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Disaster Recovery

Damage to books and documents caused by water, fire, mould and smoke ranges from a simple disruptive inconvenience to a full-scale disaster. Very rarely will the damage be irreversible provided correct and prompt action is taken. Our experienced personnel help to direct appropriate actions by advising on disaster planning and will handle the necessary cleaning and salvage work to reclaim any damaged paper and bindings. Ensure piece of mind by subscribing to our priority service – Disaster Recovery Registration Scheme.

We are able to reclaim all forms of paper document including: files, contracts, books, plans, blueprints, archives, medical records, ship and haulage manifests, legal briefs and deeds.

	Prompt Response to Disasters A disaster, whether a small scale incident or a full blown emergency, especially when it involves the elements of Fire, water and smoke, can cause extensive and sometime irreversible damage to library holdings and archive material such as books, manuscripts, documents, newsprint, folios, maps etc. When a disaster such as this occurs, it requires a prompt response to minimise the damage.
	Water Flood damage, whether caused by extinguishing a fire with water, burst water mains, leaking roofs, sprinkler malfunctions, river floods, high sea tides etc. can, if left untreated, cause untold damage to library and archival materials. Irreversible damage can occur quickly if certain types of paper (i.e. glossy art) are allowed to dry out without proper interleaving with absorbent tissue. Water damaged material can also very quickly suffer from fungi attack if not dealt with promptly. Mould spores in the atmosphere soon find their way on to a natural organic material such as paper, cloth and leather. These microorganisms regard such material as a source of food and if the material is left untreated can deteriorate and become so severely weakened as to be unusable. Wet material should be deep frozen if any delay is anticipated in its drying out or treatment.
	Smoke Smoke damaged artefacts need to be cleaned in order to remove soot, grime, dirt, odour and in many cases sulphur dioxide.