Cleaning flood damaged vinyls

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.

A couple (actually five) thoughts:

1. Having the insurance company pay to have the mold damaged records cleaned will not return them to their full value as CZ noted above. If the insurance company would treat them as a total loss and you could be compensated accordingly, that would be the best option (unless you have rare, irreplaceable pressings).
2. I wouldn't assume that conventional record cleaning methods, including ultrasonic, will kill that stuff. (Aside from not wanting to pollute an ultrasonic machine with a living organism). I haven't really researched cleaning moldly records in depth, but my impression is that you need something pretty aggressive to kill that stuff. There are various mold remediation chemicals, some of which may be suitable for vinyl- I think one fellow on the Net was talking about Sporicidin, but I have no hands-on experience with that, and as I think the Record Genie noted, some mold may have 'etched' or damaged the record so even if you kill the active growth, the damage is done. You also have the issue of not using something so volatile that the cleaning does damage.
3. If you are going the cleaning route, I would go with a professional, like the Genie (who I have not used, and have no hidden agenda to promote).
4. As others have noted, get the records out of their damp sleeves and jackets, pronto. That stuff is alive! And keep all of it segregated from other things; I would imagine mold on vinyl could migrate to other things within your household. Not to be alarmist, but you have to treat this like the biohazard that it is; I would think touching the records or sleeves, and touching other stuff in your house could cause contamination, but maybe i'm being alarmist.
5. Bummer. Hope you get this sorted. It's an issue I've thought about researching more fully, but I haven't had the need (thank goodness) or the time. I didn't see much on the web in the vein of archivist recommendations regarding vinyl records, there are some pieces about mold on books and documents, but that's a whole other thing. (And they are wearing gloves too).Nor was there anything I saw in a quick glance on the Library of Congress guidelines on archival matters re mold remediation for records. (I didn't look real closely but I don't remember seeing anything).
Let us know what happens, and I'd be interested to hear from the Genie, if he does do this kind of remediation, exactly what he does (unless he considers it proprietary).

RecordGenieUSA,
Curious about your thoughts on KLaudio vs Audio Desk cleaning machines. I currently have a Nitty Gritty Minipro2 but would like an ultrasonic system, too. There is no review quite like an end user review.