500 albums in a basement flood--worth saving?


Hi--just had 6' high (relatively clean) water fill basement during recent hurricane/tropical storm. Lost everything down there including 500 albums: some late 60's rock, 70's & early 80's rock, some jazz and a few classical, most in pretty good shape prior to this. Couple of Original Master Recordings. No turntable at the moment. Insurance not covering.  Question: is it worth peeling/discarding album covers, buying 500 new sleeves, buying record cleaning machine (lots of time & labor), or just toss the lot?  Are they worth anything without the covers, just inner sleeves (what type are best, paper or plastic?)?  What is average value?  TIA.
 
tt1man

Showing 4 responses by tt1man

@terry9 --sorry missed you. Will check out those vinyl Stack and ElmaSonicproducts. Thanks for the good thoughts.  Could use some positive energy right about now.
Thank you all for your comments and helpful suggestions. I decided to start removing them and discarding the wet jackets and sleeves to start...didn't have the heart (yet) to just toss everything.
Next step, if this task doesn't overwhelm me with the other major basement cleanup and restoration issues at hand, would be to borrow or buy a record cleaner. Any reasonably priced volume/speed capable units out there? Is an ultrasonic tank also needed? 

Which type of replacement liner is best: plastic, paper, combo?
BTW, still freaked out from this incident which nearly did me in. Went down to the basement during the heavy storm to check for water as our entire backyard was a deep lake (all our stacked firewood had floated away like an Oregon logging camp). As I approached the steel door to the outside (6.5' below grade in a stairwell) it, with the door frame, exploded inward and shot towards me like a surfboard barely missing my chest. Torrents of water poured in from the backyard over and into the stairwell like Niagara Falls instantly filling the basement. Shocked, my first thought was the electric outlets quickly getting soaked (electrocution), so instead of making a run (swim) upstairs, stepped back and up on a table. As the water kept rising to the tabletop with everything floating and jammed together I made decision to jump in hoping not to get zapped. Barely made it to the stairways up to the house (picture Creature from the Black Lagoon). Water reached to step 9 of 12--6' high. Unbeknownst to us, our 120 gallon water heater had toppled over severing the hot and main cold water feed. Sump pumps were either out of commission and/or overwhelmed, Next day I rented an industrial pump and began pumping outside from the stairwell, but all the time (2 days)  ~ 55,000 gallons of water (7,000 cubic feet) were pouring in from the overhead pipe keeping everything filled.
Water Co. guy finally made it in to discover this and shut the valve. The water reached halfway up the main electric 200 Amp service box, but somehow(?) only 3 GFCI breakers tripped, so we still had some electric upstairs.  Electrician couldn't explain it.






@dekay --thanks for the Groovemaster link and other stuff@bigkidz --know Michael.  Was going to call him about another subject soon, but good idea to discuss this personal "rekkid" problem@lewm - good points, debating that save vs. toss right now due to time constraints. Just don't want to regret it later on when I get a TT down the road@oldhvymec--helpful cleaning tips. The outside water was mixed with the house water and I'm not seeing too much, if any, apparent silt or dirt on them so far, just some moisture@millercarbon--see above about water mix@stereo5 --all staying flat so far@pjr801--the plan is to save, but best laid plans can go astray@gary7--hope the big wind never hits.  Think about separate rider on your policy covering them if not already, and if your insurance company would accept. Do you need flood insurance in your area?@jjs49-- thanks for the thought
@three_easy_payments-- mine sound best when I hold them up to my ears at a 45 degree angle.