Help with waterlogged Vinyl

[captainwrong]

I had a flood last night. Looks like about three inches of water got in. The biggest thing I've lost, so far, is a crate of LPs. Some were in polybags and the ones that didn't leak were fine. The rest are throughly wet.

My question is, what can I do about these records at this point? The covers are trashed, I know. But, having seen water damaged records in the wild, I know these things have a tendency to get moldy. I'm assuming my best course at this point is submitting a list to my insurance and hoping for the best, but is there anything I can do to salvage these records at this point, or should I cut my losses and move on?

Sorry if this has been asked before. As you can guess, it's been a nerve wracking morning.

[RDK]

Dry them out - they'll only get moldy if they're allowed to stay damp. Clean the vinyl and all should be fine (relatively).

[michel1969]

I had a flood last night. Looks like about three inches of water got in. The biggest thing I've lost, so far, is a crate of LPs. Some were in polybags and the ones that didn't leak were fine. The rest are throughly wet.

My question is, what can I do about these records at this point? The covers are trashed, I know. But, having seen water damaged records in the wild, I know these things have a tendency to get moldy. I'm assuming my best course at this point is submitting a list to my insurance and hoping for the best, but is there anything I can do to salvage these records at this point, or should I cut my losses and move on?

Sorry if this has been asked before. As you can guess, it's been a nerve wracking morning.

I would place the record on a 100 % cotton tissue ( if you understand what i mean sorry for the bad english) in a place where there is fresh air + shadow + very dry, and let them dry. I don't think they will get moldy if they dry soon. After that, vacuum cleaning for all.

Edited June 4, 2008 by Michel

[Neal Pomea]

Sorry this happened!

Take them out of their jackets for sure and dry them all off. Once they are dry you can clean the records with distilled water only and a soft cloth. Tap water has too many chemicals.

[captainwrong]

Lucky for me, I have a Nitty Gritty cleaner.

Unlucky for me, Impulse gatefolds suck up water like a shammy.

Thanks for the tips guys. Got the records dried off and in new sleeves. Now I'm trying t dry out as many covers as I can. Some are total loss though (Ayler Holy Ghost, for instance.)

[Teasing the Korean]

Get them on that Nitty Gritty machine right away.

Sorry this happened.

Edited June 4, 2008 by Teasing the Korean

[sidewinder]

Sorry to hear this - I feel the pain.

Yes, natural drying and early treatment in the 'Nitty Gritty' machine should do the trick.

[Big Beat Steve]

Agree with what's been said. Fast drying is essential.

And even then ...

Over the years I've come across quite a few LP's with evident severe water damage to the jackets but pristine vinyl. And this even in cases where even the INNER SLEEVE was water damaged and all wavy. Figuring that somebody who went to the pains of getting a record dried and cleaned properly would also invest in a new inner paper sleeve, this makes me wonder if records sometimes even survive O.K. even without further treatment. Not that I would trust this, but it does mean not all is lost.

Good luck!

[RDK]

Well mold and mildew doesn't grow just because something gets wet; it grows when something gets wet and/or stays damp. Vinyl records dry pretty quickly as they don't really absorb moisture. Paper jackets/sleeves are another matter of course. It's not that big a deal if the vinyl gets wet as it's easily cleaned. When one finds a collection of moldy LPs, it's often a case of them being stored in a cardboard box in a leaky basement. The mold grows in the soggy paper, not on the vinyl per se.

[AllenLowe]

hair dryer -

[six string]

I had this happen to me back in 1990. I was out of town for a week before I was able to return to the mess. My insurance company had a contractor out at the house within a day or two and one of the employees took the records out of the sleeves and wrapped them butcher paper but left the covers and sleeves together. The covers that weren't in plastic sleeves were the most damaged of course. Only a handful of records were damaged though and they were ones that had visible dirt/debris on them. I didn't have a record cleaner like you so my cleaning technique at the time couldn't save some of them. For many though, the lps themselves ended up being fine. Since you have a proper rcm, you should be fine. I wish I had bought one right away but my entire house was damaged and I had to live in a hotel for two months while they replaced walls, ceilings, flooring etc. not to mention me needing to replace almost all of my furniture.

When I say I feel your pain, I really do! Good luck.

[captainwrong]

My next question is, since I've had the covers laying out drying near a dehumidifier are they safe once they are totally dry or should I pitch 'em? I'm not using paper inner sleeves, I used the waxy Decca style plastic ones, if that makes a difference.

[michel1969]

let them dry a long time, but beware of wraping...you will have wraping unfortunately.

[six string]

My damaged covers were not taken care of properly fast enough so I ended up having to toss most (approx. 85%) of them. Some of them survived inspite of that and some of them did warp a little. If your record storage conditions are rather tight, it shouldn't cause any warping of the lp. At least I didn't experience that myself.