Parquet flooring types :with a Panga Panga 2 Line Border.

Brick Pattern Half Bond With Panga Panga Inlay Diagonal Basket With Panga Panga Inlay Square Basket With Panga Panga Inlay Square or Diagonal Herringbone With Panga Panga Inlay Single Herringbone With Panga Panga Inlay Double Herringbone With Panga Panga Inlay

Parquet flooring types :with a two block border and a feature strip

Brick Pattern Half Bond With 2 Block Border & Feature Strip


Diagonal Basket With 2 Block Border & Feature Strip



square Basket With 2 Block Border & Feature Strip



Square or Diagonal Herringbone With 2 Block Border & Feature Strip



Single Herringbone With 2 Block Border & Feature Strip



Double Herringbone With 2 Block Border & Feature Strip

Parquet flooring types :two block border

Brick Pattern Half Bond With 2 Block Border


Diagonal Basket With 2 Block Border



Square Basket With 2 Block Border


Square or Diagonal Herringbone With 2 Block Border



Single Herringbone With 2 Block Border



Double Herringbone With 2 Block Border

Parquet flooring types :one block border

Brick Pattern Half Bond


Diagonal Basket




Square Basket


Square or Diagonal Herringbone




Single Herringbone


Double Herringbone

3 Easy Steps to Clean and Maintain Your Parquet Floor3 Easy Steps to Clean and Maintain Your Parquet Floor

1. Cleaning carpet residue, old layers of wax and old dirt
   
   Carpet residue
   Depending on how long the carpet has been down and how this was installed you will find more or less old carpet underlayment and carpet grippers sticking to your wooden floor. Some old fashioned 'elbow grease' has to be applied to remove most of this without damaging your valuable discovery.
   Carpet grippers should be remove with care by gently lifting the gripper out of the wood. Sticking a chisel under one end of the gripper and by careful wriggling it should come off without damaging your wooden floor. Or use a screwdriver to lift the staples out of the gripper first, that way when you have to use more force only the gripper itself takes the blunt of it.
   Tear of as much of the carpet underlayment as possible manually - consider it a labour of love.
   Don't use a damaged metal scraper to remove the last bits of foam, make sure if you use a sharp object that the edge is straight. Hard plastic scrapers might work better. As last resort use Mineral Spirit or lacquer thinner - but always read the instructions carefully before you use these chemicals, wear gloves and face-protection and make sure there is sufficient ventilation in the room!
   
   Old wax-layers
   
   If you notice a dark, sticky substance on the floor, your original parquet floor has been treated with too much wax in the past. 'Wax-removers' from most brands might only work on newly installed floors, not really on wax that has been covered over for years. In our experience using White Spirit still works best to remove these old layers. Again, when using chemicals always read the instructions carefully, wear gloves and face-protection and make sure the room is well ventilated.
   Or you could give it a try with Lecol Wax-remover OH-34 (ventilate sufficiently!) that soaks in the old wax layers and has to removed with non-fluffy cloths.
   
   Old dirt
   After you removed the carpet you will notice a layer of dust and dirt, no matter how well or often the carpet has been vacuum cleaned. Either use a soft broom or decent vacuum cleaner (preferably a cylinder cleaner with brush nozzle; the wheels of an upright cleaner could scratch your floor when too much pressure is applied) to remove it. For reluctant dirt use a (clean) hard brush to shift it.
   After this rigorous treatment most dirt will have gone. To finish the cleaning part of the job use a natural detergent (cleaning soap) diluted in water to remove the remaining dirt. Don't use washing-up liquid, that might be good for your hands but is not suitable for wooden floors! Wash the floor with a small quantity of water (well-wrung out cloth), use a scrubber if needed.
   For persistent dirt leave the soap solution on the floor for 5 minutes and then with a clean cloth remove it again. Rinse your cloth regularly with clean water and then wash the floor for a last time with cleaning soap as first described. Give the floor time to dry.
   
   Your floor is now clean, but will look dull and pretty sad.
   
   
2. Applying much needed maintenance
   
   Depending on the finish type your newly discovered floor has - varnish/lacquer or wax/oil - you will need a suitable maintenance product. Power Wax or Wax-polish on a varnished floor will create a slippery surface.
   If you are not sure what type of finish is originally used you can try to determine this as follows: in an inconspicuous area, corner or behind a door, apply two drops of water. If, within ten minutes white spots appear under the drops of water, the floor has a wax/oil finish. (To remove the white spots, gently rub the spots with 000 steel wool dampened with wax.) If the finish does not flake from scratching with a coin and white spots do not appear from the drops of water, the floor has a surface (lacquered/varnished) finish.
   
   For a varnished/lacquered floor most maintenance product come in the form of a polish, for an oiled/waxed floor you have the choice between a polish or a hard wax (power wax). If your floor is really dull and looks rather tired it's best to apply power wax, a bit more hand-and-knee work but your floor will definitely love you for it.
   
   Polishes: shake the closed bottle firmly, open the lid and sprinkle the polish undiluted over your floor and use an applicator to spread it out. Leave to dry out for 10 - 15 minutes
   
   Hard wax (power wax): scoop some wax out of the tin and drop it on your floor. Spread and rub the wax out with a none-fluffy cloth, small areas at the time. Leave to dry out for 10 - 15 minutes.
   If your old floor looks really tired apply a second coat of the power wax in the same way.
   
   
3. Buffing the floor
   
   Buffing your floor after applying the maintenance product will give a better result.
   Most electric small buffing machines are too light for this work, they will hardly have any buffing effect on your wooden floor. Either use a semi-professional buffer with a large white pad or, which still works best, an 'old-fasion' buffing-block made of cast-iron (weights 7 kg!) - comes with our 100% guarantee.
   The movement of the pad or buffing block will warm the applied maintenance product, spreading it our even more evenly and allowing the wood to absorb it more. Plus it reduces the time your floor feels slippery. After every buffing stroke you will see your floor come back to live more and more until you've brought it back to its original and sparkling lustre. Specially an oiled/wax floor will start to show its natural beautiful character again.
   
   It's recommended to apply a maintenance product at least every 5 - 6 months, more often in heavy traffic areas, to keep your wooden floor protected against dirt and drips and to feed the wood for long term durability.

7 Easy Steps To Repair/Restore You Parquet Floor 7

applying the new finish

HardWaxOil (two-in-one product) will show off your restored floor best, bringing out its natural character in a none-glossy way. The oil will penetrate the wood for long term protection and the wax will create your wear and tear layer, protecting your floor against dirt and drips. If you prefer a varnished or lacquered finish you’ll have to sand again with grit 150 to prepare the wood as best as possible for a varnish/lacquer finish.

Always, always read the instructions of the product you’re going to use. HardWaxOil tins should be shaken firmly before opening to make sure the oil and wax are mixed together. Apply the HWO thinly with a brush or sponge on a small area (3 – 5 sq m at the time). See below for a professional HardWaxOil applicator for a smooth, thin and professional end result. Then immediately go over it with a clean, non-fluffy cloth or white-pad on buffing machine to spread it out evenly, giving you the best result. Continue to apply and spread the HWO this way until you’ve finished the whole floor. Let it dry for 6 – 8 hours and apply the second coat of HardWaxOil. This has to be done within 36 hours after finishing the first coat! Otherwise you’ll have to lightly sand the whole floor again (grit 120). Use the same applying/spreading method as with the first coat and let it dry again for 6 – 8 hours

7 Easy Steps To Repair/Restore You Parquet Floor 6

Filling gaps and last sanding round

If you want to fill the gaps in your wood floor mix the collected sand dust from the second sanding round with the special wood-filler. Don’t make too much at once, it dries rather quickly. Fill the larger gaps with a scraper as best as possible, don’t worry about excess filler on the wood blocks, the third sanding round will remove it. If you want you can also ‘plaster’ the whole floor with a thin layer of filler, using a flat trowel, to fill almost every tiny gap.

After you’re satisfied you’ve filled all gaps you wanted to fill leave the applied filler to dry out sufficiently, 30 to 60 minutes depending on how deep the gaps were.
Then use sanding paper 120 for the third sanding round, this will remove the excess wood filler and give your wood floor the smoothest surface, ready to have a new finish applied to it.
Once again, vacuum-clean the whole floor.

7 Easy Steps To Repair/Restore You Parquet Floor 5

Sanding the whole floor

For the best result and a very uniform finish on the whole floor it is best to sand the whole area, not just the re-installed blocks. Remember – the more Bitumen was left on the blocks and/or underfloor the longer it will take for the blocks to bond firmly and the longer you’ll have to wait before you can start sanding. You don’t want the blocks to start moving around and creating wide gaps!

Depending on the old finish layer of the original parquet floor you might have to clean off that layer first before you start sanding – layers of wax will clog-up your sanding paper very fast, making it useless and could spread the wax all over the place! If this is the case you first have to remove the old wax with White Spirit – try this out in a corner. Make sure there is enough ventilation in the room when applying this product.

Start with vacuum-cleaning the floor.
Use a belt-sander for this part of the job, the endless sanding paper won’t leave scatter marks on your wood floor like a drum-sander can (because of the metal rod that has to keep the sheet of sanding paper fixed to the drum). An so-called smaller edge-sander will help you sand edges and the corners of the room where the large sander can’t reach. Most professional hire companies will have a combi-offer: belt-sander and edge-sander for a weekend at reduced prices.


If you notice many height differences between the blocks, especially where old meets new – the reclaimed blocks – start with grit 40. It’s advised to sand with the grain, but herringbones and various other patterns could make this a bit problematic. Nothing to worry about, the various sanding rounds you will have to make will sort this.
Start at one wall of the room and ‘walk’ the belt-sander across to the other wall, walk back sanding over the same area. After you’ve done the last row this way, turn 90 degrees and redo the whole room in the same way.

Place grit 40 paper on the edge-sander and tackle the areas the belt-sander couldn't reach.

Repeat the whole task now with grit 80. Before you start sanding, empty the sand-dust collecting bag, you’ll need the dust of grit 80 – clean dust – for mixing with the wood-filler later. The dust from the first sanding will contain dirt and residue of the old finish layer.
After finishing round 2 vacuum-clean the whole floor.

7 Easy Steps To Repair/Restore You Parquet Floor 4

1. Re- installing blocks
   
   Have a good look at the existing pattern your parquet floor is laid in, you will get the best result when following this as precise as possible. Take your time, but don’t be too afraid when small gaps appear between the blocks. Gaps should be kept as small as possible – hence our advice to clean of the Bitumen from grooves – but will appear nonetheless.
   
   Us a notched trowel to spread a modern parquet adhesive on the underfloor, this will create ridges of adhesive onto which you firmly place the blocks. But please remember: adhesive is not a filler for deep or large dips in the underfloor (see step 3).
   Keep a cloth at hand to wipe of any spillage of the adhesive from the surface of the blocks – once dried it is harder to clean it off.
   Cut the 'new' blocks to the right size with a jigsaw and install them into the pattern. It might be necessary to remove the tongue of some blocks but that’s not a problem – the modern adhesive you use will keep the blocks in place.

7 Easy Steps To Repair/Restore You Parquet Floor 3

Leveling the underfloor
You might discover your underfloor where blocks have been removed is rather uneven. Or the removing the Bitumen has damaged the concrete or sheet material. You can use acrylic leveling compound to level a concrete floor out as best as possible – 3mm maximum per coat. Always read the instructions carefully before you begin with this type of job! And even though it is non-water based, allow sufficient time for the compound to dry before you start installing the wood blocks back.
For uneven sheet material you can try to level it out with a hand sander or nailing/stapling thin sheets of hardboard onto it – smooth side down!

7 Easy Steps To Repair/Restore You Parquet Floor 2

Clean blocks and underfloor
Old parquet floors normally were fixed down with Bitumen – black tar - an ‘adhesive’ no longer allowed to be used inside the house. Any residue of bitumen has to come off as best as possible.
The underfloor (concrete or sheet material) must also be cleared of old ridges of Bitumen and if possible thick remaining layers.
Any residue of Bitumen will affect the bonding time of the modern adhesive you use to install the blocks back. Where normally it takes between 6 – 8 hours, the residue could increase this to 14 or even over 48 hours!

7 Easy Steps To Repair/Restore You Parquet Floor 1

1. Check for any missing, damaged or loose blocks
   
   Always check the whole floor if any block is no longer firmly attached to its underfloor – you notice either some movement when walking on it or a hollow sound when you ‘knock-on-wood’. Even if your floor is missing blocks – removed for adding central heating or other plumbing/building work – check the rest of the floor too.
   
   Because most original parquet floors have small tongue and grooves to lock them together you need to handle the removing of loose/damaged blocks with care – you don’t want to loosen connecting blocks needlessly. Missing blocks can be sourced perhaps from another room which you do not plan to restore (or try any cupboards in or around the room – you’ll be amazed how often a parquet floor was installed there too!), or from reclamation yards. Before you set out to find replacements note the exact size of the existing blocks, there were plenty different types of wood blocks in Imperial measurements around when these floors were popular (1930 – 1970). Also make sure the reclaimed blocks you find are from the same source to prevent very different wood species or colours ending up in your restored floor.
   

Oak dominates

The HARO natural plank range is dominated by oak. The already successfully positioned Sauvage (knots), Barrique (used look) and the classic Markant grades, together with the new Oak Arizona, satisfy the growing demand for this wood species with its rustic look. Black cracks that give the impression that generations upon generations have already left their mark run through the rich, warm colours of the oak wood of HARO’s Arizona Plank. These cracks, produced by a special drying process, are carefully filled with black putty. The treatment with naturaLin plus ultimately intensifies the special charm of this extra special wood floor.

Oil and wood symbiosis

Just as nature has given the trees time to grow, HARO gives its natural planks time to develop authentic surface finishes. For HARO Planks the oil has to dry slowly into the air. The oil penetrates especially intensively here into the individual wood pores and hardens inside the wood into a permanent connector – symbiosis of oil and wood takes place. This complex special treatment is extremely valuable. The floor feels natural and warm, the wood radiates in all of its original form, producing exciting, eyebrow-raising surfaces. The deep impregnation with the natural oil makes the wood’s grain especially intensive, and at the same time the floor also becomes durable and easy to maintain. Dirt, dust and so on are gone in a flash, and damaged spots can be repaired so easily.

Haro Parquet with natural oil surface finish

See, feel and smell wood! With ten planks with the ready-to-use natural oil surface, naturaLin plus, the parquet specialist HARO brings you a new level of naturalness. A vibrant wood texture, natural amount of knots, varying colours and core splits make for an especially authentic wood effect as a natural material. The demand for a healthy, close-to-nature living environment has become even stronger with the bio boom and the LOHAS movement. With the expansion with natural planks, as an industry leader HARO is setting the trend for natural, rustic styles and the consistently high demand for long planks in its standard range.

What is a Parquet Floor?

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