Parquet - with photo

[tantdequestions]

First pic with flash, second without.

What would you do with this floor? Some bits have come loose and they are individual blocks.

A newly laid parquet floor is generally glued down, so presumably you could glue the loose pieces into place, depending on what is underneath.

Cover it. With practically anything! I HATE parquet with a passion!

however, if you like it, just glue the pieces back in place. You have genuine parquet, people pay a fortune for it. (No idea why myself, but 💁🏻‍♀️)

I would glue them down.

Whatever you do, don't sand it and lose that lovely patina.

It's cheap block tiling which had a bit of a vogue in the 90s. Not proper parquet I'm afraid. I had it in a previous house and there was nothing I could do about it in terms of refinishing. Where the individual blocks came loose I just had to keep re-glueing them.

I had the EXACT same floor at my previous apartment. I got a few quotes for a full refurb of the floor and they were all around 20k€.

In the end, we just glued in any pieces that came out, put large rugs over it, and did nothing until we sold our apartment. The buyer said she’d get the floors done before moving in, so I wonder if she did. My DC used to love trying to get the loose pieces out!! Such a pain!

Thanks for responses!

@ClematisBlue49 I can see something black has been used to stick it. Aware it may contain asbestos but not tested. I think the loose bits aren't really my areas of concern. The whole floor is 🤣

@Pinkpinkpink15 I'm not sure I do like it. That was my question really, is it genuine and worth keeping. Or are they the blocks that have an oak veneer? I think I've read that some are like that. Either way, it's very scratched in places. Some parts have a shiny varnish and others are dull.

@Scampuss I was thinking the solution would be to sand it 😬 then it would be lighter in colour too?!

@Teachingteacher it's become a bit of a game for my dc too 😩 well I'll probably do nothing with the floor then if that's how much it costs! Did you do anything to care for it?!

@Slidingsocks see I was thinking this!! How do you know?

@tantdequestions I had it in a previous house. It was a nightmare on the edge of steps and areas of high wear because the small blocks just came loose. It's definitely not solid hardwood I'm afraid, and there's no way of refinishing it. There would have been no option but to rip the whole lot up if I'd wanted to change it. I lived with it until I moved out.

As you don't like it, how about using it as a base for a new laminate floor, rather than removing it? You can get planks or a parquet design that are either glued down or click into place. Or carpet?

The black is bitumen. It’s horrible sticky stuff and they don’t use it anymore, they use an adhesive.
I stripped my parquet (it was under tiles) with a sander and refinished it but I still have loose blocks. Ours are herringbone tongue and groove so when you lift one out, they sort of all come out. Be careful lifting individual pieces in case you end up with a big mess.
it’s expensive to get a professional job but you can sand and re varnish for a couple of hundred pounds. We’ve taken the attitude that it will last as long as it lasts and when it looks awful we’ll replace it- but I’d never repair it.

I have original 60s parquet in my (60s) house. It's just in the hallway and I love it. It looks like yours (pattern-wise). It was covered by ugly carpet when we moved in. There were a few bits missing, and a couple of loose ones, but our builder had those blocks matched for us so we had a complete floor. We then sanded it and waxed it.

@Slidingsocks I love your certainty. I was thinking it wasn't real. So what is it?!? Is it like an oak veneer so if it was sanded would look awful. I've done a lot of googling and comparing to photos of other peoples parquet and I just don't know.

My dh reckons it's real. If it was real, I'd keep it and potentially pay for it to be sanded.

It is solid wood and oak at that, even if it is only a few millimeters thick. Wood floors are warm and comfortable, especially in cold damp climates. I don't understand the people who poo poo it ! Certainly do not cover it up with anything especially plastic laminate!
Sand it yourself and then you can finish it in numerous ways: oil or wax finish for a natural look, varnish for a sturdy finish, or a stain in the color of your choice.

You will be pleased in the long run . Save your £££ for other projects.

It was the original 1950s flooring, and needed a lot of work. At one stage, I bought an expensive oil from a parquet shop and tried to treat a small section. It looked slightly better, but not enough to motivate me to do anything else.

We always planned to only keep the apartment for 5-6 years before upgrading to a house. If we were staying long term, I would have probably forked out the money for the refurb. I actually loved the look and feel of the floors, and I much prefer them to the hideous tile and Lino floors in our new house. 😂

Asbestos????? I'd very much doubt it.
It's probably bitumen or a modern substitute for bitumen.
We've laid this stuff, if it is what I think it is. Solid wood blocks, thinner than trad. parquet, fixed to a fabric in larger squares so you don't have to lay every block one by one. Nothing wrong with them at all if they're laid properly. Far better than laminate as you can sand and refinish again and again if it gets damaged or worn. We used a varnish first off, it scratched, we sanded that off and oiled ours, and never had to refinish it again. Our was down for about 20 years or so before we sold IIRC, still looked new even though it was a kitchen, looked fine next to the oak parquet everywhere else, I imagine it's still there, and only one block ever came loose. It was a bit too tight to the edge and when the humidity changed it loosened and popped out. I can't recall now what we glued it back with. A floor specialist store would advise you.
Ours wasn't oak, I forget what wood it was, it was one I don't use generally. But a hardwood. If I'm right, sanding it and oiling it, or using that Osmo Polyx stuff which people say is even better than Tung oil (I plan to use it on our new parquet when we finally get it down), would be the way I'd go. It's easy to see if it's solid. Look at the end of the block end-on, at the end-grain. If it's a laminate you should see the glued join between the top surface and the (cheaper) underneath wood. My guess is it's solid. So glue the loose one(s) down, sand it, finish it, and you're good to go.

( I am told the Polyx keeps the colour lighter- Tung oil definitely darkens wood).

If it is solid wood, then I agree that it might be worth saving / restoring.

NB just to note that laminate flooring is not made of plastic. It's basically layers of fibreboard, a printed image, and a protective top coat to seal it. @Whataretalkingabout, you may be thinking of vinyl flooring, which is made of synthetic materials including plastic.

@tantdequestions Well look, I could be wrong. But it looks exactly like my old floor, and that was tiles. On a kind of grey composite base if I remember rightly. I think Topps tiles used to sell it. Looking at the individual blocks which fell off I think they were highly varnished and stained, but not hardwood in the way I'd expect proper parquet to be. What's your analysis of the individual bits?

My guess is it's a version of this
https://www.lumberjackflooring.co.uk/product/european-oak-mosaics/
but probably not oak, by the colour.

Get a specialist in then, no one can tell you if it’s solid and original from a picture, no matter how certain they insist they are. I had this parquet in a reception room, had an awful cheap varnish applied to it that had chipped off in places and various loose bits (also stuck down with black sticky stuff) and an area that I thought had been damaged beyond repair by a leaking radiator. I got a guy in who has been doing solid wood floor restoration for longer than I’ve been alive. It is actually a solid wood parquet from the 1950s and was easily repaired and sanded back and oiled to perfection. Cost a fraction of the cost of a new solid wood floor and I’m so pleased I didn’t rip it out without getting someone in who knew what they were doing. Looks amazing, and saved it going to landfill, couldn’t be happier.

@Slidingsocks I have looked and I haven't got a clue! I'm going to take a pic of some of the bits that I can pop out and I'll upload here.

Asbestos????? I'd very much doubt it.
It's probably bitumen or a modern substitute for bitumen.

It is not uncommon to find asbestos in old bitumen tile adhesive. It should always be tested in several places before disturbing.

To me, laminate or vinyl are both highly processed mostly petroleum products with maybe 0.1mm of wood particles.

You 'would' be better off with the wood blocks, imo.

If it's original parquet, the black is bitumen. I had mine professionally sorted and it's coming loose again but it does look fab. Mine is apparently very good oak.

Except I have pets and drop things, so loose carpeted over the living room.