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[OM] Flood damaged photos, was: More Conversions

Subject: [OM] Flood damaged photos, was: More Conversions
From: Chuck Norcutt <chucknorcutt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2011 11:48:01 -0400
It may be a while.  I'm presently fully involved in trying to recover 
hundreds of our friend's old photos damaged in the flood.  As soon as 
they were allowed back into the house to assess the damage we helped 
them recover about a dozen very large photo albums.  They had been 
stored in very large boxes (about 48x18x15") in the basement family 
room.  They tried to move the boxes upstairs before they evacuated but 
the boxes were too large and heavy for them to move very far.  They were 
able to put them up on folding chairs or partially onto the stairs a few 
steps up but for many it wasn't good enough.  The water reached over 2 
feet deep and thoroughly soaked the bottom half of two of the large 
boxes with water backing up through the sewer.  Ugh!

In hindsight they should have removed the heavy albums from the boxes 
and carried them upstairs.  But you don't necessarily think clearly when 
in the middle of an evacuation order.  The same thing happened to this 
house in the (then) record setting flood of 2006 but there was only 
about 6" of water.  They thought their photos were safe.  But this flood 
set a new record since the river in their area rose 3 feet higher than 
the 2006 record.  The Army Corps of Engineers had previously had their 
area labeled as in a 500 year flood area.  I think two record floods in 
5 years may cause them to reconsider their designation.  But maybe not. 
  Had they been 25 miles east or west the rain would not have been 
nearly as heavy.  (Bad) luck of the draw.

It took a while but I did convince the wife that we were unlikely to be 
able to save everything and we needed a priority system.  We established 
a 1-4 rating with 1 being the highest priority... until we discovered 
the 0 priority items.  We ended up with about 1/4 of the stack labeled 0 
or 1 and everything else a 4.  I have made it (mostly)  through all of 
the 0 and 1 items but the 4s are still in the spare refrigerator in the 
basement here.  I realize they really should be frozen until I can get 
to them but I don't have enough freezer space.  I suspect most will 
ultimately be lost but am not sure.  But things rated 4 got that 
designation since it was assumed that most of those pictures have 
duplicates held by their children.

I tried to bone up on recovery procedures and everything I found told me 
that after 2 days it would be too late.  Well, it was 4 days after the 
flood before the development could be entered, albums recovered, placed 
in plastic bags and stored in our refrigerator.  And it wasn't until day 
6 that I could start disassembling the albums with the wife present for 
her judgment of what was really necessary to save.

The albums were of 3 types.  Some were heavy black paper pages with 
photos (mostly B&W) held in place by corner mounts.  These proved to be 
easy to deal with since the paper pages were turning to mush and the 
photos did not stick very much to the facing page. Carefully peel away, 
wash under cold running water, pat dry and place between a piece of 
waxed paper on the front and several layers of paper towel on the back.

Other albums were heavy paperboard pages with adhesive to hold the 
(mostly color) photos and an acetate (?) cover that folds over the 
photos and also sticks to the adhesive around the photos.  These are 
more difficult as the acetate cover can't simply be pulled up without 
pulling off much of the softened emulsion.  However, by running water 
between the photo and acetate the acetate loosens and can be gently 
pulled away.  I think I caused slight damage to 2 photos doing that but 
got most of them out OK.  Where water had thoroughly soaked the 
paperboard pages the prints peeled away from the page with relatively 
little trouble.  However, I did damage the backs of 2 photos by being a 
bit too agressive.  One was left with little more than the emulsion over 
about 1/4 of its area so I took that one immediately to the scanner to 
make a copy.

The third type of album (which I haven't tackled yet) is one with 
plastic pages and prints inserted into pockets in the page.  These are 
going to need to be cut open and separated under running water and I 
don't know how that's going to work out.  I suspect not well since these 
are the ones still in the refrigerator a full week after they were 
soaked.  They are also almost all color photos which do not fare nearly 
as well as the old B&W.  I've discovered that the heavy matte paper B&W 
separate easily from the waxed paper that I put on the front.  The B&W 
glossies stick to the waxed paper lightly but peel away without taking 
the emulsion with it.  The color prints are now giving me fits.  Some of 
them peel away from the waxed paper as easily as the B&W glossies but 
many of them don't.  I tried running water between the print and waxed 
paper but that caused a disaster.  The emulsion turned to gel and 
disintegrated.  But I discovered that if I put them in a warm toaster 
oven for about 20 seconds the wax gets softened and one can peel the 
paper back (very carefully) without damage.  But they cool very quickly 
and have to be put back into the oven multiple times.  This could be a 
very, very tedious process.

I think what I really needed was a ferrotype dryer but I haven't owned 
one of those since about 1985.  I've damaged a few prints and may yet 
damage more of the color prints before I finish.  But I at least saved 
the entire (B&W) wedding album and its 8x10" prints.  I think I'll scan 
it for them later so it can be backed up and digitally preserved.

Our flood displaced friends have now left here (after 6 days) and gone 
back to their house which has now had electrical power and water 
restored except to the basement.  The boiler, water heater, furniture, 
walls and carpeting have all been destroyed.  A new water heater has 
already been installed by their plumber but, as of yet, there is still 
no gas service there.  Fortunately, it will be a month or so before the 
boiler is really needed.

They still have a working cable line on the first floor.  The cable box 
was in the basement family room and is toast.  But the modem and router 
for internet and phone service were spared by being on a shelf about 1" 
above the water.  They've been recovered and I'll go over there this 
afternoon and install it for them upstairs until more repairs can be made.

If anybody has any suggestions about how to get the sticking waxed paper 
off the color prints more easily I'm all ears.  Also, when it does come 
off it tends to leave bits of wax behind here and there which gives 
parts of the print a hazy appearance.

Chuck Norcutt



On 9/15/2011 7:53 AM, usher99@xxxxxxx wrote:
> On Sep 14, 2011, at 4:34 PM, Chuck Norcutt wrote:
>
>   Not that I'd do such a thing of course. (reference some recent
>> Scotland landscapes I've not yet showed)  :-)
>
> Wondered when the Scotland shots might turn up.   Hopefully soon.
>
> Impatient Mike
-- 
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