Wool carpeting

Barbara Appelbaum <aandh [at] village__ios__com> writes:

>...
>I would welcome the experience of various institutions in wet cleaning
>floors vis-a-vis mechanical RH control systems.  Practical issues sometimes
>in real life quite outweigh technical ones, and housekeeping is an eternal
>problem.

A few years ago, I was called is to solve a booklice (psocoptera)
problem in an exhibition of photographs.  After touring the
building, checking out the mechanical system, discussing staff
activities for matting and framing, checking the condition report
forms and data associated with the environment in the photographs'
"home institution,  investigating packing and handling techniques,
and checking the hygrothermograph and weather data for the period in
which this infestation "bloomed", I could find nothing (except an RH
spike) that would indicate why these materials were infested.  I
then checked housekeeping and sanitation records and discovered that
the carpeting in the gallery space had been steam cleaned a couple
of days before the infestation was discovered.  This was the cause
of the RH spike and subsequent psocid activity.

Interesting how housekeeping impacts real-life practical issues!

I'd be interested in hearing of other folks' experiences along these
lines.

Wendy Jessup

                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 10:39
                Distributed: Wednesday, October 16, 1996
                       Message Id: cdl-10-39-003
                                  ***