neoconagenda Posted August 31, 2017 I live in Southeast Texas and my home is flooded, possibly over the roof. I have a large collection of sets and feel pretty sure that I have lost all of the boxes, instructions, and stickers sheets that I carefully stowed away. Without the books it is going to be a nightmare to rebuild all of these sets. My question is can the sets be placed in the sun for a day or two and dry out. Or maybe put them in large boxes with desiccant packs. I also have several motorized Technic sets that I am sure are parts kits now... I am not able to discuss this with family because, well, my home is flooded and I should not be worried about my toys. On the bright side I have 57k parts ready for action!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JopieK Posted August 31, 2017 Ooh no... if I can help you with stickers... we don't carry a lot of Starwars though... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
karmajay Posted August 31, 2017 As far as bricks no issue there should not be any damage. People wash lego all the time. Just put it out to dry. You can also get any offcial lego set instructions on the lego store site for free. Good luck! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jdubbs Posted August 31, 2017 (edited) You're going to be dealing with a lot of mud and sediment. I'm actually from Austin and our house was flooded Memorial Day 1981... I still have childhood books that survived the flood, as did some of my dad's McIntosh stereo equipment, believe it or not. So there is hope... JangBricks' YouTube channel has a video detailing how he cleans the sets he buys used... basically immerse bricks in hydrogen peroxide and set them in direct sunlight for an hour or two (make sure they're fully immersed... I've done it myself and it worked best if I used two glass bowls, one larger than the other, and sandwiched the bricks in between them). With that many bricks you're going to have a lot to clean... on Amazon you can find large jugs of hydrogen peroxide for much cheaper than you'll find at Walgreens. And a salad spinner works well to dry them. Jang's instructions cover how to clean (semi-)permanently discolored bricks, by the way... in theory short-term contact with mud wouldn't require this level of cleaning. But given all else that you're dealing with and the size of your collection, it may be a while before you can devote cleanup time to your bricks, which is why I suggested using his technique. Edited August 31, 2017 by jdubbs typo Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
neoconagenda Posted August 31, 2017 That's what I was concerned with was the type of water that they are soaking in. I just know they are going to smell if I dont break them down and dry them out... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Littleworlds Posted September 1, 2017 (edited) First of all, I am sorry to hear that your home got flooded. I hope things settle for you very soon and things go well with the insurance. As for the Lego: I would only use the hydrogen peroxide when its about whitening old, yellowed bricks, since that's what the procedure is about. That yellowing is not dirt, but a discolouration due to a chemical reaction that happens over time (and/or due to exposure to UV-rays afaik). As for cleaning and drying the bricks: I use dishwashing liquid. And that works pretty fine. ABS is pretty sturdy and heat resistant (at least for plastic) and dirt can be washed/shrubbed off from it fairly easily. Drying them in the sun shouldn't be much a problem either. At least its not in the middle of summer anymore, so the sun intensity isn't quite as high. Alternatively would be drying them indoors with fans (not hairdryer!^^) for a constant stream of air. I had already been gifted a bag full of Lego technic-pieces which were stored in the garden in a plastic bag for a couple of years and they all could be cleaned nicely with the method described above. Though it can be a pain to get old, dried soil from all the tiny cavities! Soaking in clean water helps Edited September 1, 2017 by Littleworlds Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Only Sinner Posted September 1, 2017 Sorry to hear about your flooded home. I hope everyone is okay. I can only imagine how awful it would be to lose everything like that. Try to keep looking up though, you can clean up and get back to bricking eventually. The community will be here and ready to help whenever you are. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JPN366 Posted September 1, 2017 Sorry to hear about your home, but glad that you and your family are okay. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ellisss_2 Posted September 1, 2017 I hope you have insurance! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GrahamSlam Posted September 1, 2017 Sorry about your home...hopefully, your insurance is good enough to cover flooding and natural disasters. Glad to hear you're okay. Anyway, I would check out some Instructables on this. Also, a youtuber called "Grant Thompson: The King of Random" posts some videos involving hydrogen peroxide. If he does work with ABS plastic and hydrogen peroxide, then it will probably be an okay way to clean the bricks. However, I'm not sure about drying. Maybe a google search of "How to clean ABS plastic and dry it safely" will work. And, I hope you have better luck than I did insurance-wise when my CT basement got flooded halfway up the stairs due to runoff, torrential rain and Hurricane Irene. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KevinYoung Posted September 2, 2017 Sorry to hear about your home its an ugly mess down here and its going to take some time to get back to some normalcy .I feel for ya being a resident of Houston my neighborhood was one of the lucky ones to survive I've seen the disaster upfront .Hang tough eventually things will get back to normal.I'm not sure where you are but if you need help with cleanup give me a shout . Kevin Many here dont have "FLOOD INSURANCE" its going to get ugly. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nerdsforprez Posted September 2, 2017 Resident of Belton here. Heading down to the area on Sunday to help some friends with family that live in Rockport; others in Houston. Sad to hear about your losses in the flood. Houston got his a lot harder, with rain, than many thought they would. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
grum64 Posted September 2, 2017 So very sorry to hear that your home's been flooded. I can't begin to imagine what you, your family and your community are going through. I hope all goes as well as it can with the cleanup and wish you all the very best as you reconstruct your lives. About your LEGO. It's not much I know but I have several lots of duplicate Technic instruction books and a good many more duplicate sets of stickers. You're welcome to any you may need free of charge, p&p etc. Once you're in a position to know what you need drop me a PM and I'll see what I can help you with. My thoughts are with you. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
neoconagenda Posted September 3, 2017 Thanks for all of the support. I still have not been able for get into my neighborhood so I don't know what if anything is salvageable in my home. The lego is abs so aside from the stickers and books they will be fine. I might decide to have a very good sale for anyone local that wants to pick up an entire collection. I just don't know yet if I will be have the time to salvage them. I will let everyone know via this thread when I figure it out. Does anybody know if the large sets float? I am trying to prepare myself for opening the door for the first time. I will take pictures and share them with everyone. This is a great community of AFOL's!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stash2Sixx Posted September 3, 2017 As stated, dishwashing detergent and warm water is best to clean them. My basement took on water a while back and the brick accrued a bit of mud. As for drying them...Skip the sun if you have open tables and a fan. That worked best for me. Good luck to you! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
neoconagenda Posted September 3, 2017 This is an old pic. I had recently added 10179, saturn video, and the new snowspeeder... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Trekkie99 Posted September 4, 2017 Yikes! That's a lot to disassemble, clean, and resemble! Well... Best of luck to you! Hope things get better for you, and everyone else out in Texas. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
neoconagenda Posted September 6, 2017 I went to my daughters house and to my surprise the 10179 was safe on the top shelf of a closet. I had it shipped to her house since I was not home for the delivery. Had I been home it would have been lost. Still not able to get to my house but this is nice! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thewolfbuilder Posted September 6, 2017 you must be super unlucky to have all those USC sets. I hope most of them will be intact. But safety is #1. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
roadstermatt Posted September 6, 2017 sorry to hear this hope you get everything sorted in the end Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
neoconagenda Posted September 10, 2017 (edited) I have decided to let go of the bulk of my collection. Basically everything below is the top shelf in the earlier post will go. I am not going to sort anything except by technic and sw. Basically it is going to be a couple of big boxes with multiple partially broken down sets. I am happy with my decision to let them go and appreciate any suggestions you may have on fair price. I am willing to ship overseas. I am not ready to sale anything yet. I need to sanitize and repackage them. Edited September 10, 2017 by neoconagenda Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dukeside Posted September 10, 2017 (edited) I may be interested in the Star Destroyer (10030) Tantive IV, & Y-Wing UCS, but I am not sure if you can organize by set. It sounds like a big pile of mess! I would be curious to see if you have any photos of the damage? Sorry about the flooding. Feel free to PM me if you'd like. Edited September 10, 2017 by Dukeside Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
neoconagenda Posted September 10, 2017 I am only going to offer them as a lot of SW and Technic. They will not be sorted by set. As such they will be offered at a significant discount. The only guarantee that I will make is that each set will be complete or very close (all rare parts WILL be included). I have not decided on how to price this yet so any suggestions would be appreciated. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DuckBricks Posted September 10, 2017 1 hour ago, neoconagenda said: I am only going to offer them as a lot of SW and Technic. They will not be sorted by set. As such they will be offered at a significant discount. The only guarantee that I will make is that each set will be complete or very close (all rare parts WILL be included). I have not decided on how to price this yet so any suggestions would be appreciated. It might be better (if possible) to find easily identifiable "clumps" of sets (i.e. a TIE Fighter wing, etc) and sell the part lots separately - I personally think you may have more success selling individual lots for varying sets. For example, I have a few holes in my UCS collection and would be willing to grab certain incomplete sets, but am not interested in a lot of a bunch of stuff I already have. That being said, it depends on how damaged they are - if they're broken down to the point where you can't tell which general parts go where, then selling as a large lot may be easier. I'm sorry to hear about your home! I have relatives in Houston who were similarly affected, so I understand how much damage occurred. Good luck and hope you get back on your feet! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
neoconagenda Posted September 10, 2017 I guess I could have been more descriptive. These sets were all broken up on the floor. The water swirling around mixed everything up. Trust me this is not the way I wanted to do this but I have no time to sort 25,000 or so pieces. This is a really crap way to do this and that am sorry that it is going cut out people with more direct needs. You can always sort them out and sale what you don't need. I just don't have the heart to go through what was once a great collection and piece out my joy. I would rather rip it off like a bandage and deal with it all at once. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
