# Chris' Parquet Flooring Project.



## ChrisxBates (4 Mar 2017)

Hello,

I’m about to embark on a parquet floor project of approximately 33M2. Consisting of Lounge, Hall, and Office (Small Bedroom). 

I’ve cleaned off the bitumen off the back of the majority of these. It was a messy, boring and hard work. 

Oak, herringbone pattern, with 2 rows of stretchers around the border. 

It’s intended to remove the skirting board, lay parquet and then refit skirting. 

Has anyone successfully completed a similar project ? Any nuggets of advice anyone ? I will have no doubt several more questions. In particular the use of the floor sanding machines. 

I did try and load some photos from Photobucket, but I don't have the permission. 


Thank you in advance.

Chris


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## MARK.B. (4 Mar 2017)

Plenty of people on here who i'am sure will be along shortly to offer advice  . I have only limited expieriece but one thing i will say is be very very careful when using the sanders as they can bite and do a lot of damage in a very short time , even the little ones will give grief to the unwary


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## hanser (5 Mar 2017)

Hi Chris - did a similar job at home and have to say that scraping out bitumen from the sides and backs of the blocks is the most tedious of jobs. There are fancy adhesives but I used solvented cartridge adhesive ( Saves nails, gap fill type stuff ). 5 blobs per block. Buy in packs and it's reasonably cheap. 
Good open time that lets you nudge the work ( if needed  ) The blocks never budged in the 20 years they were down ( onto timber floor)


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## ChrisxBates (5 Mar 2017)

Hello Mark.B and Hanser, 

I'm apprehensive about the sanding. I'm hearing lots of negative things about the drum sander you hire from the local hire shop (the sort you have to lift up when starting and stopping). Has anyone used one and got decent results ?

The guys in the hire shop reckon I'm fretting over nothing. People are obviously hiring them, are they all getting a poor finish ? I did consider trying a 4" belt sander as suspect it's more gentle and you can see the work area better.

I did have a trial run with no nails and was impressed. I got a piece of plywod (8" x 3" ish), stuck it down to the floor and left it for 48 hours, then tried to remove it. The plywood dis-integrated before no nails gave in. 

Chris


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## hanser (5 Mar 2017)

Should have said I laid the parquet blocks direct onto the floor boards after roughing them up a bit with a flap disk in the angle grinder.


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## Quadie (9 Mar 2017)

I have recently completed a similar project. I bought new parquet blocks but other than that I have probably made enough mistakes to have an answer for most of your questions. Although Hanser had no issues with No Nails, I used Lecol 5500 which was a godsend. 

I started the project as a complete novice based on a throw away comment from SWIMBO 'I've always loved parquet flooring' but by the end of it of I really knew what I was doing and the job turned out great. Just in time to never, EVER, do it again


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## ChrisxBates (9 Mar 2017)

Hello Quadie,

Not being familiar with the abbreviation SWIMBO, I had to google it to to establish it's full meaning.

Yes I intend to use Lecol 5500, and 7500 for the sand filling.

My concerns at present are as follows..

Sanding. I've heard some horror stories on the web when people have used a floor drum sander. The type you have to push down to tilt the front up, with the motor running. Getting waves and dips. I did consider buying a 4" belt sander and using this for the first pass with course paper. The floor sander type where you operate a handle to lift the drum appear to be prohibitively expensive. I would like to perform the sanding myself if possible.

Expansion Gaps. I intend to remove the skirting and re-fit after parquet, so i'm happy about expansion gaps where skirting is fitted. I should be fitting gaps in the doorways where the parquet floors meet. How did you cover this expansion gap. Also where we have no skirting, how did you cover the expansion gap ?

Joining to existing flooring. I have two door ways where I need to loose the full height of the parquet (22mm ish) I don't want to have a step if possible. How do we do this ? Put a chamfer on a few blocks ?

What did you use to finish ? and how did you apply it? I am considering Polyx ? Could do with something that you can walk on after a few hours (or else I will have to sleep in the garage).

Chris


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## ChrisxBates (9 Mar 2017)

I can now upload photos ! 






Hall. The old plastic tiles will be removed.





Majority of the blocks.






Blocks before sanding.





Blocks after sanding, with a coat of Danish Oil to establish their shade. 





Plan


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## Andrewf (9 Mar 2017)

Have done this in the past, with second hand parquet. I laided it using the tar like stuff. Looked really good, but would never do it again.
I sanded mine using a ROS did a good job and was less hassle than one of the big floor sanders.
some points. 
Don't let the dog assist you, you would be suprised just how far a labrador can track the tar through the house.
If you decide to go down the pub after you have finished sanding and swept up, take the other half. I didn't staggered back a couple of hours later to discover wife had decided she would help by hoovering it. The dust had filled any little gaps perfectly.


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## ChrisxBates (9 Mar 2017)

Hello Andrew,

Thanks

I have....No dog, No Wife, No SWIMBO.

What was the area ? 

How uneven were the blocks ? (Mine are 1-2mm maximum difference in height) 

How long did it take with the ROS ? 

Which ROS did you use ? 


Chris


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## siggy_7 (10 Mar 2017)

I laid an oak parquet floor about 18 months ago, I used new oak blocks as I didn't have the time to source and prepare old blocks. I used the same Lecol products as you which worked great. Sub floor preparation is key. I used self leveling compound on a concrete floor, the results were acceptable but in a few places I think there are hollows under the blocks as they sound different when tapped. Not caused any issues but as a perfectionist it annoys me. The room ends in a glazed door with a full height window either side, the subfloor here is different (there's a cavity under it) and here the combination of subfloor and cold damp air has caused movement and cracking between the blocks which is really annoying and will need redoing at some point. I would get a laser line if doing this job again, I struggled to get my first row straight and consequently had some little gaps to fill with Lecol 7500, nothing noticeable now but it bothered me and made it harder work at the time. Lecol is great stuff but not great to clean off your hands etc so wear gloves if possible, I used cellulose thinners for cleaning tools.

Sanding - I got great results from hiring a really good sander, a Lagler trio. This uses 3 orbital pads which have a leveling effect and leaves a superb finish. It's not as aggressive as a conventional floor sander though so if you have old blocks that need a lot of leveling you might be quite a while with it, or get some really aggressive grit 8" discs (I was only supplied with 60 grit as the most coarse discs). I used Junkers strong varnish which you can get in different finishes, this has held up reasonably well to wear and tear but beware of leaving water on the floor particularly until the varnish has fully cured - I had to sand back and redo a bit where someone had left water droplets on the floor when cleaning the windows a couple of days after I varnished.

If you want to see how mine turned out, I put a thread on here somewhere. Good luck and post pictures!

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk


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## ChrisxBates (10 Mar 2017)

siggy_7":clgfamor said:


> I laid an oak parquet floor about 18 months ago, I used new oak blocks as I didn't have the time to source and prepare old blocks. I used the same Lecol products as you which worked great. Sub floor preparation is key. I used self leveling compound on a concrete floor, the results were acceptable but in a few places I think there are hollows under the blocks as they sound different when tapped. Not caused any issues but as a perfectionist it annoys me. The room ends in a glazed door with a full height window either side, the subfloor here is different (there's a cavity under it) and here the combination of subfloor and cold damp air has caused movement and cracking between the blocks which is really annoying and will need redoing at some point. I would get a laser line if doing this job again, I struggled to get my first row straight and consequently had some little gaps to fill with Lecol 7500, nothing noticeable now but it bothered me and made it harder work at the time. Lecol is great stuff but not great to clean off your hands etc so wear gloves if possible, I used cellulose thinners for cleaning tools.
> 
> Sanding - I got great results from hiring a really good sander, a Lagler trio. This uses 3 orbital pads which have a leveling effect and leaves a superb finish. It's not as aggressive as a conventional floor sander though so if you have old blocks that need a lot of leveling you might be quite a while with it, or get some really aggressive grit 8" discs (I was only supplied with 60 grit as the most coarse discs). I used Junkers strong varnish which you can get in different finishes, this has held up reasonably well to wear and tear but beware of leaving water on the floor particularly until the varnish has fully cured - I had to sand back and redo a bit where someone had left water droplets on the floor when cleaning the windows a couple of days after I varnished.
> 
> ...



Thanks Siggy,

Good to hear of your experiences. Lagler trio... interesting option. 

Is your thread titled "Floor varnish" or is there another one ? 

Chris


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## siggy_7 (12 Mar 2017)

The Floor varnish thread was in relation to the same floor, but I covered all the work including pictures on this thread: lounge-remodelling-t92613.html


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## Andrewf (12 Mar 2017)

Chris.

The area was my kitchen in a past house, about 15m2.

The ROS was a big one i borrowed from a friend. 

I can't remember if there was much difference in thickness between the blocks, but probably just picked ones that were of a similar thickness as i laid them, and then sanded them after laying to remove ridges. I know the floor wasn't perfectly flat when finished but didn't matter and looked good afterwards.


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## ChrisxBates (12 Mar 2017)

Andrewf":2255p0u9 said:


> Chris.
> 
> The area was my kitchen in a past house, about 15m2.
> 
> ...



Thanks. 

Yes a 6" ROS could be the preferred option.


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## siggy_7 (12 Mar 2017)

My floor was about 25m2 and initially like you I thought I could use a 6" ROS, since I already owned one and my floor being new blocks was already reasonably level. I think I saved more in chiropractor fees by hiring a dedicated floor sander. About an hour of sanding back the varnish with the ROS between coats was enough for me!

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk


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## ChrisxBates (13 Mar 2017)

> My floor was about 25m2 and initially like you I thought I could use a 6" ROS, since I already owned one and my floor being new blocks was already reasonably level. I think I saved more in chiropractor fees by hiring a dedicated floor sander. About an hour of sanding back the varnish with the ROS between coats was enough for me!



Thanks, I can't find anyone locally who hires the Lagler trio. There's somewhere that will hire me a Bona Flexisand, at £400/week. I may visit and enquire. 

Sometimes you can think about these things too much.


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## will1983 (13 Mar 2017)

I'm sure I saw one used on Youtube in Belgium that had 4 ROS pads, I don't know what make/model it was but might be worth looking for one similar here in the UK


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## Jake (13 Mar 2017)

The big belt sander is more important than the Trio. Drum sanders are a perfect recipe for divots. If you belted it up to 80G and had the patience to 80G (again) and 120G with a ROS you could get the job done (eventually). The Trio won't take off enough fast enough to deal with reclaimed blocks imho.


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## Quadie (13 Mar 2017)

ChrisxBates":3qz4iikb said:


> Hello Quadie,
> 
> Not being familiar with the abbreviation SWIMBO, I had to google it to to establish it's full meaning.
> 
> ...



Chris,

The blocks I used were new, fully planed and had a mini chamfer along all edges so they didn't need sanded. I had used a floor sander in the past and didn't do a great job, some real dodgy gouges at the edges where I started. But there's some good advice on here for alternatives so I'd go with that. When I decide to refinish the floor I will get a professional to do it for me. I think I've earned that!

I found old hand written instructions online on how to fit herringbone that had been scanned. I'll send them to you. Totally invaluable but as Siggy said, your lines and angles need to be perfect or a line of gaps will start to form. I started the job in our dining room and there's a row of gaps that annoy me every day. By the time I had finished the living room and the hall I had learned my lesson. The hall is 7-8m long and the spines are perfect. It not only looks better but it makes it easier and quicker to fit if everything is straight. Keep checking as you go along.

I never went with expansion gaps between the rooms. Technically parquet doesn't need expansion gaps as the grain direction isn't uniform and if you're fitting flooring in a dry, central heated home it won't be a problem. Wouldn't be so confident on a concrete sub floor though. I also laid 6mm ply to help smooth out the lumps and bumps. I'll take a pic of how I filled the gap between the rooms. Tried to make a feature of it and it turned out quite nice (I think).

For the finish I never went with the full polished look. I used Rubio Monocoat, another online find. Gives a low sheen finish and just rubs on with a cloth and rub off the excess 15 mins later and it's done. Really tough too. 

Hope this helps, I use this site a lot as it's such a great resource so it would be nice to think I could help someone else

Keep us up to date on the progress!!

K.


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## ChrisxBates (14 Mar 2017)

> Chris,
> 
> The blocks I used were new, fully planed and had a mini chamfer along all edges so they didn't need sanded. I had used a floor sander in the past and didn't do a great job, some real dodgy gouges at the edges where I started. But there's some good advice on here for alternatives so I'd go with that. When I decide to refinish the floor I will get a professional to do it for me. I think I've earned that!
> 
> ...




Thanks for the advice Quadie, With the Rubio Monocoat, how long after application can it be walked on. The hall is in the middle of the house. 

If you want to send me the instructions it would be good. [email protected]

Chris


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## Jake (14 Mar 2017)

I would use F Ball F21 on reclaimed blocks, not Lecol. Dipping is easier (if messier) than laying on trowelled glue. F21 is wholly compatible with any bitumen residues, Lecol is pretty much compatible in practice but might set slowly and I don't think they would stand behind its use on reclaimed blocks.


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## ChrisxBates (14 Mar 2017)

Jake":2elszeqg said:


> The big belt sander is more important than the Trio. Drum sanders are a perfect recipe for divots. If you belted it up to 80G and had the patience to 80G (again) and 120G with a ROS you could get the job done (eventually). The Trio won't take off enough fast enough to deal with reclaimed blocks imho.



Hello Jake,

When you say "belted it up to 80G" 

Are you referencing to

A 4" hand sander 







Or

A floor sander using a belt and a lever to control the belt.






Thanks

Chris


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## ChrisxBates (14 Mar 2017)

To keep you all informed...... I'm not shirking starting the parquet. I've got other stuff to sort, wood burning stove, cracks in ceilings etc.


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## Jake (14 Mar 2017)

ChrisxBates":2n1u8agx said:


> Jake":2n1u8agx said:
> 
> 
> > The big belt sander is more important than the Trio. Drum sanders are a perfect recipe for divots. If you belted it up to 80G and had the patience to 80G (again) and 120G with a ROS you could get the job done (eventually). The Trio won't take off enough fast enough to deal with reclaimed blocks imho.
> ...



The big one - Hummel or the big Bona (or a Cobra if you could find one). Take a look at my woodblock floor thread a little down forum \/


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## will1983 (15 Mar 2017)

Quadie":12xcdxja said:


> I found old hand written instructions online on how to fit herringbone that had been scanned. I'll send them to you. Totally invaluable but as Siggy said, your lines and angles need to be perfect or a line of gaps will start to form.
> K.



Quadie, please can you send those to me too? Or maybe post them in a new thread?

Cheers
Will


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## Quadie (16 Mar 2017)

will1983":32558bfa said:


> Quadie":32558bfa said:
> 
> 
> > I found old hand written instructions online on how to fit herringbone that had been scanned. I'll send them to you. Totally invaluable but as Siggy said, your lines and angles need to be perfect or a line of gaps will start to form.
> ...



Will do. I'll make a new thread, hopefully that way more people can find it.

Keith.


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## ChrisxBates (19 Apr 2017)

Hello All,

Well, I've made a start.

The floor was level apart from a few small areas around the edges (old fire place, old radiator pipes etc), which I filled with floor leveller. 

I followed Keith's instructions regarding the marking out (straightforward and helpful), fixed the first two blocks down using Lecol 5500 and allowed the adhesive to cure. The idea was this would give me something firm as a start. 






Today I attempted to fit more block and found that they were running slightly in the wrong direction. Experience of tiling etc has taught me that the first row must be true, otherwise it will only get worse as the job progresses.

So I decided to remove the first two blocks (hammer and old paint scrapper required) and the existing floor leveller / screed came up. 






Undeterred, I re-marked the area and fitted the first 16 blocks. 

I'm just about to mix a spot of leveller and fill the hole. 

Chris


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