Damp Record Covers

What is the deal with damp record covers? I bought a copy of Rainbow Bridge about 10 years ago that had water damage and to this day even though the LP is fine, the record cover still has that very damp/moist feel. I recently got a copy of The Residents Freak Show that must have had water damage to the cover and it feels moist. Same thing with a Joy Division record. What is up with this? How can the cover still feel moist after years and years? And how bad is it too keep the records inside these covers? Seems to have done no damage after decades.

 

Definitely. After going through the trouble of 3 major floods, we lost a large number of LPs and were able to salvage only the vinyls which weren't immersed. I've had same exact problem you've described. Not sure if a jacket storing moisture could cause long-term damage, but fearing possible warping, we removed those records had have been storing them in separate sleeves.

 

If such a record is kept in a plastic sleeve, is there mold growth?
I'd assume presence of a certain amount of moisture would encourage it...

 

The covers need to be dried, otherwise there is the potential for them to grow mold which can damage your vinyl (and do more damage to the sleeves).

First, take the sleeves out of any shrink wrap or plastic sleeves they may have. Dry the insides with a hair-dryer, or put something in the sleeve so it is slightly open and put it above a heating vent, or something similar. Make sure the outside is also heated so it can dry. Don't do anything which may cause burn marks on the paper (eg. using a paint-stripping heat gun or a naked flame).

If the album was in a plastic sleeve that you want to reuse, wash the inside of the plastic bag, dry in/outside with a cloth, put something inside the bag to keep it open, and leave to air dry in a warm environment for a day to make sure it is completely dry.

I don't think anything can fix the water stains on the cardboard sleeve, but then again, I'm sure that someone, somewhere has addressed that problem!

 

Thanks but how could they not dry after 10-20 + years?

 

By being kept in a way that didn't allow the moisture to evaporate?

 

They must have been dry most of the time, or the paper and cardboard would have degraded to the point that the cover would have disintegrated when being handled. Being wet more than a few months would do that.