If your items get wet from any type of water damage, or even an accident, it is important to act as quickly as possible to begin drying the items to prevent mold growth. You want to lay down layers of paper towel and place your items on top. Then lay a few more layers of paper towel on top of your items. Make sure the paper towels do not have any colored print. Leave them to dry for at least 24 hours. If you have access to a climate controlled area during the process, utilize the space. If you are drying materials during a power outage, after storm or flood damage, check on the status of your items periodically to see if there is any mold growth within the first few days.
If drying books, interleave paper towels throughout the book to help absorb water and moisture every few pages. After 24 hours, you may want to move fresh paper towels to pages that did not get dried during the first round.
Always wear nitrile gloves and a mask when working with items suspected of mold.
Determine if the mold is active or inactive…active mold will be fluffy and smear when you rub it, inactive mold will be dry and dust or flake when you rub it.
If it is active, place in a freezer in a plastic bag for 72 hours. On a non-humid, low wind day, take your items out of the freezer and remove them from the bag. Before treating the items, let them come to room temperature. Paper will be brittle right out of the freezer.
Take a natural bristle paintbrush and lightly start brushing the dried mold off.
If inactive, you may take the steps of brushing it off with a natural bristle brush or an electrostatic duster.
You may also place a soft cloth around the nozzle or brush attachment of a HEPA vacuum (High Efficiency Particulate Air filter). This is recommended for books or sturdy items. Not advised for single page letters or documents.
If something on your document, photograph, or book looks like it may be old, inactive mold, you can use UV light to see if a green-yellow glow. This shows a presence of mold. If you do not see the fluffy type of mold, discussed previously, the glow is probably showing inactive mold. You will still want to treat and remove this mold, to better preserve your item.
If when using the UV light, you see a purple glow, that is showing a presence of some other foreign material or just an age mark.
