How to remove bitumen from parquet flooring?

[pebbles77]

We have had to take up some parquet flooring and I'm wanting to reuse it to make it the surface of a dining room table.

The problem is it's covered in bitumen and I wondered what the best way of taking it back to being just a wood block please?

Thanks

Meths - aka methylated spirit.

I had to clean bitumen on a parquet floor (in situ) that I wanted to keep & it worked.

Rub in the direction of the grain - it's a really slow & boring job.

Dichloramethane...the paint stripper stuff. It is what we used to use to get rid of it when testing new bituminous roads.

Thanks for the advice - would i use a brush to rub it in and then scrub off??

You paint it on and then scrape/scrub it off. It needs to be done outside [if using the paint stripper stuff]. Although for H&S reasons, you might want to use meths as it is a lot less smelly.

Fab thanks so much DoreenLethal

Once I've painted it on should I leave it for a while before scraping/scrubbing or can I do it immediately?

As far as I can remember when I used the meths I put it on with a cloth & brushed (in the direction of the grain) with a wire brush.

I think I gave it a couple of mins to soak in. No longer or it will evaporate.

Once I've painted it on should I leave it for a while before scraping/scrubbing or can I do it immediately?

You will need to read the instructions for whatever you buy but it will need time to work on the bitumen. Meths will evaporate so will need to be done much faster.

I read the quickest and easiest way is to plane a thin layer off....can't remember the name of the machine ...thickenesser or similar? think you can hire one - or if you know of a joiner etc they might have one...but apparently it will wreck the blade...
Depends on how much you need to do ...what your budget is and how much of a perfectionist you are...apparently you can get adhesives that will stick to bitumen these days...
(Spot the person who has a couple of bags of parquet in the garage that will look great when they go down in the hall ...when being the operative word!)