Hello, if you’re reading this you’re probably thinking about embarking on this great voyage of reclaimed parquet floors- don’t do it. I’m kidding, your mind is clearly already made up. And I applaud your stubbornness. You’re also in the right place as in this blog I’ll be talking you through the entire process from preparation, laying, sanding and varnishing. I have videos linked throughout the blog if you're more of a visual learner. Also scroll to the bottom for the list of tools and materials used on this project.
Myself and my Dad AKA Phoneboxman AKA the kindest man on earth completed this project in December 2023. This was my dad’s third time doing reclaimed parquet flooring- he’s a glutton for punishment. I never even helped him with his flooring projects previously. But when we moved from my family home the year before and he put that herringbone floor down again in our new home I instantly felt safe. It was like the pattern had been burned into my brain as a marker of “Home “. I knew I wanted it for myself when I bought my first home.
We did the entire ground floor (around 51m²) in a mix of oak and teak parquet. The oak came form a school who were throwing it away and the teak I stole from my Dad’s last project. Yes I was very lucky.
Disclaimer- we are mere mortals, for pro advice check out the flooring wizard himself DannySandhouse.
Preparation
First up you have to sort through the boxes of the gloriously disgusting reclaimed flooring you have been blessed with the torturous task to install. You will need to go through the tiles to eliminate damaged or shorter pieces. Nails and small holes in the boards are fine but chunks missing won’t work. You will also need to calculate that you have enough for each room you want to do. We ran out in one room and did a different colour border in the end.
Demolition
First up I had to remove our current flooring, it was pretty simple as it was laminate flooring. Once one board came loose I was able to take the rest up easily. I just pried one board up with a crow bar to loosen them in the beginning. If that didn’t work I’d use a chisel and hammer to try loosen a board.Then the rest all just slots out.
Removed all underlay also and gave the place a good hoover. Or if you’re me I enlisted my trusty partner who cleans up after all my ridiculous DIY projects- he would’ve been happier with laminate honestly. This project nearly broke us all.
Next up my Dad told me to asses the subfloors and see if any repairs were needed. If any of the boards were loose I would need to secure them and if there were any holes I’d need to fill the flooring there also. Luckily I didn’t need to do any of this as the subfloors were in good knick.
At this stage we brought all of the old flooring to the skip- as we needed all the space we could get to store all the parquet in our garage. We really had to keep the space as clear as possible.
I removed the skirting boards using a crow bar and a hammer as this point also. I replaced the skirting boards at the end as they weren’t matching in my house they needed replacing. But I’m sure you could cut around them and install parquet that way but this is just easier as the new skirting boards will sit on top of the expansion gap left around the floor- more not hat later.
We also removed the kitchen kicker boards to go under the cabinets
We had to cut door frames using a multitool with a blade for wood. This will allow the floor to go under the frame. We used a small cut off of OSB and a tile to measure how much we had to remove. We also took down all doors to shorten them as well using the same measurement. We cut the doors using a skill saw and guide.
We used OSB to cover the sub floor. The OSB will ensure a level surface to work with. Also the subfloor will expand and contract in different temperatures so your parquet flooring would move over time so you can’t go directly onto the subfloor with the tiles. We used 18mm OSB but you definitely don’t need to go this thick, we just followed the internet and I think this was a mistake.
First we used as many full sheets of OSB to cover the sub floors without having to cut them down to fit. When we lay the OSB we ensured it was sitting flat and nothing underneath was effecting the level.
Next we had to screw in the OSB- we put a wood screw at every foot. Make sure the screws aren't proud as this will effect the floor being level. This was tedious but it’s important to have a good base.
We cut down remaining OSB to fill any left over gaps, and installed it in any areas where we could not fit entire sheets of OSB. Don’t forget to cut bases for the washing machine and cooker to ensure they are level.
At this point we were a week in. Which was pretty good going.
Cleaning the Parquet tiles
This step was going on prior to working on the house at all. So this was being done in any spare time I could get in the evenings and weekends. We had to clean the sticky tar like substance called bitumen from the tongue and grooves of our tiles to ensure they slot in easily. This task was vile.
Make sure to wear goggles, a hair cap, gloves, a good mask and don’t leave any skin exposed.This stuff gave me a rash - the last thing needed when exhausted is worrying about your exposure to this stuff. It’s a seriously deadly substance.According to Mr Google health effects from bitumen fumes include headaches, skin rash, sensitization, fatigue, reduced appetite, throat and eye irritation, cough, and skin cancer. So yeah, don’t mess around with this stuff.
We used a bench grinder with a wire brush attachment to clean each one.I didn’t clean the bottom of each board as we had picked a glue that works with bitumen. So I just cleaned the sides where the tongue and groove was.
This part of the project was so daunting there is just so much to be done and it is so time consuming. It really felt like we were never going to reach the end. Luckily my lovely dad did a day of this for me and he is so quick as he’s done this so many times now.
Floor laying
Prior to laying any floor we brought the tiles in overnight as we were storing them in the garage. The tiles need to come to room temperature prior to laying.
First up we cleared our floor again- clearing away unnecessary tools and hoovering. You’ll be doing this a lot. Consider it meditation.
To get the first line for the herringbone pattern we used a skirting board for a straight line and put the tiles against that. This meant it wouldn’t move and we could get the first line perfect.
My Dad was showing me how to do each step of this process and this was no different. I really didn’t have the confidence in myself in the beginning. I didn’t think I’d be able to do everything my Dad did but I can honestly say I had a part in every step of this floor. And many I’m proud to say that. I watch back the videos of us doing this and I cannot believe the amount of work we did. Anyways I digress.
We used a 4ml squared toothed trowel to apply the Sika glue to the ground. The glue is super expensive so the trowel helps to ensure you are not using too much or too little and also leaves the glue in ridges to keep it even throughout. We laid one long line from my middle room to my kitchen then let it dry overnight. The next day our tiles were easy to install against this line and the pattern was easy to continue. When we installed the next line against the line we let dry overnight we needed a hammer to get the tiles to butt up against the dry ones properly and ensure the pattern was correct. If you let mistakes happen early on they will continue the entire length of your floor creating large gaps.
Around the edges of the room we did a border of two tiles in a brick like pattern so my dad marked around each room the width of two tiles and 10mm for expansion. We glued up to this line and tiled over it without glue where the border was going. We will cut off the tiles overhanging onto the border space later.
Once one side of the room was finished we removed the skirting board from earlier holding the first line of parquet in place. Then we just continued laying the tiles.
We finished laying all of the floor (around 52m squared) in about a week. So prepping the house and laying the floor was done in two weeks pretty much full time. Don’t ask how long it took to clean those tiles though that’s a different story..
Cutting the Border
In order to cut off the over hanging pieces we used a plunge saw and a guide.This saved use from having to cut each individual tile to fit- you just cut one big line and you have your space for the border ready. Then we removed all the pieces we had cut. Some had been glued and had to be removed with the multitool. The we had to hoover the area, chisel out any stubborn pieces of wood at corners etc and remove any residual glue using the multi tool. Then I applied the glue using the same trowel and lay the border. This task is not as easy as I thought it would be. But I did find doing any cuts needed to fit the border and doing a dry lay of the tiles prior to glueing sped up the process and caused less frustration. I used a chop saw to cut tiles down to size for the border.
Checkered Pattern
I did a different technique in the porch just using a checkered pattern to create a different little space. Because God knows I didn’t have enough to be doing. I cut both the teak and oak tiles in squares and just glued them directly onto the original tiles in my porch. If tiles are level you can glue directly onto them.
Sanding
This stage was the longest I think. Couldn’t give you an exact timeline as my Dad abandoned me in the middle and went on holidays. But I do know we had two weeks with hired sanders. We hired a floor drum sander and an edging sander. It was a bit of a knack figuring out how to work it, whoever you are renting it from will be able to show you how to use it. Be careful with any nails in the ground as the sand paper will rip all over the floor and you’ll have to change the sandpaper. Which is an entire job in itself by the way- my poor back laying down on the ground changing the paper will never forgive me.
In terms of grit used - we started with a 24 grit and finished with 120 grit. Until all the dirt and gross bitumen is removed we used 24 grit. Then we went up in the grit to get a nice finish and remove any lines we created with the sander.
When sanding we went from a corner from left to right. Then turned around and did the same from the other side of the room- this means the areas we couldn’t get to the first round were done when we turned around. Just watch the video okay I can’t explain this in text. We went vertically horizontally and diagonally to ensure the floor was level. With the edging sander there’s less rules, we just tried to control the beast. Well I did- my Dad was much better with this machine.
Filling
We used Bona Mix and Fill for filling the floor. Its simple enough- using some of the finer sawdust we mixed the solution in with a large filling knife. We mixed this directly on the floor and then used the filling knife to spread it around all over the floor. This fills in all the tiny cracks and gaps you can’t even see but creates such a stunning finish. This is where we really started to see the floor come together.
Sanding Again
Then we had to sand all the filler off using our drum floor sander again with a finer grit. We could see the lines where we had sanded very clearly in this step so that was satisfying, Some light at the end of the never-ending tunnel.
Buffing
We used a floor buffer with sanding disks attached to give the floor a final finish and get rid of any sanding lines or marks. This made a huge difference. The machine created a lot of dust in the air as there’s no bag collecting the sawdust on this machine, as yano- it is a floor buffer not a sander.
Hoovering
There was a lot of it.
Priming and Varnishing
We used Bona products and we applied them using Two Fussy Blokes roller and paintbrush. For the primer we used the classic Bona primer on the teak as it has no colour in it. Then we’re using the natural primer on the oak as this keeps that natural finish of the oak without that yellow tinge you get with varnishing. We did one coat of the primer.
For varnish we use Bona Traffic HD and we did two coats of this. I think we opted for the semi gloss for this. The priming and varnishing was dead easy compared to everything we had been through. We just had to make sure we had somewhere to go once a coat of it was drying. Also you need to remember your keys from the other side of the house if you’re going out. Because if you don’t you’ll have to go back into the house in your socks and leave little foot marks on your gorgeous floor. But hey that’s just some random advice I thought of, definitely not a lived experience.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion- just know what you’re getting yourself into with this project. It is not for the faint of heart. I am so happy I never have to do this again.
That being said- the flooring adds so much to the house. It has created such character and really feels in keeping with the age of the house.
But if I’m honest really the memories I created with my dad are the most special thing about this. Not to get all sappy… but I’m going to get all sappy. Watching the videos back I can just see how much fun we’re having and how excited I am to be learning all of the incredible skills my Dad has to offer. And all of them were from the college of Youtube. It was worth all the time off work and all the sleepless nights obsessing over the floor just to have all that time with my Dad. We’d sneak off to get lunch or coffee when we were having a particularly bad floor day. Equally we would celebrate when it was going well- it really was a lot of fun in between the chaos of the project itself. We didn’t even argue that much, which I know you’ll find hard to believe.
If you have any questions at all on this project don’t hesitate to get in touch via email or on Instagram. I love hearing about your projects.
Tools Used
Multitool with blade attachment for wood
Impact screwdriver
Crowbar
Chisel
Hammer
Kneepads- Buy them
Bench-grinder with metal brush attachment
Face mask
Protective eye mask
Shower cap (trust me)
Gloves
Circular saw and guide
Plunge saw and guide
Chop saw
4mm Square trowel
Workbench (optional if you're my dad)
Paint brushes and rollers
Floor Drum sander
Edging sander
Floor buffer with sanding discs
Precision file sander
Materials used
OSB 18 mm sheets- could go thinner with this
Wood Screws (we used over 1200, size will depend on your floorboard and OSB depth)
18mm OSB ( needed 51m² this was 18 sheets. Sheet is 2.973m²)
Marker
SikaGlue
Bona fill and mix
Bona Primer in Natural for the oak and classic for the teak
Bona Traffic HD varnish
Two Fussy Blokes roller and paintbrush
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