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In the wake of a natural disaster, home or business owners may find themselves attempting to salvage water-damaged documents with a hairdryer. This desperate act is not only dangerous, but it also isn’t usually successful. This begs the question, then, of how to dry wet documents.

As document restoration specialists, we can tell you that preparation makes all the difference in the world when it comes to surviving natural disasters. Businesses and organizations that take the time to prepare for and protect themselves against risk are far more likely to survive a natural calamity. While most business owners and organization leaders have a basic understanding of what they can do to protect themselves against disasters – such as create an office emergency kit, conduct regular data backups to a remote location and train employees what to do in an emergency – there are other lesser-known aspects of disaster preparation that are often overlooked. Acquiring valuable papers insurance to protect your organization against the prospect of water damaged documents is one of those underappreciated (yet highly important) aspects of risk management.

Most people have heard the terms vellum and parchment, but few know that these writing surfaces were originally made of animal skin. Parchment was originally any animal skin that had been readied for writing, while vellum referred specifically to “paper” made from calfskin. (Calf in Latin is vitulus.) Just as calfskin leather is categorized as a superior form of leather, vellum is the highest quality of parchment. Some steps in leather and parchment/vellum preparation are the same (removing hair, for instance), while others are unique. Leather is tanned and limed, while parchment is just limed. This means parchment often reacts to changes in humidity and is not waterproof. Business disaster recovery companies must be cognizant of these properties when providing parchment and vellum document restoration, as explained below.