Irreplaceable History Trickling Away

2/7/2018 (Permalink)

Don't let water damage destroy priceless memorabilia.

The worst type of water damage isn’t always the damage caused to the building, but what is inside the building.  This is the case for the library department at Eastern New Mexico University located in Portales, New Mexico.  While faculty and students alike were at home enjoying the last week of their winter break, a disaster struck.  Unbeknownst to them a pipe in the ceiling busted due to the cold temperatures.

When the faculty returned to their beloved library, they arrived to find a portion of books located in their closed stacks area to be damaged by water.  Due to the busted pipes in the ceiling, water began to build up until the ceiling boards.  After enough buildup the ceiling caved in causing water to rush downwards, building up on the floor, corrupting invaluable history in the form of literature.

This was the true disaster awaiting the library staff on their return from their winter break.  Some books had autographs of authors long past, but the text can still be bought anew.  Other documents were of intimate history directly related to the school, such as editions of the student newspapers dating all the way back to its inception in 1934.  With no digital copies available, these snapshots of history are in danger of being lost forever.  Maybe the biggest lost for the library is the Mexican Antiquity Books.  A collection of 9 books dating all the way back to the 1700s.  The monetary loss of these books (worth thousands of dollars) is nothing compared to the loss of history and culture stored in this books.

No matter the damage to these books, hope has not been lost.  The university took the proper procedure in this situation.  They called a restoration company to help remediate all of the damage.  In this scenario that includes document recovery.  Started by flash freezing the papers then putting them through a process that transfers the water directly from a frozen state into the evaporated state, thus skipping the liquid state; the chance of recovering these documents and their information is still possible. 

The best defense against unwanted water damage is constant maintenance and upkeep of your pipes.  Although accidents can occur no matter how prepared you are; in such a situation don’t hesitate to call SERVPRO of NE Albuquerque, were here to help 24/7, day or night.  You can reach us at (505)-828-3567