Natural wood flooring requires a little more gentle maintenance than all other floors. But compliance with the simple rules for caring for the parquet will allow you not only to preserve its original appearance for many years, but also to count on a manufacturer's warranty. Remember that in most cases, non-observance of the recommended care rules will void the warranty.
The main enemies of the parquet board are sand and water. The first runs the risk of leaving small scratches on your floor, acting as a kind of abrasive substance in combination with shoes and other hard objects. Excessive second can lead to swelling of the floor covering.
In this regard, the first thing to do for the daily maintenance of a parquet board is to put a mat at the front door to keep dirt, sand and rainwater from getting on the floor. Water can also get on the floor through an open window during a strong thunderstorm or through a flower pot on the floor, which is best placed on a plastic stand. Curtains on windows will help protect the floor from rain and avoid direct exposure to direct sunlight, protecting the parquet board from UV exposure and discoloration.
Excess moisture is bad, but a lack of moisture can also cause deformation of the boards, so try to maintain the relative humidity of the air at 40-60% and the air temperature 18-24 ° C during the operation of the parquet board. Use a humidifier during the winter heating season. In summer, when the air conditioners are in operation, do not direct air currents to the floor. In a non-residential area, ventilate the room at least twice a week for half an hour.
Rubber rollers on office furniture, soft vinyl rugs under swivel chairs, felt or felt pads under the legs of heavy furniture and chairs will help to avoid scratches and dents on the parquet board. The parquet board is not designed to be walked on with stiletto heels.
Is prohibited
- Too frequent wet cleaning
- Pouring water or mortar from a bucket onto a parquet board
- Use of abrasive products, including those with metal impregnations
- Chlorine for surface cleaning
- Using concentrated detergents without diluting with water
- Use washing vacuum cleaners to clean the parquet floor
- Powders, acids, solvents, ammonia and other active substances
For regular (daily) maintenance of a parquet board, it is only necessary to wipe it off in a timely manner from dust and accumulated dirt. For this purpose, you can use a broom, a vacuum cleaner with a special nozzle for parquet, a brush or a soft-bristled mop.
Most manufacturers recommend microfiber or soft cotton fabrics for dry cleaning, and only the Austrian parquet board manufacturer Scheucher® warns against using rough microfiber fabrics for parquet maintenance, preferring cotton mop.
Dry brushing involves carefully scrubbing the grooves on the beveled parquet board and sweeping the dust with a hair brush into a scoop.
For intensive maintenance of a parquet board, it is necessary not only to sweep it, but also to wipe it sometimes with a damp, well-wrung out cloth. This will allow you to promptly remove adhering dirt and fresh stains from the floor. You can use a mop with a soft microfiber cloth, but only with the option to wring it out.
Detergents should be specially designed for a particular surface of the parquet board: they may differ for lacquered, brushed and oiled boards. Read the instructions for the products on the packaging. Some detergents are designed for daily use. After dilution in water, they not only thoroughly clean the parquet from dirt and dust, but also form a thin dirt-repellent film on the surface.
Remember that the cloth on the mop should only be slightly damp while cleaning. Wipe the floor in a zigzag motion along the planks. Permissible amount of moisture on the parquet board according to the recommendation of the Wood Bee® manufacturer: 2-3 minutes after wet cleaning, the floor must be completely dry. In order to avoid the appearance of water stains after wet cleaning, you must walk the parquet dry with a clean cloth.
Blood stains should be immediately removed with a cotton cloth soaked in cold water and well wrung out. Use a slightly damp cloth to remove food and drink stains.
Resin, ink, glue, cosmetics, soot, shoe polish are removed from the parquet board with mineral water or white spirit. It, benzene or substitutes can be used to remove crayons, felt-tip pens, pencils, tar, rubber, greasy stains. To remove lipstick and mascara, use 1 to 1 rubbing alcohol with water.
Stearin, candle wax and gum are carefully scraped off the parquet board with a plastic spatula after they have hardened or frozen with ice or aerosol.
Oil-coated parquet boards require additional protection against drying out. A special product will help restore the natural beauty of the tree and save the floor covering from losing its original appearance.
If you do wet cleaning once a week, then the protective agent should be applied once a month, if less often, then once every 2 months. For intensive care and restoration of the oily coating of the parquet board, a special transparent or white oil is intended.
Regular renewal of the oil coating of the parquet board will preserve the brightness of its color, prevent the wood from drying out and protect it from the negative effects of UV rays.
In general, manufacturers recommend regular cleaning of parquet boards covered with natural oil using special cleaning agents every 1-3 days in schools and other areas with intensive floor load, every 3-5 days in offices and corridors with average use, and about once per week in living quarters.
More intensive cleaning is required every quarter / six months / year, depending on the intensity of use. Deep cleaning of stains from natural oiled parquet boards is recommended as needed.
Maintenance of UV Oiled Parquet Board
Regular wet maintenance of UV-cured oil-coated parquet boards is recommended depending on the intensity of use. Thus, daily cleaning in schools, shops and restaurants is required almost every day, in offices - 1-2 times per working week, in apartments - once a week.
Intensive care, removal of grease stains, cigarette marks, a layer of dirt and detergent residues is required in schools every six months, in offices - once a year, and at home - once every 1.5 years. The floor should be periodically covered with maintenance and protection oil once every 1 / 1.5 / 2 years, depending on the loads in the room.
Beech and maple parquet boards are especially sensitive to moisture, therefore, immediately after installation, the Austrian manufacturer Scheucher® recommends treating its edges and joints with wax applied to cotton fabric, napkin or leather at the rate of 250 ml per 40-50 sq. m floor area. The surface can be polished with a soft wool, after which the floor should dry for ½ day. Wet cleaning up to 10 days after processing should be excluded. For the rest, normal dry or wet cleaning with a well wrung out mop is recommended. Also, the manufacturer allows the use of a disc harvester.
Oak, ash, as well as some exotic woods have large pores, and therefore can collect dirt on their surfaces, especially on waxed floors as a result of high loads during operation, as a result of which they may require intensive care and cleaning of stubborn dirt. You can use a single disc scrubber for this.
The special concentrate is diluted with water in a ratio of 1 to 10. The remaining moisture should be removed with a vacuum cleaner with the possibility of suction. Next, you need to re-wash the floor clean and dry. After that, if necessary, the parquet board can be sanded, vacuumed, wiped with a damp cloth, oil / wax applied, polished, re-oiled, dried for a day and not washed for a week. However, it should be remembered that it can only be sanded when laying the parquet board on glue.
If you need to renew the colored oil coating on the glued parquet board, follow the instructions. First sand the surface in the direction of the grain to remove stains and damage. Use a 120 grit, gradually working down to a finer size 150-180. Colorless oil during sanding will help reduce the appearance of scratches. Remove sanding dust from the surface of the board, degrease and allow to dry.
Colored oil should be diluted with solvent (up to 30%) or colorless oil. Prime porous wood with colorless oil. Apply colored oil (10-15 g / m2) to the parquet board with a spray or mohair roller, rub gently into the surface using a red or green sanding wheel. Dry for 24 hours.
The next step is to clean the surface, possibly light sanding with a fine grain 220. Colorless oil can be applied as a protective layer, the excess of which is removed by sanding to avoid the formation of an unaesthetic film. Avoid getting moisture on the floor for 10 days.
The varnished parquet board can be cleaned with a specially designed spray or concentrate diluted with water (usually at the rate of 50-100 ml per 5-10 liters of water). In the first case, the spray is sprayed directly onto the floor or a rag on a mop. In the second case, the required amount of concentrate is added to a bucket of water.
There are products for everyday wet maintenance of varnished parquet boards, and for occasional use in case of more serious stains. In rare cases, it is allowed to use an undiluted, concentrated detergent for varnished parquet boards to remove stubborn and difficult stains.
To protect the lacquer coating and to mask small scratches, use specially developed parquet floor care products. For example, from the manufacturer Barlinek® it is Protector Shine. It is applied directly to the floor, but is not intended for polishing or brushed floors.
For the rest, when wet caring for a varnished parquet board, you should follow the basic rules: use a well-wrung out soft cloth, run it with light movements along the grain of the wood, use special detergents for heavy dirt and wipe the floor again with a clean damp cloth, then wipe it dry allowing marks and stains. No polishing is required. You can use the floor already after 30-120 minutes after applying the care products.
Despite the precautions taken, during the operation of the parquet board, minor damage and scratches may occur. For the repair and restoration of the coating, different manufacturers have developed various products for the care of damaged parquet boards.
For example, the manufacturer Par-ky® has special markers of different colors that allow you to remove minor scratches and damage from the surface of the board and prevent it from getting dirty in damaged areas.
The Quick-Step® manufacturer uses wax crayons for this purpose, complete with a brush and spatula, to help restore the color of the damaged coating. Par-ky® also has wax for repairing parquet boards complete with a spatula and melting knife for deeper dents and damage, including destruction of the varnish layer.
Finally, the construction of the parquet flooring makes it easy to replace badly damaged planks with new ones even in the middle of the room, thanks to a special tool and a locking system.
The parquet board does not require varnish. After finishing the installation, the floor is immediately ready for use.
Can parquet boards be used on the terrace?
The parquet board is not intended for installation in rooms with high humidity, such as saunas or bathrooms. Also, it is not intended for outdoor use, that is, it cannot be used on the terrace.
What maintenance is required for a parquet board?
Caring for a parquet board is quite simple. The floor must be cleaned regularly. This is best done with a vacuum cleaner or a slightly damp cloth. Do not use abrasive detergents when cleaning, and also do not overmoisten the parquet board.
Is it possible to lay a parquet board on a "warm floor"?
The parquet board can be laid on a "warm floor" provided that the surface does not heat up to more than 26 degrees Celsius. Therefore, before laying parquet boards, it is advisable to consult the manufacturer of this particular model of "warm floor".
What is the best glue to use when installing a parquet board?
When installing a parquet board, it is necessary to use frost and moisture resistant glue. Do not use water based glue.
Is it possible to loop a parquet board?
It depends on how the parquet board was laid. If the parquet board is laid in a floating way, then it is impossible to loop it, but if it is glued to the base, then it is possible.
How can the moisture content of the substrate be checked before laying the parquet board?
To check the moisture level of the base, you can stick a piece of plastic wrap on it with adhesive tape. If the moisture level of the substrate is high, perspiration will appear on the film the next day.
How do you prepare the base for laying parquet boards?
First of all, it is necessary to prevent moisture penetration through the subfloor. For this purpose, an insulating layer is laid, for example from a polyethylene film with a thickness of two tenths of a millimeter. The substrate is laid on the insulating layer. It can be porous polyethylene. The thickness of the substrate should not exceed three millimeters. After that, the parquet board is mounted on the substrate.
Can an old parquet floor be used as a base for laying parquet boards?
It all depends on how reliable the old floor can be, that is, how strong, even it is and what degree of humidity it has. If it meets all the necessary criteria, then, before laying, the old floor will need to be cleaned of the varnish layer, and also to be sanded.
Can a parquet board be partially restored?
Yes, there are special repair kits for restoration. But they are not produced by all parquet board manufacturing companies. Therefore, the renovated area may have visual differences from the underlying floor.
It is natural to expect durability from an expensive parquet flooring. This is possible with proper care. It is quite specific, since natural wood is capricious, and you cannot expose it to standard cleaning. How to care for a parquet board is correctly described here
It is natural to expect durability from an expensive parquet flooring. This is possible with proper care. It is quite specific, since natural wood is capricious, and you cannot expose it to standard cleaning. The following describes how to care for your parquet board correctly.
Types of coatings
The parquet area is characterized by the peculiarities of laying boards (article "Methods of laying parquet"). Parquet maintenance will depend on the initial coating and plank installation. The floor can be "floating" - that is, the lamellas are fastened together with locks. And mounted with glue - such a coating does not lend itself to dismantling or replacing individual units, since the layer of composition firmly holds it on the base. This implies the following:
- For the installation of floating parquet boards are purchased either with a varnished coating in the factory, or "clean". In the future, varnishing is prohibited, since the composition will clog the joints between the lamellas. This is good to keep the boards dry, but with minimal pressure, the varnish at the joints will begin to crack. It is recommended to apply oil or wax to clean parquet floors.
- Parquet floor, arranged "tightly" (fasteners, glue) accepts any coating - the priority is varnish. However, you should know that clean parquet boards after the first treatment with oil hardly perceive the varnish - only after thorough cleaning and sanding.
Useful informationRule number 1 - before starting to care for a floor from a parquet board, it is important to find out the nature of the coating and the method of laying the parquet.
Organization of parquet preservation in its original form
Caring for parquet at home starts from the moment it is laid. It is important to know the factors affecting the condition of the flooring, permitted and prohibited actions and cleaning methods:
Allowed
- Use a vacuum cleaner with soft attachments for daily cleaning, as in the photo:
- Use a damp cleaning cloth without detergents.
- Clean stubborn dirt with special products.
- Treat scratches, abrasions and minor damages with polish (for varnished parquet).
Forbidden to use
- Use a washing vacuum cleaner. There is too much moisture from it.
- Use universal detergents if the parquet is not indicated in the annotation.
- Walk in street shoes. In the hallway, there must be a rug to hold back small stones and sand.
- Move large furniture without felt attachments on the legs (glued to the sole, they are invisible).
- Arrange drafts or ventilation. It is better to install climate control, which will automatically select the optimal air humidity.
Useful informationRule number 2 - care of the parquet board is carried out from the first days.
Parquet and steam mop
Basins and hand washing are a thing of the past. Convenient gadgets have come to replace them - all kinds of mops. The steam room is especially popular - in addition to most contaminants, it disinfects the floor surface. This is important when there are small children in the house. But can parquet be cleaned with a steam mop?
Unfortunately, she is the enemy for most parquet boards. The reasons are as follows:
- Oil and varnish coatings are afraid of high temperatures. After cleaning, milk stains remain on the surface, then the varnish gradually peels off. The oil is washed out, exposing the wood pores, where moisture is accessible.
- A lot of moisture. The boards will begin to swell. At high temperatures, absorption will be faster. When the thermal action ends, the tree will begin to deform from the temperature drop. As a result, cracks.
- Steam is critical for light parquet flooring. Chamfer and edges darken. If a certain pattern is conceived, then the boundaries will lose clarity.
Useful informationRule # 3 - Never use a steam mop to clean hardwood floors.
Types of pollution
Their classification will help to assess pollution:
- Superficial. These include stains from food - juice, coffee, fruit. Chemical components of ink, cosmetics, pencils - you can often hear a question from mothers - what to do if my child stains the parquet with drawings?
- Deep. Those that eat into the wood structure. These are oil products - shoe polish, traces of it, tar, paint. Stubborn stains include the urine of pets.
Useful informationRule number 4 - most stains are removed from the parquet, if you do not delay cleaning and choose the right products.
Cleaning parquet boards
Can parquet be washed? In the broadest sense of the word - no. Large amounts of water are prohibited. However, cleaning is required.
An individual approach to cleaning depends on the type of coverage:
With varnish
The easy maintenance of a varnished parquet board consists of daily vacuuming and weekly damp cleaning.
It is important to strive to only lightly handle the boards, without pressure and friction. Before the "battle" with spots, the surface of the site is freed from fine litter and sand.
- Easily removed stains are treated with a special spray, applying the product not directly to the parquet, but to the rags used for cleaning.
- Stubborn stains from liquids are first moistened with a product, soaked and wiped off.
- Tar, gum, first freeze. For this, ice is placed in a plastic bag and applied to the floor. Then carefully remove the substance with a spatula. Scratching and scraping with knives is not allowed.
Useful informationRule # 5 - The varnish needs gentle care without abrasives.
With butter
Maintenance of oiled parquet is more laborious. The composition creates a moisture-repellent film on the surface, but not polymerized - that is, not solid.
All possible scuffs and roughness are present - dirt lingers in them for a long time, cleaning is problematic, but possible:
- Light dirt is washed off with water with a special cleaner added to it - a parquet care agent.
- To remove traces of rubber or rubber from shoes, use a foam spray - it will let the stains "shrink" and then they are removed.
- Particularly stubborn stains are wiped with white spirit.
Useful informationRule No. 6 - after cleaning oiled parquet flooring, re-oiling is required, as the compounds will remove the film.
With wax
How to clean waxed parquet boards? There is only one answer - no way. Such parquet must not be literally washed.
There are other ways for it:
- Dry cleaning with a vacuum cleaner with a soft nozzle.
- Spray and foam treatment.
- Regular waxing of the parquet after cleaning.
Useful informationRule # 7 - Oiled and waxed parquet maintenance is done weekly.
Conclusion
The question - how to care for a parquet floor - seems difficult, only at first glance. The last rule will be to regularly prevent the appearance of the floor covering. Timely action is the key to the longevity of the board. It is possible to order a parquet cleaning service for specialists if there is no time for a thorough cleaning and restoration.
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Laying boards on plywood
Plywood is the best base for laying parquet boards. To improve the stability of the flooring, plywood must be laid in a certain way, namely: first, the plywood must be divided into small squares (or rectangles) with sides of about 50-80 cm, and then laid so that the joints between the plywood and the joints that will be between the boards , were at an angle of 45º in relation to each other. That is, for example, if the board is planned to be laid parallel to the walls of the room, then the plywood should be laid diagonally (at an angle of 45º). Plywood is attached to the base (or to the logs) with self-tapping screws. For 1 plywood sheet with a side of ≈ 60-70 cm, 9 self-tapping screws are required. And yet, a gap of about 5-10 mm must be left between the plywood sheets. This is necessary so that when the geometry of the plywood changes (natural expansion with increasing humidity), the sheets do not rub against each other and do not cause a squeak. A special material is laid between the plywood and the parquet board - a backing.
Laying parquet on a concrete base (screed)
It is also permissible to lay parquet on a screed. In this case, it is necessary that the screed is strong, dry, even and clean. It is desirable that the compressive strength of the screed is at least 10 MPa. A special device is used to measure the strength of the screed. To check the evenness of the base, a two-meter perfectly level rule with a level is used. For laying parquet boards, it is desirable that the height difference along the plane does not exceed 2 mm. by 2 running meters. A screed can be considered dry if its moisture content does not exceed 2%. If this figure is higher, then either you need to wait until the screed dries up, or use a special vapor barrier primer, for example, Berger Primer P. When laying boards on a screed, it is better to use a Parkolag underlay, as it has good waterproofing properties and will prevent moisture from the screed to penetrate into the parquet. If the screed is dry, you can use cork or synthetic underlays (for example Tuplex) when laying parquet, which do not have such good waterproofing.
Laying parquet boards on old parquet, ceramic tiles, linoleum, etc.
The great advantage of parquet boards (or laminates) is the ability to lay them on almost any flat surface. The installation of a three-layer board, like many other floor coverings with a lock, occurs in a "floating" way. This method does not require gluing the parquet to the base, the parquet is easily assembled and dismantled. The requirements for the base, be it old parquet, ceramic tiles, or other old flooring, do not differ from those we discussed above: the base must be flat and clean (it must be well vacuumed before laying). It goes without saying that it must also be dry and durable. It is also important to find a suitable substrate as all substrates have different characteristics. The issue of choosing a substrate for parquet is considered by us in a separate article.
A floor made of natural material is already a luxury. And if it is made of parquet, it is a royal gift for the house and its owners.
How to use parquet
After laying the floor, you can use it no earlier than 3-4 days. Do not ventilate the room during this time!
A freshly laid floor must not be covered with carpets, animal skins, etc. to ensure that the floor is completely dry. It is best to give up carpets altogether.
During the first weeks of operation, walk carefully on the floor, do not jump, run, or drop objects.
In the first two weeks after coating, wet cleaning is excluded! An incompletely dried protective layer will allow moisture to penetrate into the gaps between the dies.
Re-sanding of the varnished floor is carried out every 5-7 years, after which a new layer of protective varnish is applied.
Every 1-1.5 months it is necessary to apply additional coating protection - apply polish. This will extend the life of the varnish and increase the moisture-repellent properties of the surface.
It is required to protect the parquet from mechanical stress. Furniture legs must be protected with felt pads.
If scuffs appear on an insignificant area of \u200b\u200bthe parquet covered with varnish (where furniture was inadvertently moved, for example), you do not need to sand the entire floor. It is enough to treat this place with a spray varnish.
Oily and wax protective layer does not protect the floor from mechanical stress. If scratches and gouges appear, this place needs to be sanded and a new layer of oil or wax applied. The pothole must first be filled.
If the floor began to creak over time, then it needs to be restored. You can try to putty the cracks. If that doesn't work, you need to replace some of the dry parquet planks. Perhaps more serious measures will be required - screed, tamping of wedges, pouring with adhesive, etc. The parquet may have to be completely repositioned.
The humidity in the room should be between 45% -60%. With fluctuations in humidity, the dies swell and dry out. As a result, the parquet dries up, cracks appear between the dies, and the floor starts to creak when people walk on it. To avoid this, the humidity must be kept within the specified limit. Use humidifiers during the heating season. When the air humidity is high, the room needs frequent ventilation and heating.
The air temperature should be in the range of 18-25 ° C.
Parquet does not like room temperature fluctuations. Allowable change - ± 5 0С.
To keep the climatic conditions within the normal range, you should not open the windows for a long time on rainy days.
As you can see, the attitude to the "royal gift" should also be appropriate. However, let us open a little secret - today, when they talk about parquet, they often mean not classic parquet (when the floor is made of wooden planks laid one at a time, friendnext to a friend), and a parquet board. This material is somewhat simpler, it is easier to install, less fussy to use. But at the same time it looks very uneasy on the floor. Quite a lot has been said about such coverage, for example, on the website www.mirpola.kiev.ua (photos are taken from it). Here, we note that parquet board is technically a cross between classic parquet and laminate.
On the one hand, it also consists of layers of wooden dies and, therefore, has the appearance and texture of parquet. On the other hand, just like the laminate, it is mounted on “thorn-groove” locks or on glue. By the way, as in the case of the laminate, waterproofing (film) and a soft substrate are first spread on the floor. Well, the base itself should be completely flat.
For the rest, laying such a modern parquet does not require specific skills and is available to any home craftsman. In general, the operating rules for classic parquet can be recommended for parquet floors as well.
How to care for parquet
When cleaning a parquet floor, do not use:
Washing vacuum cleaner.
Abrasive cleaners.
Hard brushes.
When cleaning the floor, the main rule is that the cloth should be only slightly damp. Parquet floor does not like water, prefers dry cleaning.
Dry cleaning
It is enough to wipe the surface with a soft cloth, remove dust with a vacuum cleaner with a special nozzle protected by felt or a hair brush. If a stain is found, it is not necessary to wash the entire floor; it is enough to wipe the area with a soft cloth dampened with water or a special stain remover.
Special products are used to care for the parquet flooring - polishes, shampoos, emulsions, oils, wax.
Wet cleaning
The parquet floor should be washed as little as possible!
It is best to purchase a shampoo specially designed for cleaning parquet. Dilute the required amount of concentrate in water according to the instructions. Wash the surface with a well-wrung cloth. If you accidentally spill water, immediately wipe this place with a dry cloth. Otherwise, the parquet will swell in this place, the protective layer will be broken, cracks will appear between the parquet planks, where water will subsequently enter. Ultimately this will lead to destruction of the coating.
Thorough cleaning of the premises is carried out with significant contamination no more than 1 time per month using a special composition with a solvent. After that, a protective layer must be applied with a polish.
It is absolutely forbidden to wash the parquet covered with wax! Such a floor is allowed to be processed only with special compounds.
The beauty and nobility of parquet can be preserved by observing the rules of operation and using special care products.