Whether it’s from a natural disaster, humidity, or more severe contact with water, water damage brings us a lot of photo restoration business. We’d prefer to keep your family photos intact in the first place. Details on how to repair your damaged photos.

Accuweather: Protect Cherished, Irreplaceable Photos Before Natural Disasters. Imagine if your lifetime of irreplaceable photographs, representing the window on your family history were all lost? The focus of this Accuweather profile explains why there are a one hundred percent guarantee pictures will not be lost if digitized.

HOW TO RESTORE DAMAGED PHOTOS – Starting at $45.50. CLICK FOR DETAILS

Whether your house was flooded or caught fire, your prized photos probably suffered water damage. The first rule of handling water-damaged photos? Don’t Panic! You may be able to salvage many or all of your pictures. You might want to contact a photo conservation professional or consult a book on the subject, but here are a few tips:

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Six Essential Tips for Restoring Water-Damaged Photos

1. Act Quickly: Time is of the essence when dealing with water-damaged photos. Aim to start the restoration process within two to three days to prevent further damage. Consider having a friend or a professional photo restoration expert scan the images before attempting to separate them, ensuring you capture their current state.
2. Avoid Drying Out: Never let your photos dry out! As they dry, they can stick to one another and to any surfaces, making it nearly impossible to separate them without causing irreversible damage. Keep them submerged in water until you are ready to work on them.
3. Use Cold Water for Soaking: While restoring your photos, keep them in a container filled with cold, clean tap water—colder is better! Avoid adding chlorine to the water, but be sure to change the water daily. The chlorine naturally present in tap water helps inhibit the growth of fungi and other biological threats.
4. Rinse Gently: Rinse your photos in a container of cold, clear running water, taking care not to direct the water stream onto the images, as this could irreparably damage the chemical emulsion. Continue rinsing until the water runs clear.
5. Separate with Care: When removing your photographs or negatives from the water, do so gently, taking out the smallest number possible. Carefully pull them out of their wrappers and separate them without forcing. If you can’t separate them easily, it may be best to leave them submerged and try again later. Repeat this gentle separation and soaking process as needed, but be prepared for the possibility of some damage if materials are too stuck together.
6. Store Properly: Once you’ve separated your photos, keep them in water until you can wash them individually under cold, clean running water. This will help preserve their quality during the restoration process.

The Time To Digitize Photos is Before a Wildfire or Hurricane

• Hang-dry prints and negatives from a clothesline. Make sure they will not be exposed to dust. As an option, special solutions are available that facilitate uniform, spot-free drying when applied to negatives and slides.

• If your prints curl while drying, wet the paper side (NOT the emulsion!) with a moist sponge place each one between two pieces of acid-free paper or photo blotters, and leave them under a flat, heavy object for a day or two.

You can also learn more about modern photo restoration in our next article, “When Disaster Strikes.”