"Refurbishing old parquet floors," in the Hardwood and Laminates Q&A forum, begins: "Hello again,
I've received good advice with regard to a porcelain flooring project last year from this community. I would ..."
I've received good advice with regard to a porcelain flooring project last year from this community. I would like to say my thanks again, and also ask for some more advice.
Instead of replacing the original wood flooring, I would like to refurbish it. I've attached some pictures of it. The condition for the majority of the floor seems to be in good shape. This time I'd like to try my hand at patching this up.
I figured if I can fix some of the sections with damaged wood, then the rest of the effort should only be relegated to sanding / polishing / finishing the floor.
Any tips from those with experience in this sort of project?
I was told that I can just get a piece of wood from Home Depot and replace the small portion of the floor with rotten wood. The other part of the floor with gaps in between the wood tiles I can supposedly just use wood putty.
20 years ago I put a 3/4" solid red oak parquet in a Marie Antoinette pattern in my neighbors kitchen, dining room, corridor and around a carpeted area in the living room. Now they want to eliminate the carpet and pad in the living room and fill it in with wood. I went to the local wood flooring distributor and discovered that parquet floors are no longer in production ANYWHERE aside from custom made special order stuff. I was surprised and disappointed. I know I hadn't seen or laid parquet in years but I had no idea it was like that.
So unless you want a custom mill run you would have to be geared up at home to manufacture your own replacement parquet or find a local carpenter that could manage that for you. It's not technically difficult with the right tools and equipment. By the way I find that there are much better places to find quality lumber than Home Depot. There would be quite a bit of regional variation in what your local store would have in stock but the ones nearby me have fairly awful quality control and I don't want to pick through 15 bad pieces of stock to find one useful board.
I uploaded an example of the floor in my neighbors house. Not an actual photo but one I found that's almost identical.
First, I want to thank you for your $25.00 donation this morning. That was very generous of you and I really appreciate it. Thanks too for your participation here and allowing us to help you with your flooring projects.
The problem we always had repairing finger block is every manufacturer was slightly different in sizes. IMHO, with the seemingly small amount involved, it would be easiest and cheapest to find a woodworker and have him (or her) mill the slats you need. I would bring a piece of slat so the species can be identified first.
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They describe this as 5/16" urethane hardwood. I read on a few websites that parquet was no longer "in production" which confirmed what that local distributor told me. Is this just like the stuff we used to use or was I just being fed misinformation?
I don't know. It may be that thicker parquet isn't being made anymore or some other specific parquet they thought you were referring to. Seems to be plenty of parquet available in a variety of configurations though.
I don't know. It may be that thicker parquet isn't being made anymore or some other specific parquet they thought you were referring to. Seems to be plenty of parquet available in a variety of configurations though.
Jim
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Armstrong says it's "solid hardwood" but I'm confused about the urethane in the name of it. I'm pretty sure the floor I laid was made by Kentucky Hardwood Floors. So that was how I was researching online and at the distributor. I know it's a solid "block parquet" and I agree you're right they are talking about that more specific construction style. We've already lightly refinished that floor twice------meaning just a heavy screening to take as much finish off as possible and then the stain and finish stuff that's a single process. As thick as it is I think it could be fully refinished but it's never needed that much work. Still looks great.
I would assume they are referring to the finish. Haven't bought it for years, but most finger block parquets were penetrating stain & sealer with wax finish. I'm thinking Microsaic, Peace, Chickasaw, Bruce's older materials, etc. There used to be a ton of manufacturers making this product.
Qacer could probably even use straight edge material and not need to have tongue and grooves milled. It could be made up pretty easy with just a table saw and a piece of stock board. Just make sure the quarter sawn edge is the face.
I would assume they are referring to the finish. Haven't bought it for years, but most finger block parquets were penetrating stain & sealer with wax finish. I'm thinking Microsaic, Peace, Chickasaw, Bruce's older materials, etc. There used to be a ton of manufacturers making this product.
Qacer could probably even use straight edge material and not need to have tongue and grooves milled. It could be made up pretty easy with just a table saw and a piece of stock board. Just make sure the quarter sawn edge is the face.
The name urethane parquet is making me think of when Cambell's Soup got in trouble for mislabeling their "Pork and Beans." It seams there weren't nothin' in there remotely resembling pork. So from what I recall they tossed a tiny chunk of bacon fat in there to satisfy the FDA. But Armstrong specifically says it's "solid hardwood" so it can't be layers of material.
It's hard to tell the size of the Qacer's "finger block" parquet pattern from the photos. If you put the custom milled repair pieces into an epoxy or urethane adhesive you could probably avoid the need to tongue and groove given such a small area to patch. It doesn't look like the standard 12" block with 4 squares of 5 fingers--------like that Armstrong and Hartco stuff.
Urethane Parquet refers to the finish. Here's a description they give for the product I linked to:
Excerpt from: Armstrong website
Urethane Parquet is an exceptional solid Oak hardwood in the parquet style of flooring. Artistically applied colors create the contrasting hues and tones of this inlaid hardwood design. This is a unique floor that will be the center of attention in any setting.
"Solid oak" couldn't leave anything to doubt.
Looking at the pictures again, I am making an educated guess that the baseboard is 2½" high, which would make the parquet about a 6x6" tile. Each tile is laid separately, as you can see by the lousy job the installer did in staying straight and square. I see more than a half dozen tiles that should be changed. That's less than a box, so I might try to fabricate the pieces myself. But it might be easier to buy a whole box, use what's needed and save the rest for future repairs. The whole floor really needs to be refinished, so it will be easier to make the new and old blend together.
Just my best guesses - I never worked with parquet in the 35 years I installed. Worked over it, but never with it.
Location: Hub of the Universe in Indiana - near Purdue University
Posts: 639
Re: Refurbishing old parquet floors
If you are going to have someone make these, or going to try to do it yourself. Try this... it has worked for me..... get yourself some accuply underlayment... some urathane wood floor adhesive, and have a local sawmill cut and plane some (looks like) white oak that may be quarter sawn... make sure that the thickness of your accuply and white oak, together is just a hair less that the thickness of the current floor..( allowing for glue.... then cut your accuply to squares about 1/8 of an inch larger than the parquet size... make your self a "jig out of 3/4 inch ply that has three sides that is the same size of your accuply squares... your will also need a 3/4 inch piece of plywood the same size as the squares... cut your white oak pieces the length of the square and glue to the accuply with the urathane in the "jig" and screw a piece of 1x2 on the open end... then place a piece of wax paper on the top ( to protect from glue) then the 3/4 inch of ply on top of that with a concrete block turned on edge. leave over night... then take out of the jig and cut a 1/16 off to square up ( or out of square to fit opening.) and then you can use the urathane glue to glue the tiles down(accuply side down of course) or you can nail them on the edges by shooting at an angle.. ( It might squeak if nailed though) the last tile make a template out of accuply before you cut the last one.... and honestly I would make a couple extra, for mis-cuts( I learned that one the hard way too) HA! Many years ago I made over 20 replacement parquet tiles this way and put in. I made the "jig out of a couple of pieces of plywood, and some 1x2 looked like a couple of tic-tac-toe boards...
I will say that if your are going to refinish the floor make sure that you use a sander like a square buff or the clark 12x18 oscalating sander... DO NOT USE A DRUM SANDER. OR BUFFER SANDER!!!! that is very important... ( lesson learned when I was a young lad, and just a little more stupid that I am now... HA!
If you are not going to sand then just use some johnsons past wax and a buffer will work in that application....
Now I am not saying that this is the "proper" way to fix this. It is just the way that worked for me when I was to stupid to know that there may be a "proper" way... and I believe that is is still in use today...
one little advantage that you have today is that the only "urathane" adhesive that I could get at the time was in Caulking tubes, now you can get the stuff in buckets at any box store or flooring store... and I used a different underlayment at the time because accuply was not available, but I say accuply because it is the thinnest of all the underlayment, that way your oak is thicker..... .
Location: Hub of the Universe in Indiana - near Purdue University
Posts: 639
Re: Refurbishing old parquet floors
sorry for being so windy... I would not recommend any putty for filler... if you feel the need to fill, get some trowleable filler from a wood floor dealer...
one other thing in the one picture it looks like stains, you are going to have to get "wood bleach" or Oxcilic acid ... red devel makes a pretty good one. and Zinnser... ( the 123 primer people)
sorry I keep adding... when I make the picture larger, it looks like some of the flooring is quarter sawn, and some is flatsawn... you may want to mix it up a little... and it is hard to tell if that is red or white, from the picture... if the floor is older than 60 years it is probably white. ( guess from what is here in Indiana) Red oak was considered the "poor peoples" wood around the turn of the centry to about the 40's.... at least that is what the old time furniture guys tell me...
Looking at the pictures again, I am making an educated guess that the baseboard is 2½" high, which would make the parquet about a 6x6" tile. Each tile is laid separately, as you can see by the lousy job the installer did in staying straight and square. I see more than a half dozen tiles that should be changed. That's less than a box, so I might try to fabricate the pieces myself. But it might be easier to buy a whole box, use what's needed and save the rest for future repairs. The whole floor really needs to be refinished, so it will be easier to make the new and old blend together.
Just my best guesses - I never worked with parquet in the 35 years I installed. Worked over it, but never with it.
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His pattern is a 4-finger block parquet. It's not unheard of by any means but I'll wager a 12-pack of my favorite beer than no way in heck he can find a box of that anywheres. Let's hope I'm wrong and some of the guys who really handle a lot of wood can hook the dude up!
I can't think of any exceptions. Everything I ever refinished, repaired or installed was the standard 6" 5-finger block parquet pattern like the 5/16" Armstrong urethane stuff and Hartco's similar line. Usually they came in 12" tiles composed of 4 individual 6" panels of five finger blocks. Sometimes they were just the 6" panels. Like Pete said there was not much consistency in that 6" or 12" dimension across runs, brands or other varieties so repairs were sometimes a challenge even if you got the species, stain and size dead on. You'd just patch in sections and then you have to shave a hair or fudge a gap somehow. Same problems you get with VCT patches magnified and then obviously so much more complicated to fix.
