Document Drying and Records Recovery in the United States

For an accountable recovery, nationally, vacuum freeze drying runs about $20 to $40 per cubic foot, which is roughly $25 to $50 for a standard file box.

As each work stage is verified, because freezing stops the clock. With clear job steps, below freezing, paper stops swelling, ink stops migrating, and microbial growth stops advancing.

From damage control through drying, no, and the speed is the reason. As each work stage is verified, rapid blast freezing forms very small ice crystals, while slow freezing in a domestic freezer grows large ones that distort the fiber.

As each work stage is verified, frozen records go into a sealed chamber and the air pressure is lowered a long way.

From damage control through drying, freezing happens the same day in most cases. From damage control through drying, a chamber cycle usually runs one to three weeks, and large volumes take longer.

From damage control through drying, a few damp folders can be air dried with interleaving and dry moving air, and we will tell you honestly when that is enough.

For an accountable recovery, plain paper files, ledgers, bound volumes and most office records come back well. With clear job steps, coated and glossy paper that fully dried while stuck together is the worst case, because blocking rarely separates.