be the safety of your employees, commercial building, and business inventory. Once the task of addressing urgent matters is complete, the need to assess the situation and stabilize the company will probably be your next mission. One way to mitigate possible damage after a water disaster is the preservation of key business items such as wet documents.

Saving Business Documents

Flooding response time can often determine whether documents can successfully be saved. Flood water generally has a high pH level, so the longer the papers are in the dirty water, the more ink can bleed and pages can deteriorate. Some of the business documents in question may include

• Employee medical documents
• Personal identification papers
• Financial papers
• Legal documentation
• Emergency contact information

Removing water as soon as possible is essential because mold can begin to develop in as little as 48 hours. A professional recovery service can remove standing water and sterilize the documents with gamma irradiation that can be critical to prevent mold and other contaminants from ruining the papers.

Freeze-Drying Papers

By using a state-of-the-art freeze-drying method to protect valuable data, the loss of documents due to water damage can be dramatically reduced. The new document drying technique safely processes the paperwork until it can be addressed by a specialized team. The materials are vacuumed and then dried using a process known as sublimation. During sublimation, the water is removed in a gaseous state. The vacuum process can safely be used on wet documents such as

• Photographs
• Files
• Blueprints
• Books
• Parchment
• Microfiche

The restoration procedure may also include cleaning, disinfecting, and deodorizing all materials.

Restoring Vacuumed Materials

Restoring wet documents to their pre-damaged condition is nearly impossible, but a professional recovery team can stabilize the acidity of the water damage and quickly freeze the documents. Once the recovery is completed, the materials can often return to your business with almost no visible damage.

Call SERVPRO of Monroeville/Evergreen/Brewton at (251) 809-1260 for more information about document drying.