Parquet flooring
 

We have a 1960's block wooden parquet floor in our entrance hall which is
driving me crazy!....It would look fabulous if we could just stop it getting
scratched. Have tried tough floor varnish but it doesn't seem to make any
difference. With four kids it's impossible to keep yelling "mind the
floor!" everytime anyone walks through the door - and anyway floors are made
to walk on and I'm that unusual type of female that doesn't like nagging
(yes really!). Love the look of the floor otherwise and don't really want
to change it - does anyone have any suggestions on what we could use to stop
it scratching and marking - non-slip of course!

Lil

Lil wrote:

We have a 1960's block wooden parquet floor in our entrance hall which is
driving me crazy!....It would look fabulous if we could just stop it getting
scratched. Have tried tough floor varnish but it doesn't seem to make any
difference. With four kids it's impossible to keep yelling "mind the
floor!" everytime anyone walks through the door - and anyway floors are made
to walk on and I'm that unusual type of female that doesn't like nagging
(yes really!). Love the look of the floor otherwise and don't really want
to change it - does anyone have any suggestions on what we could use to stop
it scratching and marking - non-slip of course!

The only really effective solution, is a good mat outside, and a shoe rack
beside the entry.
Then training them to wipe their shoes on the mat, and then remove the
shoes and put them (the shoes - not the kids) on the rack.

Sheila

We have poliurethane lacquer (several brands available) - which is not completely immune to scratches from the dog's claws, but after 3 years they barely show near the door to the garden. It's a bit of a pain to apply (need to re-sand the floor, then apply multiple coats and leave to dry in between, and it's not exactly a pleasure to smell).

The other option is to ignore the scratches, just buff them with some wax/polish and wait for them to get more uniform (look at any stately home's floors - they are not pristine, but they can look nice because they are scratched all over, not just in a few places).

It was somewhere outside Barstow when "Lil"
wrote:

Have tried tough floor varnish

Bet you haven't ! What sort was it ? You can do better than the
usual B&Q polyurethanes.

(Rustin's Floorcoat, three coats. And the mats are a good idea too)

"Andy Dingley" wrote in message
...
It was somewhere outside Barstow when "Lil"
wrote:

Have tried tough floor varnish

Bet you haven't ! What sort was it ? You can do better than the
usual B&Q polyurethanes.

(Rustin's Floorcoat, three coats. And the mats are a good idea too)

But if you use mats you can't see the floor.

I think racks for the kids are a good idea.

Is there only one door?

I loved parquet floors in my school hall, I don't emember them ever being
scratched even with 600 girls in there every monring and other uses through
the day - but we did have to change from our outdoor shoes in the cloakroom.
That might have had something to do with it.

Mary

Lil typed:

We have a 1960's block wooden parquet floor in our entrance hall
which is driving me crazy!....It would look fabulous if we could just
stop it getting scratched. Have tried tough floor varnish but it
doesn't seem to make any difference. With four kids it's impossible
to keep yelling "mind the floor!" everytime anyone walks through the
door - and anyway floors are made to walk on and I'm that unusual
type of female that doesn't like nagging (yes really!). Love the
look of the floor otherwise and don't really want to change it - does
anyone have any suggestions on what we could use to stop it
scratching and marking - non-slip of course!

Lil


Basically no you have to mother hen it, but that's part of its beauty.
we have an oak parquet floor in our dinning room that I made and laid
myself, all we use is a polishing machine every few days, and a recoat of
varnish every year.

(I just wish people would stop asking were we got that nice laminate
flooring from)

"Lil" wrote in message
...
We have a 1960's block wooden parquet floor in our entrance hall which is
driving me crazy!....It would look fabulous if we could just stop it
getting
scratched. Have tried tough floor varnish but it doesn't seem to make any
difference. With four kids it's impossible to keep yelling "mind the
floor!" everytime anyone walks through the door - and anyway floors are
made
to walk on and I'm that unusual type of female that doesn't like nagging
(yes really!). Love the look of the floor otherwise and don't really want
to change it - does anyone have any suggestions on what we could use to
stop
it scratching and marking - non-slip of course!

Lil


What type of varnishes have you tried? There are some unbelievably tough
ones out there.

I laid an oak strip floor in my office before christmas & needed something
hard wearing (because I use one of those office chairs on hard plastic
casters & it would have ripped the finishes I've used elsewhere in the house
to shreds in days) and quick drying (I was on a tight timescale - christmas
was looming & missus beginning to glare frighteningly at the mess).

Picked up a tin of Blackfriar Duratough clear floor varnish - an acrylic
finish - from the decorator's merchants & I've been amazed at how tough this
stuff is. After 2 months of abuse under the chair casters it still looks as
good as the day it was finished, not even surface scratches visible under
light.

The other bonus is that this stuff dries after about 30 minutes & is
recoatable after 2 hours - I did the whole job in one (long) evening which
included having to shift about some Ikea (spit) whole-wall shelving about
the room (couldn't be removed from the room without being dismantled).

For areas of very high wear & when you don't want the hassle of maintaining
the kind of finish that gives you the olde-worlde-super-soft-sheen look of a
waxed floor I'd recommend this stuff very highly.

--
Richard Sampson

mail me at
richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

It was somewhere outside Barstow when "Mary Fisher"
wrote:

I loved parquet floors in my school hall, I don't emember them ever being
scratched even with 600 girls in there every monring

Commercial parquet floors usually get scratched to pieces, but they're
re-finished (wax and buffer) so frequently that it's removed as fast
as it appears.

"Andy Dingley" wrote in message
...
It was somewhere outside Barstow when "Mary Fisher"
wrote:

I loved parquet floors in my school hall, I don't emember them ever being
scratched even with 600 girls in there every monring

Commercial parquet floors usually get scratched to pieces, but they're
re-finished (wax and buffer) so frequently that it's removed as fast
as it appears.

Yes, that occurred to me later, the army of cleaners with polish mops was a
daily occurrence ad I discovered when I started working at the school and
sometimes stayed late.

Mary

"Mark" wrote in message
...

....

(I just wish people would stop asking were we got that nice laminate
flooring from)

LOL! I wonder how you react :-)

Mary

Mary Fisher typed:

"Mark" wrote in message
...

...

(I just wish people would stop asking were we got that nice laminate
flooring from)

LOL! I wonder how you react :-)

I blink, and answer a tree in the garden. :)
I don't bore them with the fact that it took over 4 years and 2000
individually cut and hand finished strips to achieve,
and the result of someone responding,
"Oh you can get the same type of thing in B&Q now"
appears bad for the B+B business.



--
Mark§

"Mark" wrote in message
...
Mary Fisher typed:


(I just wish people would stop asking were we got that nice laminate
flooring from)

LOL! I wonder how you react :-)

I blink, and answer a tree in the garden. :)

Oh nice :-)))))))))))00

I don't bore them with the fact that it took over 4 years and 2000
individually cut and hand finished strips to achieve,
and the result of someone responding,
"Oh you can get the same type of thing in B&Q now"
appears bad for the B+B business.

You can go right off some people but, as you say, business is business.

I wish I could be as diplomatic :-)

Mary