Tracy,

If you have flood saturated carpets I'd toss those out.

You need to rinse off any mud or slime from the floors and walls affected by
the flood waters with clean water. Then scrub the surfaces with water with 1/4
cup of Clorox added to each gallon.

Using vinegar is essentially using a diluted acid - wash of acetic acid, it
cleans but it does not disinfect. Also I don't like the idea of residual acids
lingering in areas where collections might be housed or exhibited.

I would advise getting any objects removed from the spaces before you decide
to wash down anything in the room.

It also might be a good idea to run portable dehumidifiers after cleaning to
get the RH down to normal levels before reinstalling collections.

It's a bit more problematic with any objects or documents affected by flood
waters.

One of the very best things I've seen is "Salvage at a Glance". A chart that
was published by the Western Association for Art Conservation (WAAC) in WAAC
Newsletter, Vol. 19, No. 2 (May 1997)

This can be found online on the WAAC site at:

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/waac/wn/wn19/wn19-2/wn19-207.html

You may need to get your HVAC system checked out - often with a spike in
relative humidity mildews and molds can inhabit your air handling system and this
is also true if the power is down for several days and the HVAC humidification
system is stagnant.

Cheers!
Dave

David Harvey
Artifacts
2930 S. South Birch Street
Denver, CO  80222
303-300-5257
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