Keep London Parquet Flooring Looking Great

Many London homes and terraces benefit from pre-war parquet flooring, which is a real plus point whatever its condition! Like any type of hardwood flooring, parquet tiles can be revamped to suit any taste and room style and as an asset, they are most definitely worth holding on to.

To floor an average sized lounge in brand new parquet at today’s prices would be expensive, so if you have original style parquet, whatever its current condition, consider refurbishment rather than removing. One immediate advantage of renovating your parquet floor is that once up to scratch, it takes very little maintenance to keep it in tip-top condition.

Restoring Parquet Flooring comes in all shades and design styles, but if your London home has original parquet flooring chances are it was built any time between 1900-1940. This being the case it is likely that your floor will have the classic basket weave or herringbone motif. Original flooring is usually of a higher grade than parquet purchased new, so it is definitely worth retaining original flooring wherever possible.

DIY or choose a professional

You can restore your flooring yourself if you have the know-how as all hardwood flooring restorations begin with taking the floor back to its basic. This means removing any tiling, carpets, lino or anything else which is stuck on top.

Old-style parquet was, in addition to being of the abovementioned motifs, usually chestnut brown in colour. Nowadays there is an exciting range of coloured stain products available for use on parquet. Colour changes a room and nowhere is that more true than on the floor. When your floor has been stripped, fully sanded and cleaned you can try coloured stain on those areas that are hidden by furniture, just to see how it would look before you proceed with the rest of the floor.

The sanding process generally leaves hardwood flooring a few shades lighter than the original colour anyway, so if you are looking for your parquet to look like the original then you will probably have to use a stain.

Staining parquet flooring is not necessarily difficult, but it is exacting work. Stain should only ever be applied when the floor is completely sanded, with all gaps filled and damaged tiles replaced or repaired. If a floor has not been sanded in many decades then it will take two or perhaps three sandings to get it even and smooth. Never be tempted to apply stain on flooring which is unfinished, as this will give the tiles a lumpy, bumpy finish which could end up being expensive to put right.

If you would like to find out the cost of having your parquet floor refurbished then it is a wise move to call in a specialist Floor Sanding Company. Good professional wood floor specialists in the London area will normally offer free quotations with no hard-sell at the end of it. This way you can gauge how much work your floor really needs before making the decision to DIY or use the professionals.

Before deciding which type of finishing you would like, consider whether the area is busy, how much natural sunlight it gets, is there steam and heat from ovens and stoves, is it a floor children play on? These factors and others should help you to make the best decision in terms of veneer. For example if your floor is in a high traffic hallway for example it is not a good idea to choose a highly polished finish.

Well restored parquet flooring will be an absolute talking point with visitors to your home and, with regular care and cleaning, it will continue to grace your home for many years to come.