Hello everyone, I awoke Monday morning to find my basement with 18 inches of water in it thanks to the latest Noreaster to move through Maine. It was fully finished (my guy/movie room) and most of the items were water damaged beyond repair. I had approx. 150-200 dvds underwater and although the cases are destroyed I have been wiping up and laying out the dvds in hopes of them drying up. Any other tips or things I should be doing? Thanks for your advice!

-mattyp

... I suspect they will be ok... I would imagine air drying, and not applying heat is the way to go.

sorry about the flood...

I had a couple dozen DVDs go for a swim a few years back and they all turned out OK except for the case artwork and inserts. Since many were OOP I was glad that they could be rescued. Just let them air dry and then touch them up with a soft cloth to remove any leftover water spots.

I'm so sorry to hear that happened. I'm married to my DVD collection, and I can imagine what you must be going through.

It's still probably worth filing a claim with your homeowner's or renter's insurance. You should get full replacement cost for the DVDs even though some of the discs may still be playable.

Dude that sucks. My son spilled fruit punch on one of his favorite DVDs a few years back. I wiped it off with some water and let it air dry. It was good as new.

cool, that's what I was hoping to hear. Already called my insurance guy and ground water is not covered under a homeowner's policy, that's what they sell flood insurance for (which I was not required or even suggested to purchase since our rural neighborhood is nowhere near a flood zone). When we lost power our sump pump stopped working and the water rushed in...crappy

-mattyp

Ugh...that's ridiculous.....and i work for an Insurance Company.

Where do you live? We have had some tremendous flooding here in Connecticut with a number of key roadways being closed.

The discs themselves should be OK. DVD discs are sealed air-tight to prevent oxygen from getting to the metal data layers, so this means they are water-tight too. Unlike the polymethyl methacrylate used to make laserdiscs, the polycarbonate plastics that DVD's are made of are highly impermeable to moisture.

I guess you could blot dry them with paper towels to get the worst off, then leave them to air-dry. Don't rub as you could scratch the discs.

You'll want to make sure they are completely dry before trying them in a player.

That sucks, I'm down here in New York and we were hit pretty bad, but luckily my house is up on a hill, so I made out much better than my down-valley brethren. I woud imagine that your discs themselves will be fine, though you're snappers and keepcase covers may not be so lucky.

Sorry to hear that. I too think air drying is the way to go. Good luck!

We live in South Portland, ME...all our neighbors were flooded as well, the city has horrible drainage on our street and with the power going out it was a bad combination for the amount of water we received.

-mattyp

My basement is also finished and my nearly 1000-title DVD collection is housed there. Which is why I checked on the pump every two hours during the rain. Sucks but what are you gonna do?

Sorry about the flood,
I would be in shock if my DVD's got ruined. the discs should be fine like others have pointed out. Your DVD cases on the other hand may not be so lucky.

I hope everything works out and you either get them replaced for free or they all have perfect playback.
Good Luck!

I had the exact same thing happen to me 2 years ago (I didn't lose power this time, so the pump was able to keep up with it, but I did buy a generator after the last one). My insurance did cover it, but only because I had added a sump pump rider to it at extra cost. The discs should turn out OK, but the artwork and inserts are probably hosed. Sorry.

yup, my next purchase is going to be a generator or a battery back-up for the sump pump. And my insurance guy told me they just started writing new policies 2 months ago that include sump pump failures, too little too late for me though!

-mattyp

I had the exact same thing happen and none of my discs ever worked again. You're screwed.





OK, that's a huge lie. But seeing as how 30 other people already reassured you, I just wanted to be different. I'm going to stand in the corner now.

boil the discs

Eeek! I'm sooooo sorry man, I would freak out!

On the plus side, you can now put your DVDs in tyvek sleeves and store them in one of these: http://www.sterilite.com/ProductDeta...ection=Storage

my best friend and i pull up to his house the other day, open the front door, and are greeted to an inferno. the back windows and sliding door were open, and all the smoke was going out the back, so we didn't smell it.


all next gen game systems, 60 inch tv, surround sound, two laptops, plus clothes, etc.

i don't feel like typing it all out, but he has NOTHING anymore.
be glad its just a flood.





and since this post is halfassed, any disbelievers can ask for pictures which will gladly be provided.

That's the only way!!

That sucks and I feel your pain, during a freak snow storm last October, the same thing happened to us. Luckily we started bailing water before too much water came in, but the carpet and underpadding had to be replaced. Luckily our insurance covered it because everything was due to the power being out for 5 days (the sump pump didn't technically "fail" itself, it just had no power to work). At any rate, we now have an additional battery backup sump pump AND a generator (the backup won't work too long if the power is out for more than 6 hours or so, and in our case it was out for days, so the generator was a must too). Good luck with the cleanup, and it wouldn't hurt to try the "power failure" angle with your insurance company.

chalk another for a failed sump pump. insurance claim denied! who ever heard of a rider for a sump pump? sheeshhh.

That would be great.

Can we get pictures from the OP's flood as well?

Yeah, this is what I thought of.

I don't think water will damage any of your discs, people like me boil them all the time!

OP, sorry about the flood damage, I was lucky here in NH, but there is lots of flooding close by.