Things You'll Need:
- Soft cloth
- Water
- Mild soap such as dish detergent.
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Step 1
If water or some other substance is spilt onto your tape, dry it immediately. This will lessen the damage and the amount of water that seeps into the different compartments.
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Step 2
If the tape is damaged by water, it is easier to recover than a tape damaged by milk or some other substance.
Use a dry soft cloths to dry the tape and a bowl of water with a small amount of dish detergent to clean it. -
Step 3
If damage penetrates the inside of the tape, you have three options:
1. Take it to a professional VHS recovery service.
2. Do it yourself.
3. Use it as a vintage coaster because it may never play again. -
Step 4
Study the design of another tape before you attempt to clean the one that is damaged. What are the release mechanisms? What screws need to be removed? What can't be removed?
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Step 5
If you decide to do it yourself, get another tape that you don't care about anymore and practice. See if you can clean it by hand by unraveling the roll inside or unscrewing the compartments and cleaning it that way. If you can do it with the tape you don't care about, it is safe to say you can do it with the one you do.
If you can't, take it to a professional if the video has a lot of importance to you, such as family videos of reunions, parties, and vacations. -
Step 6
At answerbag.com, a question was posed about removing spilt tea from a VHS tape. I've provided the link below because it goes into a lot of detail on how to clean a VHS tape.
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Step 7
If you can restore the tape, I highly recommend you transfer the material on it to a DVD or to your computer. If that isn't possible, use the slip cover that came with the tape or buy a few new ones to protect your tapes from any future damage.
