Document Restoration Can Save Vital Records When Water-Damaged

By Thomas Mcguire

Most building managers are aware that water intrusion of any magnitude, resulting from a burst pipe, leaky roof or broken windows to a flood or hurricane, can be disastrous. Water can cause structural damage and mold growth, disrupt operations, displace tenants and negatively impact income.

However, one of the greatest threats of water infiltration into a building often is overlooked – the potentially irreparable damage to paper documents and microfiche, film and diskette files that become wet, soaked or soiled. Such materials also can be damaged by smoke during a fire.

Despite the hope and promise of a paperless workplace, espoused when computers became prevalent, the truth is there is more paper produced and stored than ever before. In addition to what is kept in individual offices and stored in boxes and cabinets of companies, vast amounts of paper, logs, records, journals and books are kept in storage facilities -- which also may be subjected to water infiltration or fire.

Unless vital information is duplicated electronically, much of it, such as medical records, legal documents and financial information, may be irreplaceable. In fact, most of the paper that is retained serves as a backup to ensure against failure of computer data storage.

Plan for Fast Response

Time is an enemy to successful document recovery. Any delay in the decision to dry the materials can result in permanent loss. Inks can break down, making the text illegible. Dirt and grime can penetrate the paper. Mold and mildew will grow quickly on water-soaked documents. Drying techniques must be employed as soon as possible to eliminate the moisture fungi use as a food source to grow. Otherwise, the microbiological contamination, and the associated objectionable odors, will continue, making restoration unlikely.

The best insurance against catastrophic loss of vital documents is to be prepared in advance of a disaster. Having a written Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) can limit the extent of damage by defining and prioritizing the recovery steps. Including a document recovery section in the overall DRP will detail essential steps and include contact sources for recovery.

The recovery process to dry and clean documents begins with two initial steps:

Freezing. In order to halt deterioration, it is essential that documents be frozen within 48 hours. Usually, freezer-equipped truck trailers or freezer warehouses are used for this stage. The frozen materials can be stored until the professional drying procedure begins.

Inventory and Sorting. While the documents are frozen, decisions can be made regarding which to dry and clean and which to discard; work can begin to prune unwanted materials. Loose documents and files stored in cabinets are packed into boxes, labeled to identify contents.

The next phase, drying, requires the technical expertise and equipment of a proven service provider.

The Drying Procedure

Depending upon the type and extent of damage, and the materials, different treatments may be recommended. There are two primary methods used to dry documents – desiccant drying and vacuum freeze-drying. A brief explanation will illustrate the purpose and applications of each:

Desiccant Drying. The frozen documents are removed from the packing cases and placed on racks and shelves in a large, vault-like 6,000 square-foot room. Applying desiccant dehumidification, the room atmosphere is maintained at about 68ºF and 12% humidity. Desiccants attract moisture molecules directly from the air and release them into an exhaust air stream. Desiccants can attract and hold from 10 to more than 10,000 percent of their dry weight in water vapor. The essential characteristic of desiccants is low surface vapor pressure. A cool, dry desiccant can attract moisture from the air because its surface vapor pressure is low. When the desiccant becomes wet and hot, creating high surface vapor pressure, it will give off vapor to the surrounding air. Vapor moves from the air to the desiccant and back again depending on the vapor pressure differences. Desiccant dehumidifiers use the changing vapor pressures to dry air continuously in a repeating cycle. In so doing, the continually moving dry air created in the drying room removes the moisture from the documents. Depending on the amount of moisture and documents being dried, the process can take from one to seven days to complete.

Vacuum Freeze-Drying. This method is used in cases where the documents may tend to warp or distort during desiccant drying, such as books or journals, although files and papers can be dried as well using this method. In such cases, it is important to save not only the paper, but also the integrity of the binding. The materials are placed in an airtight chamber into which negative vacuum pressure is induced. As a function of physics, moisture in the documents turns into a gaseous state. The “gas” is expelled from the chamber, where it is condensed into liquid, which is aborted. As a result, the documents go from the frozen state to being dry without ever becoming re-liquefied.

Cleaning

After drying of documents is completed, they are cleaned before they are assembled into new boxes, re-labeled according to the inventory and delivered to the owner.

Cleaning removes any dirt or grime and, more importantly, fungi spores. Trained staff clean each document using materials such as sponges and scrub pads, while avoiding the application of liquid solutions that would reactivate the moisture in the materials. In cases when they deal with mold spores, individuals wear personal protection equipment and follow standard procedures for spore removal, including the use of High Efficiency Particulate Arrestor (HEPA) vacuum systems.

Cleaning also is accomplished on non-paper materials that are not first dried, such as film, microfiche, x-rays and audio and videotape.

On-Site Drying Option

In some cases, disaster-affected entities require that documents be dried at their site. Confidential files, information needed on a regular basis or legal requirements all may dictate that situation. In such cases, an on-site drying facility is established on site.

In one such case, two million gallons of water from a burst pipe poured into a huge basement storage area at the Ontario government record center near Toronto, submerging many record containers. Others, partially submerged, wicked water up into the documents.

Following emergency procedures in a disaster plan, staff quickly arranged for standing water to be pumped out and damaged documents packed and placed in a freezer warehouse.

Officials then sought proposals for recovery. Damaged documents included historical and business records. The goal was to use the fastest methods to make critical documents usable and to save as many others as possible.

To save time, logistics and shipping costs, the document recovery provider established an 11,000 square-foot processing center in a rented building a short distance from the freezer warehouse. The space was prepared by sealing air leaks and creating a climate controlled environment by using portable industrial desiccant dehumidifiers.

The first work area was a thawing room, where frozen documents were identified, categorized, labeled and logged into a computerized inventory control system. Real time data was shared with the government's computers to provide tracking of materials as they moved through the system. In the second area, moisture was removed from the documents in a drying chamber.

At the same time, non-paper items, including x-rays and computer disks, which are not suitable to the freeze-drying process, were salvaged by desiccant drying. The document recovery provider had 35 people handling documents in two shifts six days a week. They processed 3,000 cartons of materials without losing a single document. Every document recovered was legible and usable.

John Barton, manager, Conservation and Reproduction, Archives of Ontario, said the project may have been the largest document restoration effort ever made following a single water damage event. He also said it was one of the most complicated.

Again, as illustrated in this example, restoration of documents can be assured. It requires advance planning, a Disaster Recovery Plan that includes document recovery procedures and contact information for the recovery service provider and quick action to freeze damaged materials according to the plan.

Thomas McGuire is National Catastrophe Operations Manager and Document Recovery Manager for Munters Moisture Control Services (MCS). MCS is the largest water damage recovery company in North America. McGuire may be reached at 1-800-422-6379 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .