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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