The Increasing Popularity of Shoeless Homes

In recent years, more and more properties listed for sale require visitors to take off their shoes before entering the premises. Homebuyers and agents either benefit from wearing shoes that slip off easily, or will be offered surgical booties to put over their shoes and keep the floors clean. As annoying as it might be for someone to ask you to take your shoes off before coming inside, there is a good reason to leave your shoes outside.

Much of what is on our shoes will transfer to our floors, whether on tile or into carpeting, creating a home environment that is filled with potentially harmful things. Walking around on the street, no matter how clean it might look, we step in chemicals, feces and dirt. Bacteria on shoes continues to build up, day after day, thus making the soles of our shoes some of the dirtiest objects in our homes. For those with children who play on the floor, it can be unsettling to think of a child rolling around in whatever your shoes might have tracked in from the bathroom floor of the restaurant you stopped in earlier in the day.

Taking your shoes off before coming inside isn’t just a growing trend among home sellers, but more and more Americans are doing like the Japanese and Scandinavians by making it a regular rule. Not only is this better for your floors – and redoing floors can get expensive – but the fact is, our shoes pick up a lot of dirt, bacteria and toxins.

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