Hi Carol:

I would suggest talking with the people who created your carpeting and ask
them for suggestions. My suggestion would be green baise druggets. These are
historically accurate - though intended to go under a table rather than
under a gaggle of fourth graders.

At The Farmers' Museum, we have accurate reproduction carpeting in one of
our historic buildings and invite visitors to walk on it.  Here are some of
the steps we take to care for it:

1) make sure there are many opportunities for visitors to remove grit from
their shoes before coming into the building (lots of outdoor matting) (If
possible, work a buffer area into your tour path - about 20 feet of regular
carpeting, hard wood flooring or non-historic floor covering that will
absorb most of the grit from visitor shoes.)
2) we have runner/druggets in the areas most commonly tread upon. These can
be washed in the washing machine on gentle cycle with cold water and a small
amount of orvus
3) incessant daily vacuuming.

Keep in mind that it is really the abrasive action of working the stones and
dirt into the carpet fibers that will break down the carpets over time.  The
more often you remove the grit, the longer your carpets will last.

All of our carpets come from Thistle Hill Weavers - they have a website. I
cannot recommend them highly enough.

Secondly, I recently visited a restoration at Hampton near Baltimore (a
national park service site). I believe most of the interior was curated by
Gregory Weidman. They also have brand new historic carpeting. There, they
used bound grass matting in the areas with lots of visitor foot traffic.
Another good solution.

Good Luck - and remember that carpet is ephemeral.  There is nothing you can
do to make it last forever. And, since it is venitian and striped and
seamed, it should be fairly easy to have worn areas patched in sections.
Make sure you get some extra carpeting from your supplier and plan ahead for
such an eventuality.

Sincerely,

Erin Crissman Richardson
Curator
The Farmers' Museum
Cooperstown, NY


On Wed, Sep 8, 2010 at 1:03 PM, Carol Ely <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>  Locust Grove, a 1790s house with a restoration focusing on the 1810s, was
> recently completely re-restored. We need advice on protecting our
> newly-woven but historically accurate carpets. These are wall-to-wall
> carpets, including striped venetians of wool and cotton, and ingrain carpets
> of wool.  As in many historic houses, visitors step into each room and stand
> on an area of carpet about 6 by 10 feet. A carpet is also about to be
> installed on the stairs. All of this, though modern, was quite expensive.
> And school tours are about to start.
>
>
>
> Previously, our visitors stood on a rectangle of modern carpet with a
> rubberized backing on a bare wood floor.
>
>
>
> I assumed that we’d cover the area where visitors stood with plastic or
> other mats, but the advice that originally came to us with the carpets was
> to vacuum religiously but do little else (and we bought a super vacuum
> cleaner with a water filter), because coverings on top of the carpets would
> cause abrasion.  When the carpets began to show discoloration almost at
> once, we were then advised to spot clean with mild detergent and apply
> Scotchgard (which is a bit difficult to do after all the furniture’s in!).
>
>
>
> I still think that we have to protect the areas where visitors stand
> somehow, and I would like to know how other sites have solved this problem.
> Period crumbcloths? Canvas mats? Squares of the same carpeting laid over the
> main carpet? Plastic see-through mats? Require the visitors to levitate
> above the floor? Something else we haven’t thought of?
>
>
>
> Your thoughts are appreciated!
>
>
>
> Carol Ely
>
> Locust Grove
>
> Louisville
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-- 
Erin Crissman Richardson

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