Oh man! What a drag. I had the same thing happen to me some years ago. But I didn't catch it as early as you did, and ended up with a much bigger clean up and restoration project. Most of my paper record sleeves were stuck to the LP's and the album covers were too in most cases. I ended up washing each and every one of the LP's in the sink with warm water and liquid dish soap and a sponge, slowly cleaning away all the paper and residue that had stuck onto the records. Then I ran them each through "multiple" cleanings on my Nitty Gritty cleaning machine. What a pain in the ass that was! But one suggestion I would make to you, and every other vinyl lover- put all of your LIQUIDS on some type of "secondary" containment barrier. I went and bought several different sizes of cookie sheets and baking trays, all with an edge and or lip of about 3/4". Whether I store my numerous different solutions on closet shelves or inside of storage cabinets in my listening room- everything now sits on little, medium and several large trays and cookie sheets. Works like a champ! Now I worry less about leakage and meltdowns. You can find this kind of stuff at Costco, Smart & Final, and commercial restaurant supply outlets. It may seem silly to go through all this...but shit happens, as is evidenced by your unfortunate experience, and mine as well. Good Luck, and give my idea a try.
LP Disaster
I built a shelf for my LPs in my storage closet. I was in there last night looking for something I hadn't listened to in a while and the record was damp, and saw more near it that were. Then I started looking deeper into the situation. Turned out that 3/4 of a gallon of VPI fluid (which I had not so brightly placed on the TOP shelf, over all the records) had leaked out of the jug at the bottom through a tear in the jug, down three shelves and then through about 50 LPs. Some were dripping wet, where the fluid had collected in the plastic wrap. Ugh. A few hours later I have salvaged the wet ones, and put them all out to dry and have been using Clorox wipes to disinfect everything. There is already some mold and I will be remediating the mold as everything dries out. The jackets on many of these are going to be rough but the vinyl should be OK after I clean it again. What a pain, but I think I caught it early enough and the bulk of the collection is safe. The moral of the story--I am going to keep the cleaning stuff separate and leak proof from here on out. Physical media can be frail due to our own negligence. Be safe everyone!
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- 5 posts total
- 5 posts total