General Forum

As some of you may know, I have been out of town on vacation for the holidays. Recently we received a call from our landlord telling us our pipes had burst and we had flooding in our apartment...up to 2 inches. Unfortunately, we won't be home until Sunday (and are determined to not let this ruin the rest of our vacation) but we do have a friend heading over there soon. 

I had my binders on the ground (autographs, player collections, MiLB sets). I'm anticipating them being ruined on at least the third row of pages. It is what it is. Cards are replaceable. However, is there anything that might be done to salvage or try to? Can they dry out? Is there a certain trick I should try?

Any info would be appreciated. I will most likely be re-vamping my collection lists on here soon once I am evaluating the damage when I get home. 

As of right now, the workers have moved them to a higher location in the closet, and I'm going to let them dry there. Also know that there isn't much to be done, but that I'm not the first one to deal with water damage which is why I'm reaching to the community as a whole for some advice here. Thanks in advance

Jason

No real answer to give you, but, man, that sucks! Sorry to hear about that.

Luckily when I had a pipe burst a couple of years ago I happened to be sitting in my card room wondering why a puddle of water was spreading from the wall. I managed to move most of the cards very quickly and lost very little.

i personally experienced something like that quite a few years ago and it was a total wash for me. cards stuck, stained, broke apart ..the only good thing about it was they had little value to begin with.

Sucks to hear that man, hoping for the best for you.

its never fun or easy to lose something that has consumed your life i have had this happen to me before not by a water pipe bursting and they all stuck together luckly it was 80's topps i believe and i ended up getting more all the cards that got wet were thrown out

I'm very lucky in the sense that the bulk of my collection is still at my parents house. Unfortunately what I do have is my personal collection that I intended to keep. 

As I said, I'm anticipating a total loss and then hoping to be pleasantly surprised. I guess I'll try the old dry them out and upgrade as I get the opportunity!

Yup, I concur. I had a washer leak thru the floor boards right on my error collection...lost cause, I tried drying agents etc., layed them flat with weights....but they just curled up anyway. Sorry it is a sinking feeling [no pun intended]. ~BOB~

Probably nothing to be done. Paper and water just don't mix. I must say that I admire your good attitude about it though!

Sorry to hear that man, water damage is very bad.  I've been there before, a few years before I got back into collecting.  My entire condo at the time flooded because a renter two floors above purposely plugged their drains and nefariously let their water run.  Everyone thought it was a busted pipe, until a further investigation was done.  Many units received water damage on the lower floors as well, not just mine.  The hallways below even flooded.  For me it was a similar time of year, the dead of winter, and I had to find another place to live temporarily.  My unit was nicely updated, only to then have the walls replaced, the flooring replaced, everything like furniture, rugs, and electronics near or on the floor were ruined.  It was a nightmare, but like you said, things can be replaced.  

I have suffered through a flood in an apartment due to a burst pipe (they estimated 200 gallons pumped into the place before they could get the water turned off). I lost about 12,000 cards. (This was about 25 years ago.)

Only good thing for you - if the binders are standing upright, the bottom cards in the 9-pocket pages may be ok. As long as they didn't take on any of the water, you may be ok. You may need to replace the pages, and I would get ALL the cards out ASAP. They may also have some moisture trapped in the paper - I would suggest getting those silica packets from the shoes and stuff and putting them in a large box with the cards from the binders (especially the ones in the lower third).

Of course, if the pages are not sealed completely on the 3 sides, there will be damage. Unless the cards are acetate cards, they're going to be toast. 

I wish you nothing but the best in salvaging what you can. I really hope for your sake you wind up losing very little, if anything.