Parquet installation

Parquet is one of the most common types of flooring. It has been used for several centuries, because it’s enough to recall the legendary palace parquet. Installation of parquet allows you to create real masterpieces on the floor. This coating is distinguished by a variety of species, due to which such material is affordable for a variety of customers. If you use the instructions, you can mount the parquet with your own hands, while receiving significant savings in the family budget. Doubt it? Use the tips from this article and you will succeed!

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Pros and cons of coverage

Currently, there are many materials for the floor, which have their advantages and disadvantages. The same applies to parquet.

It has the following advantages:

• Naturalness;
• Wear resistance;
• Maintainability;
• Environmental friendliness;
• Beautiful appearance;
• Lack of static electricity.

But there are a number of disadvantages that are presented:

• Sensitivity to moisture;
• High cost;
• The time-consuming styling process;
• The need for additional decoration and care.

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Types of Parquet

There are various types of flooring. Due to their differences, different styling technologies are used. The most popular types are:

• Piece parquet - small dies. Usually they have a length of 20-50 cm, a width of 5-7.5, the height can vary from 1.4 to 2.2 mm.
• Parquet board - long slats. Their width is 14-20 cm, length - up to 220 cm, and thickness - 0.7-2.5 cm.

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Room requirements

Parquet flooring can be arranged only after finishing work on the ceiling and walls is completed. The installation of the parquet floor suggests that the room will comply with the optimal temperature and humidity conditions.

Important! If the humidity is high, the wood may swell. When the work is completed, it will dry out, and cracks between the dies may occur. Correction of such a defect will be very expensive, so it is better not to make mistakes initially.

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We lay parquet

Arranging an even and solid foundation is the most important thing in installing parquet. It depends on this stage how durable and high-quality the finish coating will be.

The foundation preparation work consists of:

• Repair of surface overlap;
• Waterproofing;
• Pouring screed or mounting lag;
• Gluing plywood.

We follow the instructions:

• If you have an old finish, you need to remove it, get rid of construction debris and conduct an audit of the base of the floor. If necessary, the exfoliated screed is removed, the protruding reinforcement is cut off, the influx of concrete is knocked down, potholes and cracks are closed.
• It is important to properly waterproof. For this, a polyethylene film 200 microns thick is used. The material is overlapped, and tape is used to glue the joints.

Important! The film must be put on the wall, 10-15 cm, and be sure to fix it.

• Apply a leveling screed to the finished waterproofing. It is usually based on cement or polymers. The layer thickness should be 20-30 mm. The screed should dry well.
• To increase the adhesion of the base with glue, a primer should be applied to the screed - two to three coats of primer.
• 12 mm thick plywood cut into quarters.
• Apply adhesive to the screed, and then lay the plywood, which is fixed with screws.

Important! The width of the deformation gap between the pieces of plywood should be 1.5-2 mm. Where plywood is adjacent to the wall, a gap of 3 mm is left.

Styling methods

There are various options for laying parquet, which distinguishes between the method of attachment to the base and the formation of a pattern on the surface. There are several ways to install parquet on the floor:

• Floating floor. In this case, the parquet is not attached to the base. There is a joining of the strips to each other according to the spike-groove system. With this installation option, the coating is not sensitive to changes in temperature and humidity in the room. However, if one connection loosens, the entire floor warps.

Important! Such a coating requires constant care, but it is not very complicated: parquet can be easily removed and repositioned, even in another room.

• Glue laying. This option is most reliable, but the coating is more difficult to repair. Glue is applied to the base, and then planks are laid on it and connected by a spike-groove system.

Important! This method is quite time-consuming and involves additional costs for glue.

• Fastening with glue and nails. The planks are rigidly fixed and the cover will never move.

Important! Repairing the flooring is very difficult, but the advantage is its long life.

Design

Installation of parquet involves the implementation of various patterns:

• Herringbone. With this installation method, the strips are joined together at right angles. Elements should have one spike from the end and longitudinal sides and two grooves on the remaining side faces.

Important! This method is quite complicated, since it is necessary to perfectly align the rows of parquet.

• Deck. This method is quite simple. Planks are laid in the same way as bricks: parallel to each other, with a shift of a third of the length. In order for the elements to fit snugly, spikes are cut on them.
• Network. The formation of such a pattern is also simple. The first step is to connect several planks into a square and lay on the base, then dock the others and arrange them perpendicular to the first. Consistently alternating rows made up of such figures get an organic pattern. Other wood species can be used as inserts.
• Rhombs. In this case, special diamond-shaped wooden elements are used.
• Sheremetyevo star. To mount the coating in this way, two types of planks are used: rectangular and diamond-shaped.

Important! A combination of all the stacking schemes listed above is possible.

Mounting technology

To form a beautiful and even parquet pattern on the floor, it is initially executed on paper. In this case, the size of the room and slats is necessarily taken into account. With properly planned installation, entire rows will be located in the center, and cropped - at the edges.

Consider the technology on the example of a herringbone pattern:

• We determine the middle of two opposite walls, connect them with a stretched cord.
• We connect two planks with a “herringbone”, cover the ends with glue.
• We apply the adhesive to the plywood base, using a notched trowel.

Important! The “Herringbone” is applied to the plywood in such a way that it presses the cord to the base with the edge of the left lath and rests against the cord with the edge of the right.

• We press both slats so that excess glue comes out. Then, using screws, we attach the strips to the base.
• We lay all other strips in the same way as the first. They are inserted into the longitudinal and end grooves of the previous element and are hammered with a mallet.
• In narrow places of abutment we lay the trims trimmed to the required dimensions.
• We insert wedges between the wall and the extreme row of planks, leaving a gap of 2-3 mm.

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Finishing Features

Installation of the parquet floor may not be ideal, and as a result, small bumps, protrusions or small gaps form. To eliminate them, finishing is performed.At the same time, the parquet is sanded, putty and varnished.

For grinding, a grinding machine or grinder with an abrasive wheel is used:

1. We remove the main irregularities using coarse-grained abrasive material.
2. Grind the coating using a fine-grained grinding wheel.
3. We remove wood dust.

Cracks are putty putty on wood. Surplus must be removed immediately. After the material dries, the surface is ground with a fine-grained abrasive.

Before applying varnish, a layer of primer is applied to the surface.

The varnish is applied in several layers, from three to nine. Each layer should dry 24-36 hours. The polymerization of the last layer will require at least a week and even after that you need to walk on it very carefully for at least a week.

Important! Shoes should be soft and clean when varnished. When the varnish dries, the room must not be ventilated.

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Stock footage

Parquet is able to transform the home. This material is not only environmentally friendly, but also lasts a very long time. To repair it, it is often enough just to update the varnish layer. Laying parquet can be done on your own, but if you are not sure about them, you should consult a specialist.