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Part of Restoration is actually three different jobs wearing one name
Photo restoration first steps when something is water damaged: the parts worth your time
Water damage develops over minutes to hours, and simple air drying is often wrong. The emergency sequence, and how to get a wet item out of its frame safely.
What to take away
- Call for advice early. The window in which decisions matter is short.
- Water damage does not show immediately. Effects can take minutes to hours to appear.
- Air drying is not automatically safe, because layered objects dry at different rates and flake apart.
- Unframing a wet item is sometimes necessary and sometimes the thing that destroys it. Check the surface first.
For photo restoration first steps when something is water damaged, this page gives the published emergency procedure that practitioners follow, not a maker profile.
The sequence
The Canadian Conservation Institute's note on the emergency treatment of water-damaged paintings sets the order. In an emergency, call a conservator as soon as possible; survey the affected area to assess the situation and ensure personal safety; then act to prevent further damage. In the United States, the American Institute for Conservation maintains a Find a Conservator directory.
Emergency water damage sequence
- Call a conservator as soon as possible
- Survey area and ensure personal safety
- Act to prevent further damage
- Expect effects to develop over minutes to hours
- Use controlled drying, not open-air drying
It also names the usual causes, which are domestic rather than dramatic: leaking or burst water pipes, flooding, sewer backups, and efforts to extinguish a fire.
Two observations change how a household should react. The effects of water contact may not appear at once and can take minutes to hours to develop, so an item that looks unharmed when you pull it out proves nothing.
It is realistic about access to expertise as well. Water-damaged material is likely to be in an extremely vulnerable state and a conservator should be contacted as soon as possible, but where expert help is not available, non-conservators can carry out the specific emergency procedures it sets out.
That last sentence is the important permission. Doing nothing while waiting is also a decision, and usually a worse one.
Getting something out of a frame
Wet framed material often has to come apart, because glass holds moisture against the surface. The Canadian Conservation Institute's note on removing a painting from its frame sets the preconditions.
Confirm the surface is stable; lifting or loose material can be lost during removal, and Never handle a large piece alone.
Place the item face down on padded blocks or foam positioned diagonally under the corners of the frame. Where there is no backing board, lay cardboard over the back to protect it while hanging hardware and nails are removed.
It also warns about what you are likely to find. Many pieces are improperly secured, with nails frequently driven at an angle through the stretcher into the frame, which makes removal difficult and requires special care.
For a family collection the translation is direct. A wet framed photograph needs the glass off before the emulsion sticks to it, but if the surface is lifting or the glass is broken and in contact with the image, that is a call rather than a job.
If the surface is already stuck to the glass, do not force it apart. Keep the item flat and support the glass. Call a conservator. A conservator may use freezing to release the surface, but do not try that on your own.
An order of operations at home
- Stop the water and make the area safe.
- Move undamaged material away first.
- Separate wet items so nothing is stacked.
- Get air moving with a fan on low and aim for a room temperature of 65 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Photograph everything before it changes.
- Freeze what cannot be dealt with within about forty-eight hours, if the material tolerates freezing.
- Ask for advice before attempting anything irreversible.
Our guide to what photograph restoration actually means covers who does which job, and the notes on the urge to clean cover why drying and cleaning are separate decisions.
