Oak parquet flooring is found in many different types of houses – it brings style and charm within the room’s atmosphere. This is created out of several wood pieces which are fitted together, making your floors look like a puzzle or mosaic.
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Like all kinds of floor, hardwood floors demand maintenance regularly to keep up their appearance.
The first thing to consider when refinishing parquet flooring is removing the finish. This can be done in two different ways. One method that you can use is to sand the flooring. This is the best method.
If you do not want to use a sander, you can also use a chemical that will strip the finish.
Warning: When doing this, make sure that the room is well ventilated because the chemicals can be very dangerous.
Refinishing parquet flooring
Preparation:
– Before start refinishing the floor, you will need to empty out the room.
– Cover all the doorways with plastic sheets. Use the masking tape to tape all the way around the edge of the door. If you do not make sure that you tape every part of the opening, dust will find a way to get through. It can damage electronics and get into your furniture.
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Sanding:
– Using a big drum sander (with a 60 grit sand paper) can get the job fast but it is the risk to make large gouges in the wood and will be almost impossible to fix them. Operating this machine is not really too complicated but you need practice to get use to it.
Warning: You can seriously injure yourself and others, if, you use this machine, incorrectly.
– Using a big orbital sander can also pose the danger of using the machine incorrectly, although it is somewhat easier to control than the drum sanders.
– The best type of sander is orbital sander. Orbital sander which is held by hand does the job of refinishing parquet floor better than drum sanders. Although the task takes long, the risk of damaging the beautiful inlay of your floors comes next to never.
You can easy handle this device even when it comes to the edges. Orbital sander will give you a smooth surface and will produce less dust. However, you can choose to purchase a sander that comes with a bag, in order to catch the sand dust.
Tip: Use sandpaper in decreasing degrees of grit for the finest finishes. Depending on how bad your old flooring is, start with a fairly course grit, perhaps even 20 grit for deeply scratched floors. For an average refinishing job, however, it’s most likely you can start with 60-grit sandpaper. From there, move on to 100, then 150, and finish the job with 120-grit sandpaper for a smooth-as-possible surface.
Clean the room:
– If you sanded the floor, you will need to remove the dust from the room. Use a vacuum cleaner or a dustpan and broom to remove the dust. Make sure that the floor is completely clean before moving forward.
Apply the stain:
– Refinishing parquet flooring may also include staining. This is done once you are through sanding it.
Apply finish:
– If you opt for polyurethane, you might want to apply the floor with three coats of it. Allow each coat to dry before apply the next one.
– You can also use wax or oil for finish.