If you have ever been in severe flood damage you know what I am talking about. The first thing that hits your mind is that your precious documents are all destroyed. Papers, documents, books and photographs to name a few. All are professionally or personally very important. But what can you do now? Consider freeze drying your flood damage documents.



The flood damage has been done, your office is flooded, it is safe to return, you have made the call and you are now waiting for a company who is coming in refrigerated freezer trucks to remove your flood damage documents and freeze dry them. There are some things you can do to help speed up the process since time is of the essence. There are also some things you should not do while waiting.

First, the things you should do to help after a flood damage. Unless it is pouring rain outside, open up the windows. Getting a breeze blowing through your office will help. The next thing you should do is put the furniture up on blocks. This will help prevent mold from forming underneath the furniture. If drapes or blinds are touching the floor, get them off the floor and finally, make sure the electricity is shut off. This can make the other aspects more difficult but even if it is only the bottom part of the carpet that is wet, moisture and electricity are not a good combination.

The most important thing you can do to help with flood damage document freeze drying though is to go through your things and separate them by what is most important. If the flood damage documents are thoroughly soaked and will tear upon handling, leave them in the filing cabinet, but label the outside so the team knows what to work on first when they get there.

In addition to those things, there are some things you should not do after a flood damage. The first is turn on fans. You want the electricity off remember? So leave the fans out of this. You should not remove any furniture; only get it up on blocks and out of standing water if possible. If you have a file cabinet that you want saved, do not move it. Let the flood damage team do that when they get there. You should not, in fact, remove anything.

The most important thing is to not turn on the heater to help in the drying process. You have hired a company to freeze dry your flood damage things, let them do their job. Heat in a situation like this helps mold grow quicker and does not actually help dry the flood damage items, it only makes the environment humid, adding more moisture.

With these things in mind, you can be helpful in the flood damage freeze dry process and the company you hire will be appreciative because of it. Time is of the essence in a flood damage situation like this, which is part of the reason so many flood damage companies have refrigerated trucks, the refrigeration starts the freezing process before the flood damage documents are even at the building where they will be restored.