Herringbone - Basket Weave - Brick - Ship's Deck - Finger Mosaic - Strip
Owners of properties built between the 1930s and 1970s are often pleasantly surprised to discover a parquet floor beneath old carpets they have pulled up. It will look dull and sad - but sanding can quickly transform it back to its original beauty.
A parquet floor is a valuable asset to your property. An equivalent new floor may cost up to £145 per square metre for supply & install. And this can be just for the basic herringbone or basket weave pattern.
Parquet Floor Sanding procedure requires use a variety of specialist sanding and buffing machines, including small handheld models, to restore the floor and finally produce a high gloss, satin or matt finish. It is quite a task a the grain of the wood runs in all directions, especially when it comes to staining it.
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Parquet floors are among the most durable of all wooden
floor types. The blocks require little maintenance other than to reglue any that have become unstuck. This is usually straightforward but sometimes we will need to level the subfloor - especially when bitumen removal has damaged the concrete.
Blocks are most likely to have been glued with black hot bitumen emulsion.
As this is a product no longer permitted, all traces have to be removed and modern glue used to reapply the blocks.
We can replace blocks with those in secluded areas of another room that is not being restored. Or we source those of similar vintage and quality from our extensive national network of reclaimed wood suppliers.
Sometimes this can be a challenge. An office building in London had a floor with an area of blocks missing. We eventually found the right blocks to match in Nottingham.
Parquet blocks in the old imperial sizes vary considerably. These were twice the size – so we had to cut each block in half! The effort proved worthwhile - as the restored parquet floor is the perfect complement to the modern glass-partitioned offices.
This is a personal preference, but gaps can be filled
by mixing dust from the second sanding with a resin wood filler.
The final sanding smooths down the whole floor including the recently-filled gaps.
As with timber, the finish can be hardwearing polyurethane
lacquer -
or hard wax or oil. The floor's natural beauty is best brought out by hard wax. It penetrates the wood and leaves an attractive non-glossy finish.
Ask us for advice on the finish you want – and let us demonstrate the properties of all the sealants.
Parquet floors are very easy to clean. Just brush and mop
with a damp mop when necessary.
Upright vacuum cleaners are best avoided - as grit particles in the spinning brushes can scratch the surface.
Parquetry is a geometric mosaic of wood pieces used for decorative
effect. Its two main uses lie in veneer patterns on furniture (ie marquetry – with curved and natural shapes) - and block patterns for floors.
The patterns of parquet flooring are entirely geometrical and angular -squares, triangles, lozenges. Herringbone is the most popular parquet flooring pattern.
Timber that has a strong contrast in colour and grain, such as oak, walnut, cherry, lime, pine and maple, is sometimes used. Richly-coloured mahogany and other tropical hardwoods also occur in the more expensive parquet.
Bamboo is a popular material for modern floors.
Parquet flooring dates from the late 17th century
in France at the Palace of Versailles. It developed as a response to the problems caused by marble flooring. Its need for constant washing tended to rot the wooden joists beneath the floors.
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