How do you lay parque flooring

[curlymarra]

I have the opportunity of buying 80 year old never been layed never been sanded parque wood block flooring from a guy I know that has got a 1000 sq metres of it, it is not tung and grove it is dowelled. It measures 9 inches by 3 inches and as I have just brought an old house thought it would make an excellent feature, rather than putting down new laminate.

My problem is even though I am quite abel to do most things, as the house I brough needed extensive structual and cosmetic work that I have managed to do my self, I have know idea where to stat with original old parque flooring. The surface I need to lay it on is reasonably flat floor boards.

If any one could point me in the right direction that would be great.

curlymarra

 

[TexMex]

I thought all parquet flooring of that era was just plain cut wood.

Anyhow, standard practice was (and still is as far as I know) to lay the parquet on a subfloor of either deel or ply. Each piece is glued down and glued (along its edges) to it's neighbours, AND nailed with 1" panel pins (punched below the surface) and then the whole surface, planed and sanded.

The standard of the subfloor cannot be overstressed. It must be absolutely solid and even. The ply should be glued AND screwed down.(This makes it more stable). The ply sheets should also be glued along their edges to neighbouring sheets. Once the glue has set, the whole floor should be sanded before laying the parquet.

Presumably, if the dowells that you mention link the slips together, then I asuume you would just tap them together (using a wooden block). I would still put the glue along the edges of the slips (and underneath them), but NOT in the dowell holes. (chances are that you may have problems getting the slips to meet if you did).

Before laying the slips, take the time to get do the setting out properly according to the pattern you select (choices are herring bone, double herringbone or basket weave).

I could add a lot more detail here but, suffice you realise, this is a highly labour intensive job. Finished result if done properly, should be very impressive, but despite the age of the wood, will still look brand new.