Renovating Original (?) Parquet Flooring

Peartree

I have 1930s house and under the carpet in the hallway is what appears to be a parquet floor in not too bad a condition. However, having looked at it, I'm wondering if it is a) original and b) good quality.

I'm unsure what type of wood it is but the strips are (roughly) 22 cm x 7.5 cm. What is concerning me is they are only c3 mm thick. They are glued directly to a concrete floor.

Anyone had any experience here? I don't want to waste a lot of effort on cleaning up a cheap and more recent flooring job that someone covered in carpet for a reason!

If it is the real thing, does anyone know where I could source replacement strips - a source that wouldn't require a bulk purchase as I would only need to replace a few strips.

Advice most welcome.

Peartree

Avoriaz

A 1930’s house is likely to have good quality parquet. Are you certain it is only 3mm thick? It was probably covered up for fashion reasons rather than because it was no good. I recently renovated the parquet in the hall of my 1961 house which. like yours, had carpet on top for years. I am delighted with the result.

Firstly are there any service pipes or cables under the floor or along the edges. Take these into account. Then have a good think about water pipes, central heating pipes, electrical cables, telephone cables, speaker cables and anything else that you might want to run across or around the floor and install or plan for these before you do anything else.

Remove all the carpet, underlay and gripperrods. Carefully go over every inch of the floor and remove any staples and nails etc. Use a wide metal paint scraper or similar blade to very gently explore and lightly scrape over the floor. This will reveal the nails and staples etc that your eyes might miss. Do not gouge the surface.

Buy (don’t hire) a basic belt sander. I got one from Argos for £13 special offer though normally about £30-£40 will be needed to get a decent model. Hiring one will cost you about £40 anyway.

Glue down any loose pieces of parquet and replace any missing pieces. I didn’t need to do this so I am not sure of best sources.

Read the sander instructions carefully and sand the whole area a few times using finer grade paper as you go. Be very careful as careless use can leave tracks or grooves in the floor. Steady and gentle pressure is required and never let the sander stop in one place. Be extra careful if your parquet is very thin.

Be warned. Huge quantities of dust will be created. Try and get a sander with a vacuum attachment, wear a dust mask and try and seal all the doors leading off the hall.

Once you are happy with the surface, stain and varnish it with your own choice of colour and finish. There are so many options and so many different opinions that it is hard to give advice. Some people swear by wax, others insist that varnish is essential. Go to a proper merchant rather than a DIY store and don’t be ashamed or embarrassed to ask for advice.

Try and do the staining etc late in the day. Work towards your stairs so that you finish at bedtime. By morning you can probably walk on it. If you have pets or small children, take the appropriate precautions.

I bought wooden door threshold strips from a local joiner. He made them to my specification for £7 each for my five doors.. Alternatively you can buy various types from flooring and other stores. You can have wood, brass, aluminium and probably other materials too.

N9eav

Further to Avoriaz.... You may find it better to use a polish stripper on the floor first. If the parquet has polish on it, then it will clog up your sanding belts very quickly and they cost money. I have reclaimed parquet in oak and it's about 15mm thick. The pine can be as much as 30mm thick

Poppy9

I have a 1950's house with solid oak flooring on the ground floor. We extended our dining room and sourced some oak flooring from reclamation yard. It was hard to find the same oak and the same size. We compromised on the size and now it's laid (in the same pattern) it looks great as there is an arch separatiing the extension. We sanded the whole floor as the reclaimed stuff was stinking dirty. It's a messy job. As we had a large area to do we hired 2 sanders (large floor one and corner one) then get some old sheets and dampen them. Tape one sheet up to the door from inside the room and one on the outside of the room to stop the dust travelling. Make sure you wear a mask and googles. Remove any nails, tacks, staples first. You will need to go over the floor a few times depending on the condtion of the floor, with various grades of sand paper (provided by hire shop).

I researched quite a bit to decide on what was the best finish for my floor. We waxed it instead of varnishing as you can just add more wax to scratches whereas if you varnish you will eventually have to resand and redo. With wax you don't. I used Osmo hard wax oil you will need to go to a builders merchant or decorating specialist to buy. I paid £45 for a tin but it did the whole floor twice (room about 25ft by 15ft- maybe bigger). You paint it on with a brush and it's quick and easy. My floor is oak block flooring and when I sanded it was very pale. The wax oil has deepened the colour, but not much, but it's really brings out the grain beautifully. Easy to clean - I sweep it with a brush or put the hoover over it. No mopping needed.

tawnyowls

I had a 1930s house and discovered the original teak floor underneath the grotty carpet. We hired a large upright orbital sander (like a floor polisher, but with sanding discs), which was quite hard to track down (think we got it from an HSS shop eventually), but we preferred to use that, as there's less chance of gouging, as you can get with a belt sander, and a lot less dust. Didn't take very long, and we varnished afterwards - looked fabulous.

Peartree

What a lot of really excellent advice which I will certainly follow. The floor seems in good nick and I think I could get away with a very good clean and no sanding (which suits me as I seem to have spent half my life sanding something or other!). I just need a few replacement strips for just inside the front door where I suspect some water has come in at some point.

My cause for concern is the 3mm business (they really, really are only 3mm thick) which is what is making me wonder if they are original. All the other original features in the house are really good quality.

There's an architectural salvage place up the road so I'll probably take one in there to ask but, if there are any 1930s house specialists out there... 3mm -is it likely!?!

Once again, thanks to everyone.

Peartree

flang

If you find some need sanding Lidl have a great belt sander for around £30 starting on the 11th.

Peartree

Only issue is that after putting in some hard work on it, it doesn't stand up to being walked across daily - a hall is quite a heavy tread area - and that turns out to be why a carpet was put over it in the first place!

Thank you for the sander recommendation. I do already have four sanders at the last count (including, I think, the Lidl belt sander from a previous offer). Although it is small, I personally swear by my B&D Mouse, so much so that I bought my second one last year!