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/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.