Among all the materials for flooring, parquet coatings have earned special respect from consumers. They are appreciated for their natural and attractive appearance, reliability and durability.
However, even with the most careful attitude and proper care, there comes a time when the old parquet must be completely replaced or repaired. To carry out these works, you can attract specialists, but you can save money and do all the work with your own hands.
How to independently dismantle the old coating and whether it can be returned to its original appearance, we will consider in this article.
Define the front of work
The extent of repair is determined depending on the nature and extent of damage to the old coating. If the old parquet is severely worn, the boards have a large number of cracks, blackouts and chips, it must be completely dismantled.
If defects appeared only on some coating elements, the strips can be carefully removed and replaced with new ones.
If the boards are pretty well preserved, but have ugly scratches, chips, and the floors themselves began to creak unpleasantly, then you can do without dismantling. In this case, it is enough to restore the parquet and make it a little repair.
Also, situations often arise when the coating has not yet lost its presentability, but the owners of the room decided to change the situation and change the floor lining. In this case, you can extremely carefully remove expensive material and put the old parquet in another room.
How to properly perform the work in each of the above cases, we will describe further.
Preparing for the removal of parquet
Before proceeding with the dismantling, the room should be freed from furniture. Do not forget about your own safety. It is necessary to prepare tight clothing, protective gloves and a hat in advance. If wiring is in the area of the baseboards, the room must be de-energized.
During the work you will need the following tools:
• hammer;
• hatchet;
• a chisel;
• Circular Saw;
• crowbar.
The degree of complexity of this process will depend on the type of parquet (rack, piece, panel) and the method of its fastening at the base (using nails or glue).
Complete dismantling of piece parquet
If the old parquet is presented in the form of piece strips, which are attached to the base with glue, it will not be possible to carefully remove it. In such cases, the boards split and become completely unusable. Modular and board floorings are removed much easier.
The process of dismantling piece parquet includes the following steps:
1. With the help of a crowbar, all skirting boards are dismantled.
2. The coating is tapped with a hammer, and from those places where the sound from the blow is more deaf, parquet begins to be dismantled.
3. If the dies are fixed with nails, the work is carried out with a nail clipper, and if the strips are fixed with glue, an ax and a crowbar are involved in the work.
4. Tightly glued elements can be removed using a rotary hammer with a flat nozzle. In this case, it is necessary to protect the eyes from chips, wearing protective glasses.
Removing parquet board and modular coating
Laying a parquet board is very similar to the process of installing a laminate. Elements are fastened with special locks, so all you need to do to dismantle them is to carefully click out the mounting grooves.
In this case, the coating does not cause any damage, so it is quite possible to reuse it. For example, in rooms where you can lay old flooring.
Dismantling a modular flooring also does not require much effort. It is only important to determine on which side the elements with an open ridge are located. Since the laying of such a coating always starts from the window, it is more logical to start dismantling from the opposite wall.
The corner module is pushed out with a crowbar and comes off the base. If nails were used when laying the coating , they are first removed.
Many are interested in the question: how to remove the old parquet, if it is fixed with resin? In this case, the back of the module must be carefully cleaned of glue with a hatchet.
How to perform partial repair of parquet
During the operation of such a coating, the planks may dry out and lag behind the base.
In such situations, you can do without a complete replacement of the flooring by repairing the old flooring.
To do this, do the following:
1. The old varnish must be completely removed to detect all loose elements.
2. Strongly shriveled dies, between which the distance is more than 5 mm, are removed and replaced with new ones. To dismantle unnecessary elements, they chisel them into chips.
3. To install a new die on an empty place, a protruding spike is cut from it. The base is covered with glue, after which (at an angle) a new element is laid so that its groove is dressed on the spike of the adjacent plank.
4. If the gaps are small, glue is poured under the plate. This area is crushed by a heavy load and left overnight.
5. The restored flooring is sanded and varnished.
Color recovery
Under the influence of external factors, a coating of natural wood gradually loses its attractiveness, it begins to fade and darken. However, this phenomenon can be easily eliminated, it is enough just to restore the old parquet a little. A coating that does not have large mechanical damage can be easily repaired and does not require large expenditures.
To do this, do the following:
1. Using grinding or looping equipment, the varnish is removed.
2. The surface is cleaned of dust, small cracks and cracks are putty.
3. If the owners have a desire to change the shade of the coating, at this stage the floor is covered with a stain of the desired color.
4. Using sandpaper with fine grain, the flooring is re-sanded. This is necessary to eliminate chips and blackouts.
5. The smooth surface is cleaned and treated with 1 coat of primer varnish. After that, the floor is re-sanded with zero sandpaper and again varnished. Such processing can be performed up to 9 times until the surface becomes perfectly smooth.
6. After applying the final layer of varnish, the floor is left to dry (for 3 days). The room should not have drafts, high humidity and sudden temperature jumps.
Scratch repair
Scratches are the most common defect in parquet floors. If they are not very deep, they can be easily removed with a parquet repair kit or special wax pencils. But what if the old parquet is covered with deep and numerous scratches? In this case, it is not necessary to lay a new coating, but it will take time and effort to repair the damaged one.
In order to remove deep defects, the parquet must be completely cleaned of varnish and with the help of a looping machine remove the damaged layer. You won’t be able to do this at one time, so you need to be prepared for several treatments.
Next, the room is thoroughly cleaned of dust, and the floors are varnished several times (as described above).
What to do if the floor began to creak heavily
Old parquet may start to creak for several reasons:
• if voids form under the slats;
• if expansion wedges sagged;
• if the slats are loose.
To find out the reason, the plinths are removed first and the wedges are inspected. They can dry out, as a result of which they cease to fulfill their functions. In their place, new wedges are installed and during the week they observe the sounds of the floor. If the creaks have not disappeared - the matter is something else.
If certain elements creak, this indicates that a void has formed under them. Then, a hole is drilled in the center of the plank through which glue is poured under the plank (until it ceases to be absorbed). This area is pressed down by something heavy and dries for 3 days. When the mixture completely hardens, the hole is completely filled with putty.
If creaking is observed throughout the deck, the above methods will not help. This defect is eliminated by complete overhauling of the parquet.
As can be seen from all that has been said, in the process of exploitation, parquet floorings gradually lose their initial qualities. Nevertheless, they are very well repairable, so any acquired flaw can be removed and continue to enjoy the beauty of the natural coating.