We are reaching the point where power is back on, town clerks and records managers have their own affairs in order and now people will begin to start checking out their file rooms and vaults.

Mold and mildew and water damage are big issues on the East Coast and Northeast. I hope that those in affected areas will take a moment to check their vaults. Even if you have no actual flooding, the walls of concrete vaults may be supersaturated and the records inside these rooms are exposed to high humidity.

Many of these concrete rooms are not even equipped with air conditioning. This is a ticking time bomb that will have damaging effects on the records and especially the older records.  If your Town Halls have deed books and records that go back into the 1700's you will have documents written with iron gall ink and these are especially affected by high humidity or moisture.

Your air conditioning should be run on low temperatures to dry the air. Special dehumidification is necessary. You need to keep air moving, replace the moist air with dry air. Records stored near the outside walls and records that sit on the floor (records should never sit on the floor but I see it all the time) will draw moisture up into the records. (You need to draw down the humidity to really low levels to reverse the moisture problems or you will be sending them out to be freeze-dried at the next level which is far more expensive than acting proactively.)

If you have any concerns you should call in an expert (Munters, ServePro, etc.) to dry out the area.  I can't tell you how important it is to act quickly.  This is where the requirements about Spoliation lend some credibility to your desire to remediate the records.

YOU ARE THE RESPONSIBLE PARTY and that carries with it special legal liability.  Your goal should be to make a recommendation to your management and legal teams on the necessity to protect these records or ask Legal for their opinion. Remove the liability from yourself by asking for action. The NFPA 232 Standard greatly increased your line of authority.  But it also creates new liability. Destruction is destruction. Fire, arson, degradation by environmental conditions.

Two months from now when your heating system comes on and the mold accelerates, and people start to complain of allergies it will be too late. The mold will now create a much more costly remediation.

Lower the humidity now, fungicides may be required. Changes out the boxes as you will not see the damage if you do not look inside.

Act now and by Christmas you will say "Hugh is a worrywort, we didn't have any problems." or do nothing at Easter you will be writing to the Listserv asking for help in dealing with mold.

If anyone has gone through this, maybe you could offer some guidelines.  Your building lost power, your air conditioning and air movement stopped for days, your concrete is saturated with water. You need to act now.

I am still without power. I am without phone service.  No water at the house. My wife is about to kill me. (I deserve it!) The big Verison switch that serves our area lost power, their generator was fried. So how about that Cloud???  No power, no internet, people working at home..........  How is that Cloud working now?????

If you were a hero in the past, share your secrets.

Hugh Smith
FIRELOCK Fireproof Modular Vaults
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(610)  756-4440    Fax (610)  756-4134
WWW.FIRELOCK.COM

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