Cleaning flood damaged vinyls

My ultrasonic bath can fit upto 9 records at a time.

Sorry to hear about your flood damage Aceduck, and thanks for the mention Dtc.

I've read many threads on Audiogon, over many years, and should have signed up years ago! Anyway, it's my first post here..

Lots of good points made in previous posts here, and moldy records can be cleaned and improved, although the ultimate results depend a lot on how long they've been moldy and how bad they are. There's more than one kind of mold, and I've seen irreparable damage, with an "etched effect" on some customer's "problem" records. If this is the case then there may still be audible effects if the mold has damaged the vinyl, even if cosmetically the records are much improved.

You have a quality system that will be revealing enough to know if the "after cleaning" results are good enough, so I think the best thing to do would be to get me some sample records that I can pre-treat and then double-clean for you, so you can see/hear how you like the results.

The prices quoted above for Record Genie are correct (since March 2014) although mold remediation is something I normally charge $1 extra for unless it's just a couple of records as part of a larger batch.

Moldy records can't go straight into the ultrasonic cleaners (nor would you want them to) and must be carefully pre-cleaned before ultrasonic cleaning. I have a Spin Clean and a VPI 16.5 with a variety of products I've used successfuly, which can tackle almost any problem record. I avoid anything with alcohol in it, although I know others do use alcohol based cleaners.

Logistically, I'm based near Boston MA and have customers as far away as California who have had me clean as many as hundreds of records for them. I have special packaging "shipping kits" that I can send you to safely send a small sample batch of records, up to 18 of normal pressing weight. Just the records not the jackets. I don't normally deal with them, but jackets are a whole other problem, and likely cannot be saved if moldy, though it may be possible to clean and dry them, at least some of them, and there may be specialized equipment not normally used for record jackets that could be adapted and used to good effect.

As others have said, your insurance company is going to want to pay out as little as possible, and depending on the damage to your collection, you may be better trying to get them to settle for the whole lot, although if they're not insured as collectibles with some kind of higher or agreed value, then you may be out of luck. Food for thought for many of us I'm sure - What is my collection worth? What would it cost to replace? Is my collection properly insured?

If I was doing the whole job then I have large "shipping kits" you can use that take 60 records. I provide packaging to almost all my customers now, for free, with a refundable deposit. If you are near enough geographically then picking up the records would be more cost effective than shipping them, but USPS Media Mail rates are surprisingly affordable, it's less than $20 to ship a box of 60 records (weighing ~35 pounds) from anywhere in the USA. 2,000 records will take a lot of shipping kits, but keep in mind that it takes me 20 minutes to ultrasonically double-clean each record anyway, and mold will take longer.

The comments about maybe getting your insurance company to buy you an ultrasonic cleaner (or two) are valid, but there will be serious time constraints if you have only 1 machine to use, and if you also have other demands on your time, like work! I started Record Genie with an Audio Desk in September 2013, but as demand has grown, I needed more cleaning capacity, and now have 2 Audio Desk machines, 2 Klaudio machines, plus a VPI 16.5 conventional cleaner, and a Spin Clean too.

Perhaps 10 boxes of 60 records arriving per week, being cleaned and returned, might be the best approach. That's still 50 hours of cleaning for me, using 4 machines, PLUS the extra time needed for mold pre-cleaning. 600 records per week would get the job done over the course of only 3 or 4 very busy weeks. I'm quite sure time is of the essence to remove the mold as soon as possible.

Please contact me if you would like to have me clean some samples of your damaged records, perhaps a dozen favourites that you know well, or some of the worst ones you have, just to see if you would be happy with the results of pre-cleaning and ultrasonic double-cleaning..

Please let me know if you have any questions - I'm here to help!

I would not pursue a solution that does not assure you that it will kill the mold... else the problem can return

I have purchased 3 lots of vinyl that were flood damaged. The bad issue is the covers will be pretty much screwed. But the good news is the vinyl can be cleaned. I have used very successfully 3 step process. First, get some bleach and dilute 50%. Use a separate brush for the bleach solution. step one, put bleach solution on the record and spread to cover all of the grooves. let stand for 3-5 min. Then using the same brush, scrub the side. Vacuum off bleach solution. second step- use your normal cleaning solution and brush you use for it and follow your normal regime. Third step, rinse with distilled water.

If you are a steamer (some do and some dont), it works well with the bleach step.

I now use an ultrasonic bath, but have not brought any recent moldy records but i am sure the bleach would work with it also. The bleach will kill the mold on the record and will not hurt the vinyl if you follow your normal cleaning regime and rinse well. I have about 350 records that i recovered this way. Final warning, Throw away the old liner and use a new liner for the record. This is a lot of work, but it will recover them with this method

If they are going to pay for the cost of sending them out, then jump on it!! Unless you have replacement cost coverage or have separately "scheduled" your collection, I highly doubt that most insurance companies will give you much more than what a used LP dealer will pay for a record. They are most likely going to come up w some kind of average cost when new and then depreciate them from there. If the cost of "cleaning" them is more than that number, they will probably declare them a total loss and just pay the "book value", just like if you wrecked your '97 jeep w 200K miles that still runs like a top and has no rust. They'll give you the Kelly Blue Book (in that case, maybe $500.00).

If you have replacement cost, then they will give you what they can be purchased for; if no longer "in print" they would probably look to a used LP guide on the 'net or ebay records.

If I'm wrong (could be...just sayin') send me the name of your insurance co and I'll switch in a heartbeat.