I used to work in a historic house that had 19th century inlaid wood floors, and replica period carpets. Instead of opting for the little booties for the visitors to wear to protect the floors, the museum purchased an electric shoe cleaner. It is the same machine used by curlers before entering the ice at a curling arena. Basically, a rotating brush is activated by pulling on a handle bar, and then you just brush the bottom and sides of your shoe. It is simple to use, and as someone who worked many a wet west coast day at the museum, I can tell you that it works very well removing mud, leaves and other dirt from boots, shoes and even sandals. All you really need is a small amount of space at the entrance and an electrical outlet. I think ours was bought at a curling supply store in Edmonton, Alb.
Maybe this could work for your floors? Good luck.
>From: Full Name <
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>Reply-To: Museum discussion list <
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>To:
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>Subject: Don't want to slip- runners needed
>Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 04:12:02 EST
>
>Two questions:
>1) Runners. I know the subject of protective runners for over carpeting has
>been discussed but I need to know what kind of for runners should be put down
>onto wooden floors (and stone floors) as a means of protection on rainy days.
> These are new floors and I am interesting in clever and not too ugly
>solutions that can be picked up and removed.
>2) Water in general. This is a small historic house situation, and we are
>trying to decide what to do on really wet or snowy days, beyond just runners.
> Our tours take the visitors through the woods and into our newly and
>gradually being restored house. Hopefully on really bad days we won't have
>huge traffic. We are trying to decide what to do with wet clothing, boots,
>etc.; we don't really have a place for hanging or checking outer clothes, as
>do larger institutions- one solution is to just allow a little dripping as
>has probably been the case for the original occupants. But as we raise the
>level of care and restoration in the house, it seems more and more
>irresponsible to allow this sort of behavior.
>Hopefully, we are not the first ones to have wrestled with these problems,
>and I would appreciate hearing maybe some innovative solutions.
>With thanks, in advance,
>Bill Straus
>
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