water damage? this weeks vinyl care q..

[vinylism]

.. bit of a calamity with water leaking through ceilings and acres of 45's dampened in spirit

apart fromt the obvious (live somewhere with decent plumbing), anyone got any tips on how to return them to their previous luster? managed to salvage most but i notice some have some ugly markings now

[platerpus]

brings back very bad memories.......years ago my records suffered badly when a hole in the roof had let water in which built up in the flat above me (the occupants of which were away on holiday)...the water then brought down my entire ceiling....my records were stacked in piles on the floor and i watched in horror as the water turned from a slow drip to a steady pour to a final torrent complete with plaster etc....i was picking up piles of records and throwing them into the hallway in a blind panic....the living room floor was two inches under water...a very nasty experience indeed....water damaged sleeves...sleeves stuck to records....but i bounced back!

[effi_deep]

.. bit of a calamity with water leaking through ceilings and acres of 45's dampened in spirit

apart fromt the obvious (live somewhere with decent plumbing), anyone got any tips on how to return them to their previous luster? managed to salvage most but i notice some have some ugly markings now

this is gonna be difficult to explain in english but i try:

you'll need an old windowglass (it has to be very even and clean), one or two cardboards that can absorb some water (with a ruff surface, but of course, not too ruff either), and some heavy weights (lead or something).

you first make the sleeve a bit wet (only the markings and a bit around them). the easiest way to do this is with a sponge.
then you put the sleeve on the cardboard, put the glass on the sleeve and then the lead on the glass.
then leave it for maybe three hours that way. then you may have to change the cardboard and leave it for another maybe 12 hours (best is, when you change the cardboard around 2 - 3 times).

after that you should have a flat sleeve with no more markings.
this works best when you open the sleeve on the sides (where it's glued together) carefully with a very sharp knife and after the whole procedure you can glue it together there with a special glue. works perfectly when you are patient enough. otherwise you gonna destroy your sleeve for ever

hope you can use that "recipe". tell me if you need some illustrations


- i worked for two years in a (what do you call it?) store where people bring pictures and want us to put it in a frame. so we had many old pictures that we had to restore. many with waterdamages. and this worked always perfectly and its easy to do. i tried it on several sleeves -> they looked really almost new after that, like fresh from the press. try it! -

[vinylism]

thanks, i'll give it a try (once I locate some sheets of glass to press them between!)