Parquet Flooring Installation

Are you thinking of remodeling or redoing your kitchen or living room floors? Have you given wood flooring any thought? If you have been searching for a wood flooring for your home, then you must have come across parquet flooring tiles. But what exactly are they? They are wooden tiles which can be produced with wooden pieces. Parquet floors have a special quality because they are matched together in such a way that they resemble a puzzle, a mosaic. They can be installed in different places such as your kitchen, bathroom, living room, banquet halls, etc. Once the installation process is finished, the quality and elegance of a particular room increases tenfold. Keeping that in mind, we have put together this article to provide you with directions on how to install parquet wood flooring on your own.

Installing Parquet Floors

One of the most important criteria for installing this type of flooring is that it can't be laid directly on another flooring. Meaning, if there is another flooring which was previously glued, the parquet flooring can't go on it. You will have to remove the old glued flooring. However, there is a simpler method.

What you can do is purchase ¼'' wide plywood sheets and place them in the area where the new flooring is supposed to be installed. This way, a new flooring level will be created. Now here as well, there's one requirement that needs your attention. While laying the new plywood sheets, do remember to secure them in place with screws. Many people think that a hammer and few nails can get the job done. But that would be a mistake. Once the sub-floor is ready, we can move on to the steps for parquet floor tiles installation.

Step #1 - After you ready the sub-floor, make sure that there isn't any debris or dust on the floor. Use a broom and mop to clean the area and also make sure that there aren't any rough spots on the floor. Check if there are no loose nails or screws, old paint, adhesives, or damage due to water on the floor. Once the floor is dry, clean, and debris-free, you are ready to begin the installation.

Step #2 - Gather the materials required for the task - parquet tiles (pre-cut), trowel, measuring tape, table saw, flooring glue, and chalk line. We will begin with the measuring tape. If you are working in a room, you will need the tape to locate the middle of all 4 walls. When you locate them, use the chalk line to draw 4 lines coming towards the middle of that room. This way, you will have 4 perpendicular lines running from the walls to the middle of the room.

Step #3 - First we will work near the 4 chalk lines so that we can be absolutely sure that once the flooring is installed, the floor tiles will be centered perfectly. For that, we will need the pre-cut flooring tiles, trowel, and flooring glue.

Step #4 - With the trowel, spread the flooring glue so that you can place 3 to 5 tiles at a time. Hold the trowel at about 45º angle and then spread the glue in a smooth level. Immediately, start laying the tiles one after the other. But be careful as to keep them all lined perfectly on after the other. We need to make a straight line resembling the chalk line. Do so with all 4 lines starting from the middle of the room going closer to the walls.

Step #5 - It is very important that these first batch of tiles are assembled correctly otherwise the entire alignment will be off and the room won't be as elegant as it would've been. But, we are going to make sure that doesn't happen, right? Alright. So, once the first line is placed correctly, pick the most inner section of the room so that when you are working, you will be coming closer to the door and won't have to walk on your freshly laid floor tiles.

Step #6 - Now, the assembly might differ depending on the kind of design you choose for your parquet floors. So it will be a judgment call when you are ready to lay the tiles down. But do keep in mind that we need to make sure that the center of the design needs to be in the middle of the room and you need to work your way towards the door as you install.

Even though, there are only 6 steps mentioned in the article, of course, the actual work isn't that little. Although, once you have the directions on how to go about it, the process becomes a bit easier to deal with. Besides this article, you can also read parquet flooring refurnishing if you have already installed them previously. A quick tip to make your installation process a little simpler - you can just place the tiles on the floor before securing them in place with blue masking tape. Why? Because this way, if you wished, you can change the layout as per your choice.