Cleaning 12" vinyl records after a flood
March 12, 2022 5:30 PM Subscribe
It's been a fortnight since the catastrophic floods decimated the Northern Rivers region of NSW. I'm only now getting to clean a record collection belonging to a dear friend. They smell. What is the best way to clean them without damage? Particularly keen to know about the paper centre - how to stop that from going mouldy - as well as the a cleaning crud and stuff from the vinyl itself. I have most cleaning resources to hand except sunlight.
There is an article here about preserving books, possibly some of that is relevant info for you or can inspire you.
NPS.gov link
I wonder what freezing would do to vinyl
posted by McNulty at 6:26 PM on March 12, 2022
NPS.gov link
I wonder what freezing would do to vinyl
posted by McNulty at 6:26 PM on March 12, 2022
Don't freeze the vinyl!
I haven't looked at all of these yet, but the Australian Institute fit the Conservation of Cultural Material has a section of resources dealing with recovering flood-damaged materials. The National Film & Sound Archive one could be more helpful but does have some general advice.
posted by Athanassiel at 6:56 PM on March 12, 2022 [1 favorite]
I haven't looked at all of these yet, but the Australian Institute fit the Conservation of Cultural Material has a section of resources dealing with recovering flood-damaged materials. The National Film & Sound Archive one could be more helpful but does have some general advice.
posted by Athanassiel at 6:56 PM on March 12, 2022 [1 favorite]
You may want to call record stores in the area, as they might either have a cleaning service themselves or be able to point you to one.
A Spin Clean should do the job for the records but I don't think it will do much for the label. There are other ways to clean records without buying a Spin Clean, but I think for efficiency's sake it's probably worth getting a tool here.
posted by synecdoche at 4:24 AM on March 13, 2022
A Spin Clean should do the job for the records but I don't think it will do much for the label. There are other ways to clean records without buying a Spin Clean, but I think for efficiency's sake it's probably worth getting a tool here.
posted by synecdoche at 4:24 AM on March 13, 2022
Most expensive cleaning solutions for records are nothing more than water and rubbing alcohol. You can make this yourself for so cheap.
posted by tiny frying pan at 7:35 AM on March 13, 2022
posted by tiny frying pan at 7:35 AM on March 13, 2022
I doubt that a Spin Clean would do a good job with this. Even if one changes the solution frequently, it ends up spreading grime across records, so it's ill-suited to genuinely dirty records. It would be better than nothing but probably not effective enough to be worth the labor involved. A vacuum-based cleaner like a VPI would be much better, but those types of record cleaners are expensive.
Cleaning records with wood glue is an effective and affordable way that doesn't require special tools. If the records are very dirty, rinse them off with tap water and allow them to air dry before you glue them. You can google this method for more information. I use Titebond II and spread it around the record with an old credit card.
I have also heard very good things about the precision aqueous cleaning method, which can also be done without elaborate tools. However, it's fairly labor-intensive.
I don't know how you can salvage the labels. If you just want to reduce the amount of mold, you could scrape the labels off the records. Typically they're pressed on and thus hard to remove, but careful use of sandpaper would probably work, though you'd have to be very careful not to damage the playing surface. Perhaps you could experiment with using the glue on the labels as well and trying to peel and tear off as much label as possible. It would look bad, but there's no way that you can restore the appearance of the records.
posted by vathek at 3:25 PM on March 13, 2022
Cleaning records with wood glue is an effective and affordable way that doesn't require special tools. If the records are very dirty, rinse them off with tap water and allow them to air dry before you glue them. You can google this method for more information. I use Titebond II and spread it around the record with an old credit card.
I have also heard very good things about the precision aqueous cleaning method, which can also be done without elaborate tools. However, it's fairly labor-intensive.
I don't know how you can salvage the labels. If you just want to reduce the amount of mold, you could scrape the labels off the records. Typically they're pressed on and thus hard to remove, but careful use of sandpaper would probably work, though you'd have to be very careful not to damage the playing surface. Perhaps you could experiment with using the glue on the labels as well and trying to peel and tear off as much label as possible. It would look bad, but there's no way that you can restore the appearance of the records.
posted by vathek at 3:25 PM on March 13, 2022
What's happened to the sleeves?
Sad to say, but IMHO these records are probably junk. What use could you make of a bunch of 12" vinyl with no sleeves & no (readable) labels?
posted by rd45 at 1:55 AM on March 14, 2022
Sad to say, but IMHO these records are probably junk. What use could you make of a bunch of 12" vinyl with no sleeves & no (readable) labels?
posted by rd45 at 1:55 AM on March 14, 2022
I'm with rd45 that they're probably not worth saving but hard to say without seeing a picture or knowing what they are. If they're rare records, my answer may change but if it's an average rock or pop collection...
I buy and sell vinyl for a living, and my cleaning machine of choice is a Kuzma VinVac with a homemade solution using LJC's recipe.
IMO a SpinClean is a pain in the ass. For slightly more money you'd be better off wth a Squeaky Clean Vinyl machine which is the most budget vacuum cleaner I know of.
Again, it would help to see photos of what you're dealing wth. Feel free to memail if you wish.
posted by dobbs at 7:22 AM on March 14, 2022
I buy and sell vinyl for a living, and my cleaning machine of choice is a Kuzma VinVac with a homemade solution using LJC's recipe.
IMO a SpinClean is a pain in the ass. For slightly more money you'd be better off wth a Squeaky Clean Vinyl machine which is the most budget vacuum cleaner I know of.
Again, it would help to see photos of what you're dealing wth. Feel free to memail if you wish.
posted by dobbs at 7:22 AM on March 14, 2022
I wonder what freezing would do to vinyl
Freezing vinyl results in a small S-warp. Don't do it.
posted by dobbs at 7:23 AM on March 14, 2022
Freezing vinyl results in a small S-warp. Don't do it.
posted by dobbs at 7:23 AM on March 14, 2022
Response by poster: Thanks all. I ended up washing under running water and using a new paint brush to dislodge visible material. Many of the labels on newer records (post 1980?) coped well with the washing and brushing, but the older labels are deteriorating. I bought multiple dish racks to dry the records on, with fans, and new transparent inner sleeves to slip the records into.
Sad to say, but IMHO these records are probably junk. What use could you make of a bunch of 12" vinyl with no sleeves & no (readable) labels?
That may be so. But it is not my call. Some will need to be chucked because I could not remove a greasy film from the vinyl even with alcohol.
There is a strong emotional/psychological component to the idea of restoring things 'back the way they were' after floods as much as possible. This flood event in particular was so outside all known flood records in this regularly flooding town that people who prepared for the flooding by moving things upstairs or into attics were overwhelmed by the ferocity of the water that ended up totally submerging their entire houses.
posted by Thella at 2:11 PM on March 22, 2022
Sad to say, but IMHO these records are probably junk. What use could you make of a bunch of 12" vinyl with no sleeves & no (readable) labels?
That may be so. But it is not my call. Some will need to be chucked because I could not remove a greasy film from the vinyl even with alcohol.
There is a strong emotional/psychological component to the idea of restoring things 'back the way they were' after floods as much as possible. This flood event in particular was so outside all known flood records in this regularly flooding town that people who prepared for the flooding by moving things upstairs or into attics were overwhelmed by the ferocity of the water that ended up totally submerging their entire houses.
posted by Thella at 2:11 PM on March 22, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by maupuia at 6:01 PM on March 12, 2022 [2 favorites]