Carol -

My colleague Marc Williams will undoubtedly have the definitive thoughts on
this but I would suggest that a yearly waxing is probably to the benefit of
your floors as it will provide a good measure of protection from the
activities in the house. Completely covering the floors was not an 18th
century practice either. Many historic house museums will lay down a strip
of carpet in the high traffic areas - not a period look - but it is well
understood that it is for the protection of the original fabric of the
house.

When any significant activity takes place  (such as renovation / painting /
maintenance) often the workers are required to wear those disposable
booties. While that protects the floors they can also be very slippery on
some surfaces. I have seen one instance where a fall lead to a severe back
injury that ended the career of a colleague.

So in developing any kind of protection plan you need to balance many things
- I would suggest getting a wide variety of opinions and asking many
questions!

Cheers!
Dave

David Harvey
Senior Conservator
Los Angeles, CA

On Tue, Aug 11, 2009 at 10:08 AM, Carol Ely <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>  Thanks to those who had great suggestions for my question about how to
> classify and catalog reproduction exhibit items. We’re going with a third
> category outside of Permanent and Teaching Collections for those objects,
> but keeping it under the supervision of Collections.
>
>
>
> Now a new question (and yes, I have reference books, but they never seem to
> address the specific problem!).  Locust Grove is a historic house museum, c.
> 1795. We have original floors, some of ash and some of poplar wood. No
> varnish or other finish on them. We have taken a fairly conservative
> approach with conservation and cleaning – we used to wax once a year, but
> have stopped that on the basis that it was not an 18th/early 19th century
> practice. We sweep and vacuum, and every now and then mop with very little
> water. However, the floors are developing spots and blotches from visitor
> activities, repair work, and other wear and tear.
>
>
>
> So, should we protect the floors in some way? Wax? Other? Should we use
> stronger cleaning materials? Do we treat the ash and poplar just the same?
>
>
>
> We plan to put down rugs in most rooms in the next year, covering most but
> not all of the floor surfaces. For now, we want to get the floors looking
> their best, and protect them for the future.
>
>
>
> Is there a resource I can consult, or do y’all have some thoughts?
>
>
>
> Carol Ely
>
> Historic Locust Grove
>
> Louisville, KY
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