What is a boot scraper?
A boot scraper (Dutch: schoenschraper; Flemish: voetschraper) is a fitting used to scrape soil, mud and grass off shoes or boots before entering the house. It has a sharp, usually iron edge over which you drag the sole. It also makes it easier to pull off a boot, much like a bootjack.
Boot scrapers are common by the front and back doors of farmhouses and rural homes, but also on older town houses from the days when streets were unpaved or dirty. Many Georgian and Victorian terraces in Britain still have them beside the front steps.
Types
- Recess in the wall: a niche low in the brickwork beside the door, with a wrought-iron blade. The surround was often decorative.
- Free-standing scraper: a cast or wrought-iron scraper set into the step, between paving or into a stone block.
- Scraper with brushes: a grid with brushes on the sides to clean the sides of the shoe or boot as well.
Application
A boot scraper is a simple, practical addition by a back door, garden door, shed or vegetable garden.
Tips:
- Position: place it outside where you naturally pass, before the doormat. Under a porch or canopy it stays drier.
- Fix it firmly: set a free-standing scraper in a concrete pad, between paving or with anchors into a step so it cannot tip over.
- Drainage: avoid standing water around the scraper; a gravel base or open-jointed paving helps.
- Historic scrapers: a niche with a scraper in an old wall is a characteristic detail. Remove rust, protect the iron and keep the brickwork around the niche in good repair.
- Safety: don’t put it in the middle of a walkway, to avoid trips.
Related Terms
- Door
- Porch
- Wrought iron
- Corrosion
- Paving brick
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