How to Renovate Parquet Wood Flooring

Parquet wood flooring or solid wood block flooring is seldom fitted in houses today as the cost is often prohibitive, but they are relatively common in larger older properties. Resilient and hardwearing when properly laid, they will last for several lifetimes. Major repair is often not required, if it is, then this really is a specialist repair best left to the experts. Having said that, it is not beyond the competent DIY enthusiast to replace a few wood blocks or refinish a badly worn floor.

Sanding Your Parquet Wood Flooring
To sand a woodblock floor effectively you will need to hire specialist machines from tool hire shops. Start with a coarse paper on the sander and finish with a finer grade to remove scratches, after vacuuming the floor surface. A special edging sander is needed to reach those parts that cannot be sanded with the large machine. Sanding can be dirty work and you will almost certainly create a lot of dust.

Before you start, remove all furniture and ensure that the floor is clear. Tape up any doors to the rest of the house and open a window to ensure good ventilation. Wear a good quality dust mask and ear defenders when using the sanding machines.

Tips of the trade
Any protruding nails or staples will tear the sanding sheets. Which are expensive to replace and hire shops often charge extra for the number of sheets used Examine the entire floor and pull out or punch in anything that could snag on the sanding drum.

Sanding Procedure
Always turn on the machine tilted back so the drum is off the floor surface. Start at one wall and sand across the room with overlapping passes. If you allow the sander to remain in one spot too long it will cut grooves into the floor.

Use floor sander at 45° angle to direction of floorboards, making sweeps across the whole floor.
Repeat 45° angle sweep with floor sander in opposite direction.
Sand across entire floor surface following direction of floorboards and grain.
Use an edging sander to finish the perimeter of the room next to the skirting or wall surface.
Use a special corner sander to get tight into corners.
Refitting Blocks
Blocks are usually laid onto a sand or cement screed with black pitch, but to replace just a few blocks use a ready-mixed latex compound. If blocks are missing your local joinery manufacturer can make replacements, or you might find them in a reclamation yard.

Tools for the Job:
old chisel
paint scraper
old paintbrush
electric sander
Remove the loose blocks and scrape off the old pitch from the back of the blocks with an old wood or bolster chisel. Do not use heat as this may set the pitch alight.
Spread a layer of latex adhesive into the gap in the floor with a paint scraper, keeping it to a thickness of approximately 4mm (3/16in).
Spread a thin layer of latex on the back of the blocks with an old paintbrush, then immediately lay the blocks onto the wet latex in the floor, following the original pattern of the surrounding blocks. In some cases there will be a tendency for the wood blocks to float on top of the adhesive layer.
Take a sheet of polythene and sandwich it between the floor and an offcut of ply, which should be slightly larger than the area of the floor being repaired. Then place several bricks on top of the ply to weigh down the blocks until the adhesive has set.
When the adhesive has set, fill any small cracks with a two-part wood filler. Finally, sand the blocks to the same level as the rest of the floor, before finishing to match.
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