Depending on the extent of damage, freeze-drying may be the safest way to restore documents that have been damaged by water. Conservators and archivists recognize freeze-drying as state of the art. Plan Ahead to Maximize Benefits of Freeze-Drying To minimize damage you should have a plan that you can put into effect immediately after damage occurs. For best results blast freeze documents in three to 10 hours. To prevent mold and mildew due to water damage, all bound volumes should be blast frozen and freeze-dried.
Blast freezing minimizes the size of ice particles in documents.
Freeze-drying removes frozen water before it can return to the liquid state. Other valuable documents should be frozen and freeze dried. Freeze drying is the safest procedure in both cases because the liquid state of water is the most damaging state. Only a true freeze-drying chamber bypasses the liquid state. This is the most effective way to restore water-damaged documents.