Finger Parquet flooring remove and replace

[craftycooky]

Hi,

I have finger parquet flooring in our hall and dining room. We are rewiring and renewing heating.

The parquet flooring is in very good condition and we would like to keep it if possible.

Please could I have some advice on how to lift some of it to allow access for new central heating pipes and the replace the floor.

I am guessing the fingers are not individual but in tile form.

Thanks

Dave

 

[motorbiking]

Picture? Age of property? Likely to be glued in with tar/bitumen.

 

[craftycooky]

Picture? Age of property? Likely to be glued in with tar/bitumen.

The house was built in the 30s, Im guessing the floor was put down later and maybe after central heating was installed.
If it is tar/bitumen would it be possible to use a heat gun to lift some in the areas where new pipe/cables are needed and the replace.
Cant get pictures at the moment as not at the house.
Thanks
Dave

 

[JobAndKnock]

Traditional parquet was laid on a bed of bitumen, so trying to soften it with a heat gun will be a fruitless exercise, I'm afraid, because the parquet blocks are so thick that they act as insulators - so to get things hot enough to soften the bitumen you'd end up setting fire to it!

In commercial work where we need to do this we actually run a circular saw through a small section of it to make a starting hole, then knock out a bigger section with a hooked pry bar (I use a forged Estwing 18in jobbie rather than a bent steel one - it will take a lot more punishment) and a hammer, and finally dig out the service trench. Once it is all filled back in the original parquet is cleaned up (circular saw bench - it eats blades BTW) and replaced using an adhesive such as Lecol 5500, Laybond L16 or Sika 5500s. They all require that the floor is completely clean of bitumen and that it has also been completely removed from the backs of the parquet blocks (not some of it or most of it). The missing sections are replaced with bought-in recycled blocks, cleaned up and if needs be stained to match. The floor is given an initial sand with a floor sander, keeping the sanding dust and mixing it with something like Lecol 7500 and using the resulting "putty" to fill gaps. Once set it is resanded with the flooring sander

Probably not the answer you wanted, I'm sure, but unless the parquet is already loose you will struggle to lift it making damage almost inevitable

 

[Tigercubrider]

The saving grace of finger parquet is that it is often laid like floor tiles with entire rows at right angles to others. ie not herringbone or brickbond.
It's also cheap on eBay s/h

if the pipes only run around the perimeter I guess you could remove all the fingers on the edge and replace them with a contrasting wood.
whatever happens you'll need to sand the lot down and refinish so price that up first v buying new flooring

 

[craftycooky]

Thanks all for the advice