Process Behind Document Freeze Drying for Contents Restoration

Flood Damage

The aftermath of a flood is an incredibly stressful period in anybody’s life. First, you need to get the water out of your property, which is often a huge challenge in itself. Secondly, there is the risk to the health of the people living or working in the property, and risk to the building itself – damp and mould will need to be removed to preserve and protect.

Thirdly, you have the damage to individual items that the flood will have caused. While there are many precautions that you can take in order to secure your more important items away in the event of a flood, unfortunately it is almost impossible to protect everything – there are always going to be things that get damaged.

Often these things can be fixed, or easily replaced. Things like furniture and electrical equipment may be expensive, but they are often covered by insurance. It is not a process that anyone enjoys, but there is a solution. However, there are things that may be seen as irreplaceable. Things like photographs, books, textiles, and important documents – these things are much harder, or even impossible, to replace, so if they get ruined, they could be forever. There is, though, some hope for them – freeze drying can help to preserve and recover these kinds of items – but how does it work?

The Process Behind Document Freeze Drying for Contents Restoration

As you have probably already guessed, the first step in document freeze drying is to freeze the items. They are frozen solid, before being placed in a specialist freeze drying chamber and then being subjected to a high-pressure vacuum. The combination of the low temperature and the air-pressure will convert the moisture within the item to vapour.

The vapour will then start to collect on the outside edges of the chamber, before turning into ice. Once this has happened, the temperature will be slowly increased to drive off any other vapours and remove any extra moisture that is bound into the items.

How effective is document freeze drying?

Document freeze drying certainly offers hope to people that have become the victim of a flood, or any other incident that has caused water damage to their documents. Unfortunately, the impact of the restoration really depends on the quality and consistency of the material that the document has been made from.

If your document is made from a few different materials, all with varying absorption properties, you may find that when you attempt the expansion phase the document will become misshapen. Furthermore, if you find that mould has made the ink bleed on the document, freeze drying will probably not be the best option for you when it comes to restoration.

However, document freeze drying does offer people that have experienced a flood some hope – there may be something that can be done to restore your items that would have once been assumed to be gone forever.

How can Ideal Response help?

If your property has been flooded, you will benefit from professional help. At Ideal Response, not only can we be with you within two hours of your call, but our highly trained team, using the best equipment, will be able to restore your property to as close to the pre-flooding condition as possible.

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We will work quickly in order to minimise the time that the building is out of action, and we will offer a full flood damage clean up service, from removing the water, through drying and cleaning the affected areas to setting up processes to ensure that there is no further depreciation.

Don’t let a flood stop you in your tracks. Contact us today and let us help you get back to normal as quickly as possible.