For centuries, parquet has been and is used as the finest flooring. This material is of high quality and long service life. But due to its specifics, the floor is the most used area of the room, any floor covering wears out sooner or later. What to do in this case? You have two options for solving this problem: the first is to completely redecorate the parquet, which is very expensive and problematic, and the second is to timely repair the parquet. To restore an old floor covering is, in fact, a specific matter, but with the availability of equipment and certain knowledge, the result will justify all efforts. In this article, we'll look at some useful options for restoring your parquet flooring.
Often some of the parquet floors fall out, dry out or loose. In this case, they must be replaced. The first step is to carefully clean the space under them. We remove debris and dust. We fasten the new planks with nails or epoxy resin. If nails were used, then the caps should be recessed as much as possible so that they do not stick out above the level of the wood. When using mastic and other adhesives, put something heavy on top of the glued strip. Also, the method of fastening will largely depend on the type of wood.
After the dropped planks have been replaced, you can start more voluminous work - scraping the parquet. At this stage, all coating defects are eliminated. For this work, special tools and equipment are used. The most used tool is the loop. The device can be with a short handle, then the work will be done as efficiently as possible, but you will have to apply a fair amount of effort. If the cycle with a long handle is much easier to work, but in this case the result can be much worse. You need to remove a very thin layer of shavings by moving the device towards you along the grain of the wood. Rough machining may cause scoring or burrs and may be removed in subsequent steps.
Very often, gaps form on the floor. Their elimination is also an element of parquet scraping. They appear between the planks due to material scattering. If the slots are quite wide, then they are sealed with wooden slats. Well, if the gap is not very wide then you can use putty. You can prepare the mixture yourself. For this we need:
- five parts of chalk (dry and sifted)
- five pieces of liquid glass,
- five parts sawdust and shavings (dry),
- one part of paint, matching the color of the coating.
The first step is to mix sawdust, chalk and paint. Liquid glass, before use, dilute with water, stirring slowly, pour into dry mixtures. It is very important to use this putty immediately after cooking, so you need to cook in small portions.
In order to quickly and efficiently repair the parquet, it is necessary to have certain skills and knowledge, therefore, sometimes it is better to entrust this work to specialists.
