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Parquet Floor Damage - What should I do?

16 years ago

I had a leaky water heater and the drain hose leaked where it exits the house (at the corner of my dining room. This has now been fixed. The oak parquet floor in my dining room was closest to the hose leak and the 12" x 12" tile in the corner of the dining room and some partial pieces under the baseboard are now discolored. I tried repairing by bleaching, sanding, restaining and polyurethaning but you can still see the black tannin marks in the wood.

I sent the photo to two floor guys in my area but neither responded. I suspect it's too small a job and they just don't want to mess with it.

Would it be relatively easy to fix this stained parquet on my own by removing the piece and reinstalling a new one? I would try finding unfinished parquet and I am pretty sure I can match the color through trial and error. Any thoughts or advice?

Featured Answer

glennsfc

16 years ago

While you excavate the bad ones out, you'll probably find that you'll be able to pull the fingers out of the grooves or tongues. I will suggest that you remove the baseboard to make the job easier, but you'll have to reinstall it and touch up the paint when you're done. Removing the baseboard will make your fitting easier and will allow you to slide the grooves and tongues together, so no nibbling of the bottom of the groove will be necessary to get it to fit.

If you must remove the bottom of the groove, then passing the tile through a table saw properly set up would do the job. You can also do it more safety by using a sharp fine-toothed hand saw.

Most of these floors were installed in 12" X 12" units (tiles)...but you can break them apart and wind up with 6" X 6" pieces. You can then orient tongues to fit in grooves keeping the outside edges where they belong (i.e. you always want the edges that were meant to be on the outside edges of the 12" X 12" tile on the 'outside'...you'll see what I mean when you get down to do the job.

Dry fit everything first...then glue it down when you're satisfied that everything fits together well. Number them somehow so you get all the pieces back in their correct spaces when it comes time to set them in adhesive.

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Comments (6)

glennsfc
16 years ago
Is this a prefinished parquet? It looks like standard 5/16" t&g in a natural finish. Can you replace these pieces? Sure you can.

Find a few pieces of fingerblock parquet and go for it.
jerzeegirl
Original Author
16 years ago
It may have started out as prefinished but I don't think it can be considered prefinished any longer because six years ago when we moved in we had it screened and polyurethaned. The screening took the top finish off. They had it down to unfinished wood.

That's why I thought it might be better to find unfinished parquet and try to match the color, rather than use a prefinished color (not that I am against that). The floor appears to be a more golden oak color than clear natural, although I suspect that if it had been natural maybe it darkened over time.

Actually I think I can make the repair...the only thing I can't figure out is how to get the first parquet out. Any hints?
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Thank you all for the responses. ColumbusGuy1 - the house was built in 1955 and I' m pretty sure the floor was original to the house. After posting my first message I pulled up a couple tiles that were damaged, and the floor is a solid 1'' thick red oak. I rented a commercial sander specially for parquet floors and it took me almost 3 hours to sand down one 10x12 room using the roughest grited paper they had...this stuff is like petrofied wood (which is a good thing, I guess). Picture below. I'm going to research other possible methods to sand down because at this rate, it will take me weeks to get the entire house sanded down (1500+ sq feet).
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glennsfc
16 years ago
You can get a few prefinished in a light color and strip off the finish to raw wood and you're good to go with your repair.

Hammer and sharp chisel will get your started. Carefully excavbate out what you need and then fit in the new. You'll need an adhesive to glue down the new tiles. These tiles are almost always tongue and groove.
jerzeegirl
Original Author
16 years ago
Thank you for your advice. Yes, they are t&g. Does that mean I have to nibble off the bottom part of the groove piece to make it fit over the tongue? If so, what tool do I use?
jerzeegirl
Original Author
16 years ago
Thank you glen for your advice. I read your instructions over a few times and I think I know what you are saying. I can't remove the baseboard because it was just painted (and my DH would not be happy since he was the painter!) Now all I have to do is find some loose 12 by 12" of parquet (I would hate to have to buy a whole box just for 2 SF).

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