reclaimed parquet - laying on new concrete screed

[venusrider]

Hello.

I'm in the process of cleaning up about 25m2 of reclaimed parquet blocks (230mm x 70mm x 20mm) to lay in our kitchen/dining area. I've 2 questions that I'm hoping someone can help me with:

1) How long do we need to leave the concrete screed to dry out before we can lay the floor? Screed is about 65mm thick.

and

2) The parquet blocks are quite variable in thickness - some that were underneath furniture in the original room that they came from look as though they have never been sanded or varnished, whereas others obviously have. There's up to about 2mm difference between some of the blocks. Can we use all the blocks & hope to sand down this difference once they are laid? Or would you advise only using ones that are pretty much the same level already?

thanks very much for your help.

Louise

 

[WoodYouLike]

Hi Louise

Rule of thumb for drying concrete: 1 inch (25.4mm) takes appr. 30 days, so you're looking at roughly 3 months I'm afraid.

As for the 2mm thickness of the blocks, a proper belt-sander (75 - 80kg) with grit 40 could handle that perfectly.

 

[venusrider]

thanks woodyoulike, that's really helpful. looks like i'll be cooking on the camping stove for a little while longer...

L