We can take some photos, slides and videotapes that have been water soaked, fire scorched and stuck together and recover them to a modest degree. Of course, the level of recovery depends upon the level of damage and abuse the photos and video tapes received in the fire and after wards. Since water and humidity are one of the most damaging of all compounds, getting any photos and video tapes out of the high humidity is the best place to start.

Air conditioning can help pull the water out of tapes, but allowing photos to dry together solid is more damaging than leaving them wet. Dried photos, stuck together take 4 to 6 times longer to recover and increase the overall level of damage that is incurred in the recovery. If any questions, put them in a plastic bag in a cool dark place.

Photographs and slides.

Best-case scenario: framed photos can be cleaned externally and no other action is required. Worst case is the level of heat burned the frame, the glass is partly melted and the photos has some levels of charring. As long as there is recognizable photographic elements we can copy and make a new “original” photos using today’s materials. Sorry, we can not work on restoring the original photos. We would only copy and make a restored copy.

Video Tapes.

Best-case scenario: the outer box is damaged and the original tape inside is undamaged and can be transferred to a new box. Intermediate case: the tape is mildly damaged, the bad part is spliced out and the tape is transferred to a Yes DVD for use on a TV DVD player Worst case is the level of heat is so great that nothing is recoverable from the heat and smoke damage.

Price is quoted per job, and prices can and do change quite a bit as we discover what is in each bag, bundle and box. The best thing is to allow us to see what is there ad give a rough estimate, with a cap on the total charge. We can do those that will yield the best results first, and spend less time on those that may be completely lost.

What we cannot do:

Inkjet prints on plain paper, SNAPFISH digital prints and thermal prints (like the ultrasound pictures of babies in the womb) do not recovery well if at all. The thermal are heat activated and once black they cannot be turned white again. Digital, inkjet prints will run, or worse the ink comes off unevenly and adheres to the back of the print it is stuck to and cannot be restored.