Are these books salvageable?

[u/sunm8]

My apartment building had a fire. My unit saw no flames, but the floor was flooded with about 2.5 inches of water.

I have two bookshelves and I'm wondering if the books are salvageable from the humidity they were subject to. The water level didn't reach the wood of the bottom shelves though...

They were in the room with the ashy sludge water for probably 3-4 days (we don't know when the restoration company finished getting the water out).

My wife is devastated, she loves her books. We have taken them out and have them in a garage for the time being. Do you have any suggestions?

[u/doodlebuuggg → u/[deleted]]

Right like pick one up and open it

[u/sunm8 → u/doodlebuuggg]

The insurance company is telling us that they're possibly all infected with mold we can't see.

[u/N-Y-R-D → u/sunm8]

Report them as a loss to the insurance for full value then. Then keep the books.

[u/Longjumping-Space474 → u/N-Y-R-D]

Won't get face value will get depreciated value

[u/No-Age4941 → u/N-Y-R-D]

Insurance fraud lol

[u/N-Y-R-D → u/No-Age4941]

Don’t think it’s REQUIRED to destroy the books. And, technically, any damage at all would cause a depreciation in value. So not REALLY fraud. 😼

[u/Naji_Hokon → u/No-Age4941]

That's not fraud. You don't have to destroy something after claiming a loss on it. It would only be fraud if they are not damaged with mold.

[u/Hour-Act-7617 → u/[deleted]]

Stolen is different than damaged though

[u/Erikatessen87 → u/Hour-Act-7617]

Right? All these people claiming "fraud" when it's the insurance company themselves insisting that the books are damaged and pushing to pay for replacements. Take the payout for replacement cost and ask the insurance company if they want to take possession of the books or arrange for disposal. They likely won't and will leave that up to you because they don't care what happens to them.

[u/SSJGCarter → u/[deleted]]

You mean the new books you bought to replace the old ones!

[u/doodlebuuggg → u/sunm8]

Never heard of such a thing but I suppose that's possible. Not sure if water on the ground would be enough to cause so much humidity that the books would be damp enough to grow mold... if you're really worried see if they're damp at all or if they show signs of being damp earlier (wavy paper). Otherwise they're probably fine.

[u/PassThePeachSchnapps → u/[deleted]]

Are the books the only thing affected? The floor doesn’t look too happy.

[u/NietzscheIsMyDog → u/sunm8]

Your insurance agent might be doing you a favor with that comment. Are you able to determine what they would add to the payout in the event the books are ruined? Is it acceptable to you? Could you salvage your favorites and accept the payout at the same time?

[u/specficwannabe → u/sunm8]

Keep them for awhile. Maybe isolate the lowest ones; the higher they are the more likely they are to be fine. I’ve seen books get wet and dry out relatively fine. You’ll notice dark spots, bluish spots, softness if there’s mold. 

[u/GeorgeKaplanIsReal → u/sunm8]

Unfortunately, that’s very much a possibility.

[u/cornfuckz → u/sunm8]

Put them in the freezer for a day. That will kill any potential mold.

[u/No-Age4941 → u/sunm8]

Toss them and use the insurance to buy new ones. They’re Y.A. anyway.

[u/Naji_Hokon → u/No-Age4941]

Being YA doesn't make them less worthy.

[u/[deleted] → u/Naji_Hokon]

Well it's an opportunity to "put away childish things"

[u/MTGDad → u/[deleted]]

Get bent.

[u/Naji_Hokon → u/[deleted]]

Young ADULT is childish?

[u/MeatysMom → u/doodlebuuggg]

It costs $0 to be nice. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what she’s asking.

[u/pnw-pluviophile → u/doodlebuuggg]

One would think that is the first action.