Damp damaged photos can be an issue if you do not handle them properly. Photos can become damp for a number of reasons. A flood in your basement. A broken water line. Even a fire in your house and the moisture from the fire being put out. But how you deal with it can determine how your photos will survive.
One of the first things that you should do is make sure that your photos are not touching anything. The front of the photo can get stuck to other items such as glass, plastic or even other photographs. The best thing to do is to take the damp photos and lay them on a white towel. Make sure that the image surface is pointing upwards. Do not stack any photos together until they are completely dry. Depending upon how damp the photos are this may take a few minutes to several hours.
In this video I talk about things that you should do and not do https://youtu.be/FbV1SCUv6_0?si=qcgXYBiTazpZYsno
Like so many things online there’s a lot of bad advice out there. Dealing with damp damaged photos is no different. Do not put them in the dryer. Do not put them in an oven. NEVER use a hair dryer. Do not use a heat gun or a blowtorch. Do not set them outside on the grass in the sunshine
If you are in Lethbridge or in Southern Alberta I would be happy to help you preserve, copy, restore and make digital copies of your damp damaged photos. I have over 38 years experience in dealing with photo emergencies.
