Oakwood have been busy restoring a beautiful pitch pine parquet floor at a bungalow in Torquay.  We sanded their kitchen/diner, hallway and bedroom.

On arrival the technicians took time to carefully inspect the wooden floor, to ensure that it was solid and that there would be no loose blocks needing repair before the sanding work could commence. During this process our technicians carry out several moisture readings to ensure that the floor is able to receive a water-based coating system. Improper moisture readings, or a failure to take them, could result in further complications, meaning that this is an important part of the procedure.

The pine floor had been sanded previously with a hired belt sander. Whilst these seem appealing to the DIY market, they are inadequate tools to correctly finish parquet flooring. This floor had heavy sanding marks and dips where it had been very badly sanded over the years.

Sanding started with 40-grit on the Pallmann Cobra belt sander. This enables the technicians to heavily sand the wood, removing all the old sanding marks and ensuring that the pine blocks are at a consistent level. When sanding pitch pine parquet it’s important to always sand against the grain. This can prove to be a challenge to some people who are not adequately trained in floor sanding, or people who take it on as a DIY task.

Equipped with the latest machinery, sanding parquet floors is a specialist area for Oakwood Specialist Services. The Pallmann Spider’s planetary head allows the operator to sand in any direction without leaving any scratch patterns from the grits used; the process is very fast and works extremely well on soft wood parquets.

The whole floor was filled and the edges were sanded with a very fine finish, to match the main field of floor. Once this was complete the floor was ready to be finished.

The customer had requested that the finish be as natural as possible, but still wanted us to use a lacquer. With this in mind, we opted to use Pallmann AllBase Primer and PallX 98 Gold for the finishing coats. These two products give a natural finish but also maintain the beautiful tones of each parquet block.

How to Restore an Oak Wooden Floor at a House in Torquay.

Recently we were asked to visit a house in Torquay to restore their Oak wooden floors. There were several rooms that required work including a large floor in a lounge/diner and the entrance hall. The wood floor restoration work was carried out over three days by two technicians and consisted of sanding, filling and applying a finish.

Oak Wood Floor Sanding

The oak wooden floor was in a poor condition. There were several areas that had badly cupped boards in parts of the rooms and several large gaps due to the floor becoming insecure. To start we recorded several moisture readings to ensure that the floor was in a stable enough condition to be able to apply any coatings. Once these measurements had been carried out the floors were sanded heavily at a diagonal cut to remove all the deep marks. This sanding method also flattens the wooden floor to a consistent level. This sanding process enables us to see the extent of the repair for the floorboards that need to be re-fixing. The re-fixing was then carried out with a nail gun, using very small nails so that they didn’t leave any noticeable holes in the floor.

Once the floor had been sanded to a consistent level, it was filled 2-3 times by the technician. This was until he was satisfied that the filling was constant across the floor and that all gaps had been fully sealed. Once the filler was dry, the sanding continued until the whole floor was smooth and all previous sanding marks had been removed.

Oak Floor Finishing at Torquay Home

To finish the oak floor we applied two test patches of primer to an area of the floor. This was to allow the customer to choose which tone they preferred. We then used a water-based primer and an alcohol-based primer, both of which gave different finishes to the oak.

Alcohol primer was chosen and then applied in one even coat to the whole floor. Once the primer had dried, we applied two coats of Pallx 98 Gold Matt to the rooms. After it had dried, the floor was left with a rich tone that brought out all of the oak’s grain and left a beautiful finish.

You don’t have to live in Torbay area to get a great finish on your wooden floors. Contact us for a free no obligation quote.

Restoring a Pine Parquet Floor in a Paignton home.

Does your hallway have a wooden floor that needs a sanding, repair or a new finish? Recently we were asked to restore a Pine Parquet wooden floor in a hallway of a Paignton home.

The first thing you’ll find Oakwood technicians do when they arrive to restore a Parquet wood floor is inspect it fully. At the Paignton house they found several of the Pine wooden blocks were loose. Over the years the traditional glue used to stick Parquet down becomes brittle allowing the wooden blocks to move. In many cases they can even be picked out of the floor. The loose blocks were fixed using a modern adhesive. After these repairs were finished it was time to start sanding the wooden floor.

Sanding Parquet Wooden Floor

Using the Pallmann Cobra Belt Sander the wooden floor was sanded using a 40 grit pad. This enables the technicians to sand the wood heavily to remove all old marks and also get all the blocks to a consistent level. When sanding a parquet floor, you are always sanding against the grain. This can prove to be a challenge to some people who are not correctly trained in wood floor sanding or those that take on the task of DIY sanding.

At Oakwood Contracting Services we use the latest machinery operated by our qualified floor care specialists. Sanding parquet floors is just one of our specialist services we offer.

For this wood floor restoration we used of the Pallmann Spider equipment with the Planetary Head. This head allows us to sand in any direction without leaving any scratch patterns whatever type of  grits that are used. The process is very fast and works extremely well on soft wood parquets. Then the  whole floor was filled and the edges were sanded to a very fine finish. This was to match the main field of the floor. Once this was complete the floor was ready to be finished.

If red wine is spilt on your solid oak wood floor how do you remove the wine stain from the solid floor? It’s certainly not as easy as removing a stain from carpet. The red wine will soon soak into the oak wood.

Recently we had a call at Oakwood Contracting from a customer in Ogwell, near Newton Abbot, Devon. They needed a red wine stain removing from their lounge floor.

Remove Red Wine Stain

But how do you remove a red wine removal to a solid oak floor in Ogwell, Devon? The red wine had soaked through the previous finish, causing the wine to be absorbed into the oak. An oil based finish that had been applied originally to the wood floor and the customer wanted to retain that oiled look. To do this we decided on using Magic Oil to get the required finish.

Solid Oak Floor Sanding

The work was carried out over two days. As the wooden floor was in a good condition, there were no heavy marks to sand out, we decided to use the Pallmann Spider machine. This machine with its planetary head and very fast sanding action makes quick work of removing old finishes. It also is able to smooth the floor faster than any more traditional methods of sanding.The Pallmann Spider also has the latest vacuum technology making it dust free! During the work we always check the humidity of the wood.

The solid oak floor didn’t require any heavy sanding. This meant the Spider worked very quickly at removing the old oils and fully removed the red wine stain. As the floor was very well fitted it didn’t require any filling or repair work. The floor was finally sanded, using a fine sand with a multi hole disc. This ensured that the surface would allow a decent penetration of the oil when it was applied.

Solid Oak Floor Finishing

The Magic Oil was the finish used for the oak floor. Magic Oil leaves a natural gold tone to oak floors, giving them a rich look with little sheen. The oil is applied by hand, then buffed and a second coat is applied immediately after. This ensures that all the wood is saturated with the oil.

Red Wine Stain Removed

The beauty of Magic Oil is it protects not only the surface but it also soaks into the wood, protecting it from the inside out. The short curing time is another benefit, allowing full use of the room after only 12 hours. Our customer was very happy with the results and with the red wine stain removal.