Disaster Response
Disaster Response & Remediation
When water, fire, or smoke reaches a painting, the first hours matter — and well-intended intervention can lead to permanent damage. If you are reading this with a damaged painting in front of you: call us at 713-426-0191.
Damage inquiries — water, fire, smoke, mold, or storm — are prioritized. Call us for the fastest response.
Before we speak — what to do
- Photograph everything where it hangs or lies, before moving anything — your insurer will thank you.
- Move paintings away from standing water and active leaks if it is safe to do so.
- Keep paintings in their proper orientation — vertical, top edge up, leaned against something stable with nothing touching the painted surface. Lay a painting flat, paint side up, only if space safely allows and nothing can fall onto it.
- Keep wet paintings in a ventilated space, away from heat.
- For fire-affected works, leave soot alone — wiping can embed it and burnish the surface.
- Call us early — some emergency steps, such as blotting the reverse of a soaked canvas, are best done with a conservator on the phone.
And what not to do
- Do not wipe, rub, or attempt to clean the painted surface.
- Do not apply heat, hair dryers, fans aimed directly at the painting, or direct sun to speed drying.
- Do not separate paintings that are stuck to each other, to glass, or to packing materials.
- Do not tape tears or press down lifting paint.
Working with your insurer
Disaster treatment usually runs alongside an insurance claim. We document damage in the format adjusters need, provide treatment estimates, and coordinate directly with your carrier when asked. If a storm has affected many works at once, we triage: what needs stabilization now, what can wait, and what should be prioritized by significance and risk.
My painting got wet. Is it ruined?
Usually not — if it is handled correctly and treated promptly. Canvas, ground, and paint respond to moisture in stages, and early stabilization prevents most permanent damage. One of the painting’s worst enemies in the first 48 hours is improvised drying and cleaning.
The painting smells of smoke but looks fine. Do I need to do anything?
Have it examined. Smoke deposits acidic residues that react with varnish and paint surfaces after the visible event, and odor is evidence of deposit. Early surface treatment is far simpler than treating etched surfaces a year later.
Do you handle whole collections after a storm?
Yes. After regional events we triage collections — stabilizing what is urgent, documenting everything for claims, and scheduling full treatment in priority order. Contact us as early as possible; after a major storm, timelines fill quickly.
Water, fire, smoke, or mold damage? Call 713-426-0191 before doing anything else — damage inquiries are prioritized.
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