Has anyone restored a parquet floor?

[thenewaveragebear1983]

We have a tiled floor in our hallway but from a bit of rightmove previous sold prices snooping we saw that previously there was a (possibly original?) parquet floor once.

Due to the levels of the floors I have always wondered if the parquet was still there. Then, the other day while investigating a bay window seat, I lifted A piece of manky vinyl floor and found the edges of the parquet. We had seen on RM that it was in the hall/lounge; this was in the lounge but the levels of the tiles would suggest that if it's laid on the parquet in there then it must be tile on top of parquet in the hall.

Now....temptation is getting the better of me.

1. I hate the tiles. We are having the hall/stairs/landing carpeted anyway. If it's awful, we could carpet over it.
2. I could lift a tiny tile, behind the door, and just have a little look what's underneath and no one would ever know
3. I'm not afraid of some hard work lifting the remaining tiles if it's under there

But is the floor going to even be salvageable? Will tile adhesive have destroyed the wood? Am I insane to even consider it?!

You'd only need to remove the bitumen if pieces need to be taken up to be relaid because it's loose or needs replacing. Reclaimed parquet is usually cheaper if it needs the bitumen cleaning off.

Ah that makes sense, thanks @wowfudge

That's what we did, not difficult just laborious. This is making me want parquet, again! Had some quotes for getting new stuff put down...oww! It'd be a crime for you not to look @thenewaveragebear1983! :D

Ok parquet people, it's me again.... I still haven't been brave enough to lift the tile but I'm almost there.

Spoke to neighbour over the the fence and she said that yes there is definitely a parquet floor under the tiles. That much is certain, she remembers her tiling over it.

I'm just musing the potential damage that's been done by the adhesive/grout that's been Used to fit the floor. If it's been literally stuck tiles onto parquet, they'll be unsalvageable, surely? However, if if they were sensible enough to lay ply under the tiles to fix them to, I could be on to a winner.

Dh currently out for a run so I've had a little poke about under the lounge floor. Here's the edge of the parquet with a ply wood window seat frame directly on it. But the other side of that I can get my finger down and I reckon it's too high to be simply adhesive + depth of tile. I reckon there's a layer of ply....

There is a layer of ply.

Now discussing best course of tile removal with dh. I'm very much a 'smash and hope' kind of diy-er whereas dh wants to individually chisel each one out

Some years ago we had a parquet floor resanded professionally. He said a lot of his work came from rectifying problems where home owners had first tried doing it themselves. Mind you perhaps he would say that...

We hired a sander.

Update; it's there! It's been a long afternoon of hard graft, we've cleared 8 out of 20 tiles so a fair way to go, but under the wood, there she is!

That looks promising! I need mine restoring. If anyone knows a floor restorer in the NP postcode area please let me know. The previous owner of my house saw fit to do this between the living room and the dining room

This is ours in the hall and also living room. DH restored it himself but he's a carpenter / joiner so it was never gonna be anything else.

@Watto1 we are also in the NP postcode!!!!

Small world @poorbuthappy !

Looks like it might be a really fab floor @thenewaveragebear1983 do post pictures of the 'after'! :) #goodluck

The bit we've found looks to be in good condition as it's been protected under plywood. Exciting!!

Done!

That floor is absolutely gorgeous. It looks amazing. Can you tell I might be a bit jealous??

@LokisLover thanks. I won't lie, it was backbreaking work and it needs some TLC now, there's over 100 screws need taken out and the holes refilled and 5 doorways to make good with some beading. And sand and stain possibly.

But...woohoo! I'm so glad I didn't talk myself out of it!

We had the parquet floor repaired in our rental flat because it was cheaper than a new floor. Yours looks lovely!

It looks amazing, well done! We've done it too but it was just under carpet so much easier, but I remember a really backbreaking day when we put 3 coats of varnish on by hand.

Oh WOW! Brava, Bear!