Parquet Floor Repair

backfoot

We have a parquet floor which needs some attention.

Around 30 oak block tiles are loose and some have risen. It looks like there is a bitumen base which has gone dusty. We want to sand and reseal/varnish to bring the lustre back up.

It is by no means a perfect floor but would look good with some treatment.We are by no means precious about it but having decorated the hall we want it look good as well. Dimensions are 9 m by 2.2m.

It is broadly in a herringbone pattern.

Any tips welcomed please:

1. Best method of refixing . What adhesive ?

2. Best method of sanding. Is it feasible to hand sand? Not in a rush.

3. What varnish is recommended. Tiles are darkish oak but many are quite worn.

4. Can we use yacht varnish ? A sample block showed up quite well.

Thanks for any advice.:)

ormus

bostick and evostick make parquet flooring adhesive.
wickes do their own brand. a lot cheaper.

hand sanding is possible, but itll take an age.
(diy electric sander).

http://shop.flagfinishes.co.uk/Aqualac-Standard-and-PU_AOTHD.aspx

flag aqualac pu is very good and a decent price.
branded varnish can be very expensive.

ed110220

I've also got a parquet floor in my living room and dining room. At the moment it is underneath carpet. What should I look for when taking the carpet up?

WestonDave

Look for split or loose blocks - however these can often be glued back into place or back together. You will almost certainly have gripper rods nailed into it, but the nail holes will cover fine - just be careful taking the gripper rods up. Don't take too much notice of what it looks like in terms of colour etc as its likely that ageing and being under carpet will have darkened it. We had our hall done after it had been under carpet for long enough for the underlay to disintegrate - it was almost black when we took it up, but its now a very pleasant warm red brown colour. You could always hand sand a small part of one block to get an idea of the underlying wood colour.

The other thing to check is if you have a fireplace or chimney breast in either room, you might find there is a section of parquet missing in front of it with a stone or concrete hearth slab instead. That knocked our lounge on the head for the time being as it would have meant a lot of messing around and trying to match in blocks from somewhere else. It may still get done at some stage as whoever did our house laid the parquet in the downstairs toilet and in the cupboard under the stairs - plenty of spare blocks to be had if we need them!

ed110220

Thanks Westondave. I have only recently discovered the parquet is there when I lifted the carpet up in the corner. The carpet is old and dirty and in need of replacement, but I'll wait until I redecorate so it can catch any paint spills etc first. There is a gas fire in front of a back boiler that protrudes quite far into the room, the parquet has been laid around it, but removing it as I was thinking of would leave a gap in the parquet.

maxamilllion

This is good timing. I'm judt having a oak parquet floor sanded as we speak! There was a gap where we took the fireplace out but I'm having it made into a tiles hearth instaed of having the blocks replaced.

Ormus - Thanks for the link to Flag supplies. I've been looking for good value treatment.

Has anybody any idea how long a coating like this would last before it would require resanding and recoating? I've been looking at the Ronseal Diamond Finish and they said that they would expect their "ultra hard" finfish to only last 2 - 3 years before stripping back and starting again. And one i'd said I'd got a dog they reduced that down to < 2 years!!

If I cant find anything suitable I may go with a floor oil whcih can I can then just re-treat as required. Save me starting again. I would like some thing with a satin finish.
And as I'm going to be doing this myself it needs to be relativly fool proof :-)

pinkcandyflossprincess

we put parquet down in our old house, i used a satin finish. when laying a floor for the first time just remember you have to leave it a few days to settle