With careless use, and sometimes just because of age, the parquet flooring, which used to be so elegant and stylish, can completely lose its appearance. Of course, even shabby parquet continues to retain such qualities as environmental friendliness and excellent thermal insulation, but one of the main functions of a wooden covering - decorative - is then completely lost. You can restore a wooden floor to its former aesthetics by carrying out a full or partial restoration of the parquet.
What are the parquet works aimed at restoring the old floor? Let's try to bring them here in stages:
- Preparing the coating for processing. At this stage, the room is cleaned, dust and dirt are removed from the floor surface, as well as loosened planks are fixed and worn out. It is very important that before starting the parquet work, the covering, even if it looks unpresentable, is durable and has no loose or loose elements;
- Primary or rough scraping. This type of work takes relatively little time due to the high power of the equipment used. To carry out this operation, a belt-type sander (made in Germany, USA, or Russia) is required, filled with coarse sandpaper. After rough sanding, the floor surface should be clean (no traces of old varnish, scratches and scuffs) and even;
- Sanding of hard-to-reach areas of the coating. With all its advantages (high power and efficiency), the draw frame is large enough and not adapted to work in the corners of the room and near its walls. To clean the surface of the coating in these places, a special technique is used;
- Finishing scraping, carried out using a surface grinder (one of the most efficient machines in this class is the German Trio). During this process, the coating acquires a smoothness that cannot be achieved with coarse sanding;
- Treatment of seams and joints of the structure with a special putty. This mixture prevents dust, dirt and, most importantly, water from penetrating between the planks, which can cause significant damage to the wood;
- Applying primer and varnish to the surface. This is the last, but no less important, stage of the parquet restoration. Thanks to the varnish treatment, the surface becomes moisture resistant, as well as less susceptible to various physical influences. In addition to the above, wood stain can be used to give the wood the desired shade.
All work should be entrusted to professionals, especially since there is no shortage of parquet restoration companies now. Self-made restoration is only rarely successful (unless, of course, you have practical experience in this area, and do not have special equipment).
