seeking advice on old floppy salvage

[igor@charles.ucdavis.edu]

Hello, I'm posting here because I know this crowd is generally able-minded.
Also, the problem is with old 5.25" apple][ disks.  A friend has some in storage
which are years old, and says there's text on em that could be quite valuable
which is, absurdly, not backed up anywhere else.  The storage has been exposed
to varying degrees of cold and humidity/dryness... probably down to ~36 deg.
Farenheit.  
Does anyone have experience with this sort of delicate situation?  Should one
use one's own old drives under any circumstances (i.e. financial problems) to
try and recover what one can, after having cleaned and demagged the drives
as best as possible?  What are the very best materials and methods to use in
the maintenance of these old drives?  What are teh next best, since the best
are probably exorbitantly priced?  Are there any/many trustworthy and/or
affordable commercial services that'll do this sort of thing?
Thanks eternal for any/all response.  Email best.