How do you save a wet book? Put it in the freezer

Wet books aren't necessarily a total loss. Wet books aren't necessarily a total loss. Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close How do you save a wet book? Put it in the freezer 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

The water may have receded. But if your house flooded last week, you probably have some wet books and other paper materials.

What to do?

If you want to save a wet book, you might be able to. But it will require some time and effort.

After the Memorial Day floods of 2015, the University of Texas at Austin's School of Information put together a guide for salvaging books and family treasures.

First tip: Put your wet books in the freezer. This stops mold from growing and buys you a little time. With books in the freezer, you can tend to the rest of the house and come back to book salvage when you have the time to deal with it.

If a book is thoroughly wet, don't try to open it. Just keep the covers closed and balance the book on its top edge so that all the water can drain down. Put it on sheets of absorbent paper (paper towels, for instance) and turn on a fan nearby.

When a book is partly wet, open it carefully and place absorbent paper every 20 pages or so. Replace the absorbent paper when it gets wet.

When a book is damp, stand it on its edge, fan it open a bit, and then turn on a fan nearby.

When the book is nearly dry, close it up and place a light weight on top of it until it dries.

If you have any coated paper in your book - for instance, a section of photos or illustrations - pay careful attention to these. Those pages will fuse together if you don't separate them now. Put a sheet of wax paper between every coated page to isolate each one.

If the floodwater was filthy - as much of it is - you may not be able to save your books. But if you're attached to some of them, give drying a try.