Parquet care tips: a package of measures for long-term service

Parquet Care Tips

You can endlessly admire the chic flooring just laid by the hands of the master. You can groom and cherish it, parquet, of course. You can scold home for accidentally spilled coffee or juice. Or you can just cover the floor with carpets, hoping to keep it for many years under this thick fluffy protection. But how not to hide your treasure, how not to protect it, what will happen sooner or later – your parquet will lose its chic appearance, will begin to dry and creak, and you will reproach yourself for an infinitely long time because you could not do anything. To prevent this from happening, you need quite a bit, because caring for the parquet does not require special knowledge and skills, it does not require expensive cleaning and washing agents, it only requires a drop of your care.

Content

• So, about the rules of care

• Humidity and temperature
• Use of water repellents
• Transparent furniture mats
• Special “parquet” furniture
• Carpets and rugs over the parquet
• Felt furniture covers

 

Care for different types of flooring

Polished floor

What lacquered wood requires

 

Parquet stain removal

Tips for Newbies

So, about the rules of care

And here we begin with. Previously, when there were still long communal apartments, parquet was not a luxury item – it was everywhere: in rooms, kitchens, corridors. Nobody considered and contacted him – the parquet was simply not noticed. Naturally, with this attitude, the appearance of this luxurious, by today’s standards, flooring left much to be desired. They mercilessly washed it with bleach, rubbed it with brushes, walked in shoes and even rode bicycles – the places in the communal apartments were “piled up”.

Now everything has changed dramatically – parquet is considered a luxury and not everyone can afford it. But if it was possible to save up money for this treasure, then they cherish it more than the apple of an eye. But here’s how to care for parquet board, not everyone knows, you can even say, everyone knows, but not everyone knows how. Let’s figure out what loves parquet and what doesn’t..

Humidity and temperature

Parquet does not like cold, heat and moisture, therefore it is very important to monitor these indicators and ensure that they are within normal limits all year round.

The optimal values ​​for a comfortable stay of parquet in your house are as follows:

• temperature – 20-25 degrees;
• humidity level – 50-60%.

Very often at the beginning of the heating season, the microclimate in the apartment changes – the air becomes drier and, accordingly, the humidity level decreases. It is important that the rooms are periodically aired during this period, and if possible, buy a humidifier – your parquet will be grateful to you, and you yourself will immediately feel the difference between what was and what became.

Use of water repellents

Parquet really does not like water, just can not stand it. At the mere sight of a wet puddle, it begins to be wrinkled and warped. Therefore, you can not wash it with plenty of water. Well, probably everyone knows this common truth. But only a few know that there are special means for parquet care that repel water..

Of course, having bought a polish (as water-repellent is called in the language of specialists) and treating it with parquet, you will not be able to pour water on it with buckets, or rather, you can, but your floor will not stand it. Polish only forms a thin protective film on the surface of the varnish and saves it from abrasion and a small amount of water. And yes, if the gaps between the dies are poorly sealed, then the tool will also come to the rescue – it will not allow water to seep inside, naturally, in reasonable quantities. For example, accidentally spilled juice, tea or coffee simply stays on the surface and cannot “slip” to where it is not at all welcomed..

And now in more detail about how to properly use water repellents. At the first use, the policy is consumed instantly, so immediately buy a couple of bottles. You need to breed it strictly according to the instructions, and you can rub the parquet as you like, the main thing is that it is convenient for you. Re-treatment with the agent is carried out after about a week and a half, while the amount of polish for diluting it with water will significantly decrease, so you can not worry about your wallet. Yes, do not forget that after processing the parquet you can’t walk on it for half an hour, which means that you need to choose the right direction, otherwise you may be cornered, where you will spend the next 30 minutes.

To summarize: water repellents protect parquet from

• abrasion
• moisture
• dust.

Moreover, the latter can almost forget about how cool it was to lie on a warm floor for almost half a year, since the polish perfectly “holds a punch”. But you still need to clean the floor! After all, it can be dust (sooner or later), and dirt, and even a lot of everything. So, after treatment with a water-repellent, the parquet can be washed with ordinary water and laundry soap. Rub a bar of soap on a grater and pour a little into a bucket of warm water. When the flakes dissolve, you can use a soft cloth to start mopping the floor, but do not overdo it – squeeze the cloth well and make sure that there are no puddles.

Transparent furniture mats

Furniture on wheels spoils the appearance of the floor, and not only it. Any flooring suffers from these very wheels. What to do? Fortunately, there are special transparent polycarbonate mats on sale that will not only save your parquet from scratches and dark traces left by furniture, but will not spoil the appearance of the room at all – they are transparent!

Special “parquet” furniture

Do not think that this is some kind of special furniture, these are the most ordinary chairs, chests of drawers and other interior items on wheels, but only these wheels are made of a special material – soft rubber, which does not leave black marks on the surface of the flooring and does not scratch it. Finding such furniture is not easy, especially since many sales consultants in stores have never heard of such an innovation. But as they say: “Search and find.

Carpets and rugs over the parquet

But these interior items evoke different emotions in the parquet, some of them positive and others negative. What is the matter? And the fact that different types of carpets have different fundamentals – some are made of natural fibers on a soft basis that does not harm the parquet – such a palace will appeal to your varnished treasure, while others have a rigid adhesive base, which constantly pours out on the floor when walking . These tough pieces of glue that has fallen off the palace scratch the varnish, which ultimately leads to its abrasion and loss of gloss. Such a “goose” is not your friend! Clean it immediately!

But not everything is so smooth, because even the softest carpet, which, it would seem, can not do any harm to your parquet, has one unpleasant feature – during wet cleaning with a washing vacuum cleaner, water particles fall under the palace and become the reason for the debate of the parquet – color it changes, the varnish is erased and you no longer recognize your chic varnish floor in this ugly coating.

Felt furniture covers

Sometimes there is an urgent need to move or rearrange something. As a rule, furniture is dragged along with it and traces of such a stormy and irresponsible activity may remain on the floor. To prevent such incidents from happening, glue special felt pads on the “sole” of your furniture or buy heels from the same felt. Heels are screwed into the legs of cabinets, sofas, chairs, etc. and do not give furniture to spoil your floor.

In addition, even a simply standing cabinet or chair can put pressure on the parquet, causing cracking of the varnish, and lining or heeling will not give the furniture the slightest chance.

Care for different types of flooring

Consider two options for flooring: polished and varnished; and features of their care.

Polished floor

Polished parquet differs from varnished in that its surface is not varnished. To protect it from moisture, dirt and dust, special impregnations based on beeswax and vegetable oils are used, which are able to penetrate into the wood by several millimeters. In addition, they do not form a surface film, which allows the parquet to breathe. Impregnations increase the service life of the parquet and increase the wear resistance of the top layer.

There are also special oils for parquet – they perfectly preserve the natural beauty of the parquet board, emphasize the texture of the wood and deepen its color.

The use of these products increases the resistance of your floor to various kinds of loads, but still do not hope that after applying oil or impregnation you will be able to call a crowd of friends and girlfriends who will walk and dance in shoes all evening absolutely painlessly for parquet. No, parquet, of course, will respond to such a “gift of fate” by the appearance of scratches and even, possibly, dents.

Care for polished parquet consists of regular dry cleaning, vacuuming and wiping with a damp cloth. And in order to maintain it in a “fighting state”, arrange for it periodic sanitary days – treat parquet with natural wax formulations two to three times a year.

What lacquered wood requires

During the first 7-10 years, varnished parquet will not require any kind of body movements in your direction, except for regular dry and wet cleaning. But … This does not mean that you can do anything with him. Naturally, the parquet needs to be protected and carefully handled.

After the indicated period (maybe a little earlier, maybe a little later, in general, you will see when) the varnish will have to be either updated or removed in general in order to apply a new, fresh layer. In the latter case, you will have to carry out a parquet hitching procedure and only after that it will be possible to either again varnish the floor, or change the type of coating to oil, for example, or to impregnate.

Parquet stain removal

In any house, various troubles always happen – either the child was so carried away by painting that gorgeous flowers or funny faces appeared on the floor, then dad accidentally spilled engine oil on the parquet, which for some reason was stored in the pantry, and not in the garage, then my mother fell lipstick on the floor. You need to get rid of spots immediately after their appearance, otherwise they may stay there forever.

So, to remove blood from the flooring, ordinary cold water and a rag are enough, but oil stains, chocolate, shoe polish, soot, or God forbid, asphalt is destroyed by cleaners based on alcohol or kerosene.

Felt-tip pens, paints, pencils, lipstick – these colored spots will easily come off if you wipe them with a solution of methyl alcohol and water in a ratio of 50:50.

Chewing gum and candle wax are removed using ice or something from the freezer (chicken, frozen vegetables in a bag, etc.). Just attach a cold piece for a few minutes to the problem area, and then carefully remove the frozen chewing gum or wax with a rubber scraper.

Tips for Newbies

If you have just finished laying the flooring and still do not know how to care for it and when to start doing it at all, then carefully read what is written below.

After laying the parquet, you can’t immediately walk on it – it must “rest” for two or three days and recover, and if you put varnish on it, then you will have to endure another 12 hours in painful waiting. At the same time, do not forget to close all windows and doors – drafts can ruin the coating.

After waiting for the parquet to completely dry out, do not rush to immediately pull the furniture over it, stomp your feet, run and jump – for at least two more weeks you must observe the gentle operation mode. If you decide to install furniture, then do it carefully and slowly, and during its assembly put dense material, for example, corrugated cardboard or fiberboard, so as not to accidentally scratch and crumple the fresh coating.

Do not wash new parquet with water! Remember this for life!

At the end of the furniture assembly, immediately remove the backing, as if left for a long time, darkening of the floor may occur in those places where it was covered with fiberboard or cardboard.

Two weeks after laying and coating the parquet with varnish, you can start to take care of it a little, of course, if you laid the finished parquet, that is, varnished at the factory, then there is no question of it – it can be washed from the first day. Lacquered parquet boards are wiped either with a soft cloth or brush or vacuum cleaned, but the use of powders and materials containing abrasives is strictly contraindicated – this will inevitably damage the varnish, which will lead to the penetration of moisture and dirt into the wood.

Well, if you inherited from the former tenants the parquet in an ugly state or you yourself were not too zealous in leaving, tidying will help to “tidy up” the expensive coating.

We hope that all the tips given in this article will be useful to you in life. Take care of your parquet, take care of it and it will serve you faithfully for more than a decade!