Parquet board rules: daily and preventative actions

Parquet board care rules

When choosing a floor covering, a modern person often sacrifices existing trendy trends and prefers such traditional and time-tested materials as parquet and parquet board. There is no doubt that the floor covered with parquet board will attract the eye with a natural wood pattern and perfect smooth surface. In addition, parquet flooring is considered almost the most durable element in the decoration of a living room. But in order for such a coating to remain effective and justify the title of a long-lived, it is necessary to create certain conditions for it and learn the rules for caring for a parquet board. Only in this case will it be possible to maintain the original appearance of the coating and its unique charm.

Content

• Structure, application, quality
• Sub floor conditions
• Parquet laying conditions
• Types of protective films of a parquet board

• Parquet varnishes Oil-wax compositions

Operating conditions and general care

Caring for an oil-waxed board

What you need with a varnished board

Structure, application, quality

What is the difference between a parquet board and parquet? Traditionally, parquet is made entirely of wood. Parquet board is mainly three-layer. The first, top layer is valuable wood, the second consists of needles and the third is a plywood plate that does not allow water to pass through. Beautiful appearance and durability of the parquet board is provided by the upper wooden layer of precious wood. The thicker this layer, the more expensive, but the parquet board will also be more durable.

A parquet board made using modern technologies has many qualities of a natural solid wood (unique pattern, natural color), and sometimes even surpasses it. This is especially true of the ease of installation. Parquet board stacks much faster than parquet.

Due to the fact that a parquet board is much cheaper than parquet, it is very popular among consumers. Parquet board will cost less if in its production for the top layer not solid wood is used, but glued pieces. Such a board is called two-, three-, four-lane.

The variety of colors and textures of the floorboard allows you to create a special atmosphere in any room: in a residential building, apartment, office, etc..

Parquet board has a number of positive qualities. It:

• increased water resistance;
• good resistance to decay;
• dimensional stability – minimal deformation (layers hold each other under the influence of humidity and temperature);
• non-susceptibility to cracks and chips;
• simplicity of laying;
• high soundproofness;
• no need for additional processing of the floor surface after assembly – this is done in the factory;
• diverse design.

Sub floor conditions

In order for the parquet coating to serve for a long time and in the future there will be no problems with it, certain conditions must be observed when arranging the subfloor (base for the parquet floor):

1. The subfloor (multilayer substrate) should isolate the coating as much as possible from moisture.
2. It should also provide soundproofing of the room so that the parquet floor does not collapse under the influence of shock and air noise..
3. In order for the floor not to let through and retain heat, it is necessary to ensure proper thermal insulation, which will significantly reduce heat loss from the room – up to 20%.
4. The base under the parquet must be strictly horizontal and even (unevenness in height should not be more than 2 mm).

Each flooring can be overpowered, since such a floor is assembled by simply snapping in the locks. The essential point is that immediately after laying the floor is ready for use. There is no need for grinding, scraping, applying protective compounds. All these procedures were carried out at the factory..

Parquet laying conditions

1. After the acquisition, it is recommended to leave the floorboard for several days in the room where the installation will be carried out. This is done to adapt the floorboard to the temperature and humidity in the room. This procedure will greatly facilitate the installation process and provide a long coating service..
2. The temperature in the room should be from 18 to 24 ° C, and relative humidity – in the range of 40-60%. The values ​​of these parameters should preferably be maintained continuously during the operation of the floors. Thus, humidification and air conditioning is necessary not only for a person, but also for this floor covering..

When installing the coating on a “warm floor” you must adhere to additional parameters:

• the surface temperature of the coating should not be higher than 27 degrees, and its daily difference should not exceed 5 ° C;
• the temperature over the entire surface of the coating should be as uniform as possible.

Important! On “warm floors” is not advised to lay a parquet board with a top layer of maple and beech.

Specialists, in principle, do not recommend laying flooring from parquet boards on “warm floor” systems.

Types of protective films of a parquet board

Today, as protective coatings for parquet boards are used:

• varnishes for parquet;
• oil-wax compounds.

Varnishes for parquet

Parquet varnishes form a fairly hard and very durable layer on the surface of the parquet board. They are water based and synthetic solvents. Varnishes on classic synthetic solvents emit a harsh odor before hardening, causing suffocation and allergic reactions. Therefore, it is very important that they are applied to the floorboard in the factory, where all the necessary conditions are observed (some wear-resistant varnishes require UV light during fixing) .In order to improve the waterproofness of the flooring from the floorboard, you can still apply one more after laying extra coat of varnish.

Oil and Wax Compounds

To protect the coating, oil-wax mixtures are also used. Penetrating deep into the tree, they fill the pores, creating a unique look and emphasizing the uniqueness of the type of wood.

This method of protection has come down to us from the depths of centuries, but remains relevant until now. With proper floor care, the procedure should be repeated approximately once a year. This does not require special skills. How it’s done?

First, a uniform layer of oil is applied, then a mixture of wax and oil. This method is harmless to health, as both components are absolutely environmentally friendly (oil – linseed or from Chinese wood, wax – vegetable or animal origin).

It’s important to know! If you want to switch from an oil-wax protective layer to a varnish, you must first remove the entire wax composition by grinding, and only then apply a primer and varnish. Otherwise, the varnish will not fix.

Operating conditions and general care

General care for the floorboard is to protect it from mechanical stress during cleaning and operation:

1. Furniture legs must be fitted with felt pads or other soft fabric. Under the furniture on casters, lay transparent plastic mats.
2. Since the parquet board suffers from the abrasive effect of sand, which is brought in by street shoes, it is necessary to arrange a protective area at the entrance to the room. To do this, two types of rugs are used: hard – for solid particles, and soft – for absorbing liquid mud, especially in the autumn-winter season. Street shoes need to be changed to home.
3. An ordinary vacuum cleaner is used to maintain cleanliness in a room with parquet flooring..
   

   Cleanliness in a parqueted room is maintained by a conventional vacuum cleaner

Sometimes you can wipe the floor with a damp (but not wet) rag or mop.

Do not allow flooding. Heavily contaminated areas can only be wiped with special means provided for protective and decorative flooring.

You can’t do this! Parquet flooring is not allowed.

Attention! To clean floors from a parquet board, it is strongly not recommended to use cleaning and detergents for dishes, solvents and thinners for paints, gasoline, alcohol. In extreme cases, mild detergents can be applied..

Caring for an oil-waxed board

• Parquet oil-wax compositions, unlike parquet varnishes, do not form an outer film, but only fill the pores, preventing the penetration of moisture and various contaminants. To restore an oil-soaked parquet board, only the damaged areas are sanded, which are then again covered with oil. This procedure can be performed in a day..
• Wet cleaning of the floor from a parquet board treated with oil impregnation is carried out using aqueous soap solutions. The floor is wiped with a well-wrung rag parallel to the wood fibers.
  

  The parquet floor is wiped with a well-wrung rag parallel to the wood fibers

  Such cleaning is carried out as it gets dirty. It takes 30 minutes to dry the floor. After that, you can polish the floor with universal tools that combine the functions of protection and cleaning.

• Flooring, where there are increased loads, must be updated once every six months. In apartments where people put on slippers, the floor can be updated once a year, sometimes less often. To do this, use oil for periodic care of the parquet floor.
• Hygienic maintenance of wax-treated parquet boards is carried out only by dry cleaning. Care for waxed floors is carried out using products containing solvents or wax. The use of soap solutions containing alkalis can lead in this case to a change in the color of the floor.

If you choose the right technique for caring for a parquet floor, protected by oil or wax mastic, it will serve more than one generation of home owners. The main thing is that during the operation it will not be necessary to grind the floor, inhaling wood dust, or suffer from the pungent odor of varnish. Such a floor can be looked after using only cleaning compounds that do not require polishing – just wipe the floor with a cloth.

Preventive actions

Oil and wax processing of the parquet board in the first year of operation is carried out once every three months. The procedure for the procedure is as follows:

• wash the floor clean, allow it to dry well (6-7 hours);
• to impregnate a parquet board with oil, using a special brush;
• remove unabsorbed oil after 5 minutes with wipes;
• one day after the oil treatment, apply protective wax on the parquet board;
• when wet cleaning the floor from the parquet board in water, add a soluble protective wax;
• in the future (after the 1st year), the processing of parquet is performed as necessary.

What you need with a varnished board

To eliminate traces of pollution that occurred during operation on the surface of the varnished coating from the floorboard, the so-called “cleaners” are used – special cleaning products. Some of them are made in the form of concentrates that need to be diluted with water, others are available in ready-to-use aerosol containers. These compounds are distinguished by chemical neutrality to the composition of the varnish. All major manufacturers of parquet products have cleaners for varnished parquet in their assortment. It is desirable that the used cleaner be produced by the same manufacturer as the varnish used to protect the parquet.

No matter how hard-wearing parquet lacquer may be, over time its surface will inevitably become covered with microcracks, scuffs and other floor defects will appear. Therefore, it is recommended to periodically apply a protective coating on the varnished parquet board. Owners of pets should especially pay attention to this moment, since claw marks can spoil the surface layer in a short time, moreover, the ingress of urea leaves spots on the wood and destroys the varnish layer of the parquet board.

To preserve the varnish coating of the parquet board, 2 types of protective equipment are currently used. Firstly, these are polishes containing wax, and secondly, substances similar in composition to highly diluted varnishes. When used, they are diluted with water.

Preventative treatment

1. To remove stains and restore the lost shine of a parquet board with a varnished surface, a special composition is used – “freshener”.
2. In order to protect against moisture once every two months, it is recommended to polish the floor.
3. To eliminate the local abrasion of the varnish layer, a varnish spray is used..
4. A full renewal of the varnish coating of the parquet board is recommended to be carried out approximately 12 years after the start of operation (it all depends on the degree of load on the floor). floor rules

Now you know very well how to care for your favorite flooring. So, you can safely plan its installation in rooms in which there is no parquet board on the floor.

In this article, you familiarized yourself with the floorboard, its structure, the features of the operation and care of it. Observing the rules described above, be sure: the parquet floor will delight you and your loved ones for many years. Now the beauty of your gender is up to you.