Saving Important Documents After a Flood

3/24/2019 (Permalink)

Your client calls to report that the basement of his or her business in Fallbrook, CA, has been flooded. The big problem is that the flood saturated many important documents. As distressing as this can be, there is hope. The documentation restoration process used by water damage experts is designed to save important documents, even if they have been damaged by flooding. Here are some techniques that the professionals use to make sure your clients don’t lose valuable data.

Drying

SERVPRO uses the same freeze-drying methods employed by the Library of Congress to save wet documents. Many types of documents can be restored this way, including:

• Invoices and other paper documents
  
• Books or manuals
  
• Files
  
• Photographs
  
• Blueprints

Document drying starts with freezing the damaged items. Once frozen, they are placed in a vacuum chamber, removing air. Moisture turns to vapor, and even more, vapor is released as the chamber is slowly warmed.

Sterilizing

If the flooding was caused by a storm, it is likely that the document restoration process will include sterilization. Storm water is considered Category 3 water, which can contain harmful bacteria. Gamma irradiation is used to combat this bacteria. Gamma rays can pass through fibers and kill bacteria at the DNA level by breaking up covalent bonds. Because no heat is produced in this process, it is safe for delicate documents.

Digitizing

Another way that SERVPRO can help your client retrieve their damaged documents is with digitization. Converting important data to digital files can help save a lot of storage space. Digital documents can also be stored remotely, freeing them from the dangers of any flooding, fire or damage to the building that may occur in the future.

If your client has a flooding disaster that damages important documents, there is probably no need to panic. When you choose SERVPRO as a preferred vendor, its document restoration team can help your client retrieve the important information needed to run his or her business.