Parquet Flooring

[giw12]

Hi All

I'm a newbie here and I've done a fair amount of reading on the forum and elsewhere, but I just wanted to check my understanding before taking the plunge!

I've recently moved house and the 4 principal rooms downstairs have parquet/woodblock flooring arranged in a herringbone layout. Room sizes are fairly large (biggest is 23'x15' and smallest 12'x12'). The flooring dates back to around 1925.

The previous owner took a sander to it back in 2000 and judging by a number of gouge marks (though they are not too bad) I reckon he used an old fashioned belt sander. There are also a few 'sanding marks' that are visible on close-up inspection of the blocks. Also, the floor looks a bit tired and washed out in places.

The floor I think could look really good and being a bit of a perfectionist I'd like to do it 100% perfectly.

From what I've read, I think I need to:
1. Glue down the handful of loose blocks
2. Sand the floor, preferably with a Trio sander, using varying grades of sandpaper. I'll also need one of the smaller ones to get right up to the skirting.
3. Fill any gaps with a mixture of filler and sanding debris and then final sand
4. Apply Hardwax oil

Would very much appreciate comments thoughts on the above.

Also, if there are any professionals who cover East Surrey on the forum then please let me know if you could give an approximate cost for the work and I'll call you to have a chat.

Thanks in advance

Gary

 

[crazycanuck]

sounds like you've done your reading!

start with 7" edger for the perimeter of room medium grit finish with fine.
next use a square buff orbital sander, (not a belt sander , with a belt sander you must go with grain and parquet is in both directions).
start with coarse grit to remove old surface and scratches ,move to medium grit. Now empty your dust bag well, replace clean bag and finish grind with fine grit. SAVE THE DUST IN BAG, mix this dust with floor glue to make a matching putty to fill any cracks or imperfections.
vaccuum well, damp mop to remove any leftover dust and finish your floor
with desired floor finish.
good luck.
crazycanuck

 

[WaveyDave]

Sorry to butt in, but I'll be doing this myself soon. I need to sand my floorboards, and was planning on using a floorsander, with an edging sander to get right to the skirtings. Are you saying that I can't use the floorsander to do the parquet?

Cheers

Dave

 

[giw12]

This is the one I'm going for:

http://www.floorsanderhire.com/trio.htm

 

[WaveyDave]

That's quite expensive

I've had quotes for floor sander and edge sander for 30+VAT per day. Although, not much good if it won't do the parquet

 

[giw12]

Probably 3 times the price it's true but, in my view, a small price to pay to get the best tools to do the job. You don't want to be looking at an average result and beating yourself up over a £50 saving.
Gary