Just when we thought we had faced our fair share of wild weather out at WildeRealm Fest, the elements decided to test us closer to home.
If you’ve been following our journey, you know that our recent adventures have involved battling wind, rain, and hail to keep our festival tent standing. But these past few weeks, we faced a completely different kind of storm; one that brewed quietly right beneath our feet. We had a mini flood in the basement.
For most people, a basement flood means ruined cardboard boxes and a headache with the insurance company. For a bookstore, and specifically for the Keepers of the Wardrobe, a basement flood is a direct threat to some of our most treasured artifacts.
The Discovery
There is a very specific, stomach-dropping feeling when you step onto a basement floor and hear a splash instead of a thud.
Our immediate thought wasn't about the drywall or the flooring; our minds immediately raced to the rare book collection. These aren't just bound pieces of paper; they are pieces of history, art, and magic. Water is a book's natural enemy, but the true villain that follows water is much worse: mold.
The Mitigation Quest
We had to pivot from booksellers to emergency conservators in the blink of an eye. Saving rare books from water damage and preventing mold isn’t just about wiping them down; it’s a delicate, exhausting triage process. Here is how we tackled the mitigation:
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Stopping the Source & Climate Control: Before we could even look at the books, we had to stop the water and completely change the environment. We used our shop vac, manually sucking up the water. We hauled in every dehumidifier and industrial fan we could get our hands on. The basement was deafeningly loud, but dropping the humidity fast is the only way to stop mold spores from starting to grow.
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The Triage Process: We carefully sorted the collection. The completely dry books were evacuated to higher, safer ground immediately. The "at-risk" ones had to be handled gently. We were lucky to only lose 45 books so far.
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The Art of Drying: For the books that took on moisture, you can't just apply direct heat, or the old bindings will warp and crack. We set up a gentle, circulating airflow. For the rarest, dampest tomes, we interleaved the pages with absorbent, archival-safe paper, changing them out meticulously to draw the moisture out of the text block without damaging the ink.
Taking a Breath
It was a grueling few days of heavy lifting, constantly checking humidity monitors, and carefully fanning delicate pages. But as we sit here now, listening to the hum of the dehumidifiers doing their final laps, we are relieved to say that the Wardrobe's treasures are safe.
We’ve learned a lot this summer about resilience. Whether it's holding down a tent in a windstorm or battling back the damp in our own basement, the lesson remains the same: we hold on, we regroup, and we keep the magic going.
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