Eh, a tacky spine on a 1920s book. Is it really that big of a deal? It's not like the pages are falling out. A little flexibility might even be better for an old binding. People get so worried about perfect restoration, but sometimes a book just shows its age. I'd just tell the client it's a feature, not a bug.

That cold water paste trick from your grandma, @hannah_wright, is pure genius.

It's also about who pays for the callback later.

Oh man, that "finding reliable help in a crisis" part is so real. We had a pipe burst last winter and it was a mess. What worked for us was calling our home insurance first, they had a list of approved cleanup companies. We ended up using ServiceMaster and they were pretty good about the whole thing, even helped with the insurance paperwork. It still wasn't cheap, but at least we knew they were legit and would do the job right.

My old apartment had that exact setup. Honestly, I'm still finding beige carpet fibers in my socks.