Wet Books and Documents: Precautions when Trying to Dry Them

Documents and books are some of a person’s most prized possession. They are however, commonly made of paper and as everyone might know that these materials are delicate and damage prone. This is the reason why extra care should be given to them. They must be handled properly and kept in safe storage places. The simple thought of these documents getting lost or ruined is saddening. But it cannot be helped that there are accidents and natural occurrences that can happen which may leave your most treasured documents and books wet. In case this happens, you need not to worry because they can still be saved. There are several methods of document drying and the best thing about them is that you can do them right at your own home. So pay close attention and read well because you’ll never know when you’ll need to use any of these methods for document drying.

There are several things you must keep in mind in order to save your books and documents once they get wet. First, equip yourself with the right information about document drying. You can’t just dry your documents by yourself without knowing the right way of doing it. This may cause further damage to your documents instead of saving them. Second, act fast. Paper is delicate and gets easily damaged especially when they get wet. Remember that wet books and documents can easily get torn, have the tendency for papers to stick to one another, inks to blot and molds to grow. Drying documents as quickly as possible can help prevent these things from happening. Third, know what type of books and documents you are handling and the degree of wetness they got. Certain precaution on handling wet books and documents depend on these.

These precautions are:

For wet books:

When books have fallen open, do not attempt to close them. On the other hand, if books are closed, do not open them.

Keep the book as how it is. Do not take apart books parts.

Do not attempt to squeeze the water out of a wet book.

For unbound documents:

Some documents may use water-soluble ink. Do not try to blot these documents as the ink may fade.

Keep documents in their proper sequence to prevent confusion and losing documents.

For documents using photographic material:

Do not let these documents touch one another.

The side of the photograph with print should not be touched.

Once you have taken the necessary precautions in handling your wet books and documents, it is time to choose what method of drying documents you would like to use. There are several methods which can be done at home. You must ensure that consideration of the proper conditions should be done and procedures should be followed meticulously.