Preserving your precious family photos & videos after they’ve been exposed to water-damage can be challenging! We’ve had a number of requests after Hurricane Ian affected the Naples & SWFL areas.
Our lovely friend, Kathy Stone, owner of Calgary Photo Solutions, has shared a few photo preservation tips.
Tips for preserving water-damaged photos
🌀Don’t throw away your wet, muddy, or damaged photos or albums
🌀Don’t dry photos in a place with bright sunlight, wind, or dust
🌀Don’t pry wet or dry photos apart
🌀Don’t use heat sources (hairdryer, microwave) to dry photos
🌀Wear gloves and a mask when handling wet photos and albums
🌀Remove plastic covers and sleeves from photos where possible
🌀Put your wet photos and albums in plastic bags and freeze them
🌀If possible, layer wax or parchment paper between individual photos or album pages
🌀If you don’t have access to a freezer, put photos and albums in sealed plastic bags to try and keep them from drying out completely
🌀These photos must be cleaned within 48 hours, as mold will begin to grow
🌀If you have very old heritage photos, you may want to contact a professional photo restoration service and we can help!
Tips for preserving water-damaged videos & tapes
🌀Put them in the freezer! This will help mold growth and hopefully be able to convert your tapes
🌀Dry your DVDs & Blu-Rays as soon as possible, allow for several hours before trying to convert to ensure that there is no further damage to the disk or machine
For both photos & videos, thaw slowly and in batches to scan. Contact Kristen today for professional assistance saving your water-damaged photos & videos.