OT: dumpster dive and water/mold cleanup

From: Tothwolf <tothwolf_at_concentric.net>
Date: Sun Sep 1 04:57:00 2002

I guess I should give a little background for the folks who haven't heard
from me privately lately.

Just a few weeks ago or so (has it been that long already?), I ended up
rescuing nearly an entire ham shack/photo/woodworking shop from a 40cu
yard dumpster. A friend of mine who lived around the corner died a few
years ago, and even after picking up tons of stuff from his family, and
after numerous attempts to arrange pickup of the remaining stuff, I found
out some of his family dumped the entire shop into a huge dumpster (or
skip for you folks on the other side of the pond). Thankfully, I found out
about it *before* the dumpster was to be picked up.

I spent a total of around 22+ hours (with permission from the folks who
filled the dumpster) over the course of two nights with the help of a work
light pulling out everything I could salvage. There were a few things
missing (someone else got there first), and 1000s (I'd guess that number
anyway) of magazines and some books were ruined due to rain before I found
out about the dumpster. Magazines dating from the 1940s to the 1970s were
mostly ruined beyond salvage. These included titles such as Popular
Science, Popular Mechanics, Mechanix, and Popular Electronics. It also
included 3-4 different photo oriented publications with dates from early
1970s to the 1980s.

Ironically, they also accidentally trashed 1000s and 1000s of photos,
slides, negatives (both plastic and glass plate), and home movies. I've
been returning those items as I sort them from the rest, since they did
not mean to trash them. I still need advice on unsticking/cleaning the
home movie films, since none were in water tight containers. Most are
small reels in 3"x3"x3/4" cardboard boxes. I did explain to the family how
to separate/clean prints, and I think about 99% of those were successfully
salvaged.

I am currently trying to figure out how to clean/salvage books that were
exposed to the water, and since the texts are irreplaceable, I'm hesitant
in what I try. Many books have a very fine powder-like mold on their
covers, while the pages are ok. Some books have small amounts of mold
growing on the edges of the pages.

I also rescued a huge vinyl 33 1/3 record collection that needs to be
cleaned up somehow. They were added to the dumpster (by mistake I was
told) after the initial dive, and were subsequently exposed to yet more
rain (Houston really sucks sometimes). I'm very worried about cleaning any
mold from the album covers, but I imagine most of the vinyl is currently
ok. Some of the records may have been broken when they were dumped into
the dumpster, but I expect to find most intact. I imagine these may be the
most time sensitive of all the rescued materials.

I am also trying to figure out how to clean minor mold from and separate
QSL cards that are stuck together. The cards date from the 1950s, but
thankfully most were not exposed to water. I also have 100s of HARC
publications that need to be salvaged. Some are in very good condition,
while some have a significant mold growth on them.

I should also add that I am keeping all the items stacked (and piled) in
my (unfinished) computer building (nowhere else to put them at present),
and have been keeping the lights on 24/7 to help inhibit the growth of
mold.

Also, if there is anyone located in Houston that feels like lending a hand
in sorting/cleaning up stuff, please contact me. It is abit overwhelming
for me to try to deal with ~50-60 years worth of items.

-Toth
Received on Sun Sep 01 2002 - 04:57:00 BST