3 good reasons to renovate a floor (instead of changing it).

20 march 2023

Warm, aesthetic, comfortable… the parquet floor gives for sure a serious cachet to your interior decoration.

However, with the passing of time, a parquet floor can become damaged. Certainly, a regular maintenance allows to preserve its aesthetic qualities. But sometimes its appearance seems too damaged, outdated or no longer in harmony with the decoration of a room.

The great thing about parquet is that, in addition to its aesthetic qualities, it is one of the only floor coverings that can be completely renovated.

And as we will see, this is no small advantage!

Why renovate a floor?

1 – A floor wears out.

With time, parquet floors are subjected to harsh tests that cause damage more or less consequent, among the most frequent, let us quote:

• The repeated passages, which in time can wear or tarnish its surface;
• Liquid spills, food stains or even the little forgetfulness of our four-legged friends. These “wet” contacts are the number one enemy of wood. When in contact with moisture, the floor can become warped or stained;
• Dropping heavy objects or moving furniture can cause scratches or deep shocks;
• Like human skin, excessive exposure to the sun and UV rays can change the color of the floor;
• The use of unsuitable cleaning products can also deteriorate its appearance.

2 – A parquet floor goes out of fashion.

The color of your floor is no longer in agreement with your new decoration? You don’t like its finish anymore? You think that parquet floor is a bit old-fashioned?

You can of course replace it. But before you decide, come and see our finishing samples based on colored oils or untreated wood varnish, for example. You’ll be amazed at the many possibilities available to you.

3 – A parquet floor can easily adapt to major changes in a room.

Do your planned renovations involve removing walls, installing a new doorway or moving radiators?

Then there are bound to be parts of your new floor that won’t be covered with wood. That’s no reason to rip out everything. This is a situation that happens quit often and in this case it is sufficient to fill in the “bare” areas with new boards (adapted in size and species).

How does the renovation of a parquet floor proceed?

Step 1: Restoration (in some cases)

Renovation also consists in some cases of replacing wood strips that are broken or too damaged to be restored by the simple action of sanding.

Solid wood floors or floors with solid wood facing can be renovated from scratch (and even several times) provided that the thickness of the wood is sufficient to withstand the full sanding that will have to be done to recover the raw wood, which is the essential step to all renovations.

Step 2: Sanding

The renovation of a floor will have for indespensible stage a thorough sanding. This sanding will allow to eliminate the scratches and the traces of wear of the parquet floor to be able to arrive on the raw wood, free of traces or dirtiness, which will allow an application of a new varnish or the chosen oil of dyeing.

Step 3: finishing

If you’re not familiar with oiled flooring, we suggest you read this blog post first.

Once the floor is sanded and looks like new, it is time to apply the finish. A wide range of possibilities is available to you, there is really something to enjoy.

The main finishes are varnish and oil. Each one has its specificities as we have already talked about in this article.

Oiled finishes
There are several families of oil for parquet

Classic oils

Colored oils

Light or dark oils

The varnish
Varnishes enhance the imitation of raw wood and are invisible. This other article of our blog will give you more information about the advantages of varnished parquet and its maintenance.

The brushing of your floor (action consisting in removing the soft parts of the wood and giving it more structure), will allow you to apply the oil or the varnish of your choice, and, even to combine these two finishes by applying a varnish on a colored oil.

In short, many beautiful things are possible.

In summary, what are the advantages of renovating a floor?

You won’t have to tear up the existing floor;

It is a more economical process than a complete change;

It is more environmentally friendly than replacement (no need to use new wood).

If you need advice on how to renovate your floor, don’t hesitate to contact us, we have been in the business since 1994!