Laminate on old parquet: is it possible, preparation, laying the floor, rules, pros and cons

Buying an apartment of the “Stalinist” project, even without repair, can be considered a success if you need housing in a classic-style house with wide flights of stairs and high ceilings. As a rule, in such an apartment, future residents are met by a worn-out parquet floor. There are 2 ways to solve the problem - replace the coating or lay the laminate on the old parquet. Both options are problematic, so it makes sense to choose the one that requires less time and effort.

Is it possible to lay laminate on old parquet

The laying of slats requires a level, stable and dry base. Therefore, in theory, laying laminate on old parquet is no more difficult than any other coating. In practice, it turns out that the laminate floor is capricious, the lamellas break easily and do not fit well on the old parquet.

The most serious problems:

1. It will require repair of the old parquet, replacement of individual dies, possibly resurfacing of the surface. The usual cycle is not enough.
2. Old parquet requires revision and additional sanitation. Natural wood, even if the dice of the old parquet are glued together from several layers, can be infected with a fungus if not properly maintained.
3. The base for the laminate must be thoroughly dried, waterproofed, and ventilated. Otherwise, the old parquet will play with moisture, and the laminate will creak on locks.

The old parquet floor will need to be leveled, part of the surface will need to be sanded, somewhere scraping will be enough. But most of the time and effort will be spent on leveling the surface. To no humps and pits. Otherwise, laying laminate on parquet loses its meaning. It's easier to remove the old floor, clean the concrete and lay the chipboard.

After 20 years of service, old parquet has a peculiar smell of decayed wood. This is the dust that is formed during the abrasion of the parquet floor, mixed with coating care products.

Before laying underlay or leveling pads on top of the parquet, the smell must be blocked, otherwise it will remain in the room even after laying the laminate.

Advantages and disadvantages

Is it worth it to start laying a laminate floor on an old parquet floor - the expediency of such an undertaking depends on the quality of the parquet, the degree of wear and tear, and the availability of funds for its repair. Laminate can be considered an inexpensive alternative to costly repairs.

Positive aspects of the decision to lay a laminate

It is possible to keep the old parquet. It makes no sense to remove the boards if the coating is made of valuable material. Ebony, wenge, oak planks with sandalwood inserts, simple mosaic parquet, if restored.

The old parquet itself is a solid and reliable foundation. The only downside is surface wear. Otherwise, a rough base based on high-quality parquet flooring will be more reliable and safer than chipboard or OSB sheets. The former are made on the basis of phenol-formaldehyde resin, the latter (OSB) do not tolerate contact with water vapor. The material not only swells, it burns into dust. Fiberboard is too thin and flexible to be used as a subfloor.

The volume and cost of work on leveling the surface and strengthening the slabs of old parquet is less than in the case of dismantling the coating and laying plywood sheets. However, plywood also contains formaldehyde.

In addition, the thickness of the old parquet, taking into account the adhesive base, will be greater than that of plywood. The parquet board after grinding and repair has a thickness of 18 mm, and taking into account the mastic - 20-23 mm. Whereas plywood laid on concrete is at best 16 mm, and most often 12 mm. In terms of sound insulation and thermal insulation, parquet, even old, looks more preferable.

Even if the boards of the old floor need to be covered with an intermediate layer of plywood, the thickness of the sheet will be less, usually 6-8 mm, which means that preparation for laying the laminate will be cheaper.

Flaws

There are fewer downsides to the idea. Old parquet requires careful preparation for laying. Laminate It's not linoleum. Any loose, "wobbled" boards can cause damage to the locks and even breakage of the end connections.

Old parquet is still a type-setting coating with a huge number of seams. This means that any moisture seeping under the laminate can cause the floor to warp. It will be difficult to dry old parquet boards without removing the laminate.

The parquet creaks strongly - the worse the condition, the louder the creaks. And if the creak of laminate is added to the sounds of parquet dies, then walking on such a floor will be uncomfortable.

The old parquet floor has broken or loose pieces of adhesive, as well as those that have been exposed to water and could be affected by pathogens. Therefore, it will take a lot of time to find all the defective boards and repair them.

Parquet preparation

Type-setting parquet has many seams and joints into which moisture can get. If the floor is regularly treated with polishes, then the residual amount of water will be small, and the coating will be strong and even. On an old parquet floor in an abandoned apartment, parquet floors can dry out and deform. And waves will go all over the floor.

Preparatory work always begins with the study and cleaning of parquet flooring. A damp cloth and vacuum cleaner will help remove most of the dust and dirt. Next, you need to cull, replace and re-glue the parquet boards.

Renovating old parquet

The first step is to go through all the rows of stacked planks and tap each one with a hammer through a wooden block. If the sound is high, then there are no cracks. If it is deaf, then you will need to move the plate with your hand, see if the parquet sways under load.

If the part has peeled off, it is removed from the floor and the back and sides are inspected. In the event that there are rotten areas and cracks on the base, the parquet is discarded. If the tree is whole, but there is a suspicion of a fungus, then the markup number is applied to the front part and sent first for firing with a gas burner, then mordant is applied and dried. Then the old parquet needs to be glued or screwed into place with screws.

Broken planks are cut out and replaced with patches. Repair dies are made of spruce or pine, impregnated and varnished. It is best to lay on molten hot mastic.

Checking the surface of the old parquet flooring

The next step is to check the wear of the old parquet. This can be done with 2 painter's cords stretched between the skirting boards, or using a laser level. The boundaries of humps and dips on the coating are marked with colored markers, right there on the floor we write the approximate value of the deviation, respectively, with plus and minus. This map will come in handy for further leveling sanding.

When examining old parquet, special attention should be paid to places near heating radiators and near doorways. On the floor under the radiator, the old parquet is worn out the least, but due to regular overheating, the old wood dries out, and the boards stick out above the general level of the floor. If you try to lay the laminate on top of the parquet in this place, then the lamellas will be higher than their neighbors. Under the radiator you get a hump.

In addition, between the doors and the furniture in the room, the old parquet is worn the most. Entire paths are formed that are easy to distinguish with the naked eye. We also mark them with a marker for grinding.

Protective varnish treatment

The next step is grinding the humps and pits. When working with a grinder, do not try to cut off all the humps. With this approach, you can accidentally make a huge hole. During the laying of the laminate, it will be difficult to compensate for the height difference, and as a result, spilled water will collect in the center of this pit.

Cut off only the most prominent protrusions under the radiators. The rest of the surface must be leveled in such a way as to reduce surface differences on the old parquet. Let there be more holes and humps, but they will all be small. The result of grinding is checked with a two-meter plaster rule, the height difference per meter should not be more than 3 mm.

Some craftsmen recommend varnishing the old parquet after grinding. But this is not particularly necessary, since the parquet does not wear out under the laminate. It is only necessary to repair repair patches and especially large joints between the planks with a varnish composition.

Laying plywood or fiberboard

Even after conscientious sanding, the old parquet floor is still too uneven to lay the underlay and lay the laminate. It happens that the height difference per linear meter is no more than 2 mm, then fiberboard can not be laid, but immediately proceed to laying a double coniferous substrate.

The fiberboard is laid on the old parquet in relatively small rooms, no more than 20 m². For large rooms, it is better to use plywood pre-impregnated with drying oil and dried in heat. plywood sheets cut into squares 70x70 cm and spread in a checkerboard pattern. The edges are nailed to the old parquet with wallpaper nails, no glue or self-tapping screws.

Fiberboard is best laid out on parquet in large sheets. Sometimes a few small scraps are required under the slab to level the surface. Fiberboard can also be nailed to parquet or laid over old oil paint.

How to avoid creaking

The ability of the old parquet to make creaking sounds is checked before laying plywood or fiberboard. After the laminate is laid, it will be difficult to figure out the source of the creaking sounds.

To check, you need to go through all the parquet boards, preferably with a load in your hands. Places where the planks creak are marked. Usually a creak appears on hanging and badly broken dies.

There are 2 ways to deal with creaking:

1. With the help of wax or stearin powder, cut from a candle. The powder is sprinkled on the gap between the old parquets and they try to blow air into the lock between 2 dies.
2. Creaking boards are wedged with small wedges hammered into the slot. If the creak is gone, PVA can be added to the wedge. Sometimes it is useful to additionally hammer a couple of nails into a creaking die.

The most effective way is rubbing a parquet spike with a wax candle before laying it in a set. Locks are processed in the same way when laying laminate. But with laminate, waxing does not always work. In addition, a layer of wax or stearin that gets inside the spike can interfere with the docking of 2 lamellae. And if you also knock out the panel with a hammer, you can easily break the lock.

The most common cause of squeaking on parquet or laminate flooring is moisture that has seeped into the lock. As a result of swelling, the elements of the spike (head or hook) increase in size and rest against the walls of the groove. Under load, during the friction of 2 parts, an unpleasant creaking sound is obtained.

When laying laminate flooring, it is best to use a silicone spray that is applied inside the tenon. The liquid displaces water and protects the material of the lamellas, thereby eliminating the cause of the squeak. One package is enough for a room of 20-25 m² For old parquet, given the number of joints and seams, you will have to use wax.

Rules and order of laying

In addition to the substrate and packs of laminate, you will need to purchase a saw blade, a jigsaw with a blade (fine tooth), adhesive tape, double-sided and one-sided, hand saw, clerical knife, carpenter's square, devices for trimming the ends of the lamella, hammer, emery cloth.

The first step is to decide on the substrate material. The best option for any laminate is cork. The material has high thermal insulation, well dampens sounds and squeaks. If the old parquet is glued directly onto the concrete screed, then the cork will help keep the heat in, as well as dampen the sound of footsteps.

If the cork lining is too expensive, then you can choose a coniferous backing. According to the characteristics, pressed needles are no worse than cork, it costs less, while it does not rot and does not absorb water.

Substrate

Cork lining is sold in rolls. It is rolled onto parquet from wall to wall parallel to the window opening. Separate panels are cut to size so that there is a margin of 1-2 cm on the walls, and fastened together with adhesive tape. The cork breaks easily, when walking on the lining carpet, you can easily touch the edge with your shoes and break it off.

Coniferous lining is sold in packs in the form of ready-made mats. The packaging indicates the total area, so you can always calculate the required amount of material for the laminate.

Some masters recommend laying out the substrate in rows parallel to the window opening, always in a checkerboard pattern. If the laminate will be laid in long and wide panels, then this method of placing the lining material is allowed.

Under the laminate of short and narrow boards, it is recommended to lay the lining material on the old parquet with an oblique pattern, diagonally. In this case, the probability of coincidence of the lock between the lamellas with the seam between the mats is less than with straight laying.

The coniferous substrate can be immediately laid out on the old parquet, fixed to the walls with adhesive tape and staples. But in the process of laying the laminate, dust, chips, scraps of lining material are formed. Therefore, it is better to lay out coniferous mats as the lamellas are laid out, connecting them with adjacent rows using construction tape.

If the lining is placed directly on the lacquered parquet, then a couple of strips of double-sided tape should be glued on the back of the mat. This will allow you to securely fix the position of the lining on the floor even after filling the area with slats.

Laying

On the eve of laying, packs with laminate are brought into the room in the required quantity and unpacked. Lamellas from different batches and packages differ in subtle shade. Therefore, the laminate is stacked in one pile and mixed. It is difficult to see the difference, as a rule, differences appear already after laying the material on the substrate in one floor covering.

Install laminate flooring from the farthest wall of the room, counting from the front door. It is recommended to lay the lamellas in such a way that the light from the window falls along the long side of the board. It is believed that in this position, the seams and joints are less visible, and the laminate gives the impression of a continuous coating.

Previously, plastic clothespins-limiters are installed around the perimeter of the room. They fix the first panel laid along the wall and at the same time provide an indent of 2 cm. Subsequently, the gap will be closed with skirting boards.

Since the total thickness of the substrate and laminate is at least 15 mm, some owners lay wiring and cable along the gap. This cannot be done, since the gap is used to compensate for the expansion of the slats. For the wire, you can use special skirting models with a channel.

In addition, the presence of a gap between the edge and the wall makes it possible to align the first lamella with respect to the walls and the axis of the room. If this is not done immediately, then the coating may “mow” to the side.

The first panel is laid with an end spike against the wall - it is cut off with a jigsaw before installation. On the opposite end there is a groove into which the spike of the panel of the next row will be inserted. There is a similar groove on the right short end, on the left, respectively, there is a spike, which is also cut off.

The next row is assembled with bandaging of the joints like a "spoon" brickwork, after laying on the parquet. Before installation, each panel is measured in length and cut. After docking, the lamella is knocked out with a hammer through a rubber pad. This ensures complete seating and engagement of the lock parts.

Is it possible to make a warm floor on the old parquet

The idea of ​​laying a heating graphite film on a parquet base is interesting because you can save on the preparation of the base. Whether or not to make a warm floor on an old parquet will depend on the following factors:

1. View of the base on which the parquet is laid. If it is a concrete floor slab, then it makes no sense to lay a heating film. Even if foil insulation is used, most of the heat will still go into the concrete. You need thermal insulation under the parquet, that is, you can make a warm floor only if the old parquet is laid on a wooden shield or plywood stuffed on logs with filling insulation;
2. Adhesive mastic on which the old parquet is held. Definitely not suitable for any water-based adhesives and bituminous mastics. The parquet must be glued with PAVI-COL P25 or PELPREN PL6 adhesive composition. The latter can be used in underfloor heating of any scheme, but is most often used on film heaters.

The presence of varnish. Most of the old parquets retain the remnants of protective mastic, wax and even varnish. All of them ignite easily on contact with a hot surface. Therefore, if you make a warm floor, then the top layer of parquet will need to be sanded and cleaned with hot air.

Heating of the flooring can be done if the old parquet is used as the basis for the self-leveling floor. The thickness of the fill must be at least 25 mm, after which the foil thermal insulation and the film itself are laid. On such a floor you can lay a laminate.

Putting laminate on old parquet is possible, which is practiced in many apartments as a temporary measure. After 5-6 years, most owners return to the idea of ​​restoring the parquet, if the technical condition allows it.

If the parquet floor is too worn, then it is unlikely that it can be used as a base for laying laminate. The only correct solution is to remove the floor and lay a new parquet board, which will last much longer than the laminate.

Do you think the idea of ​​laying laminate on parquet has a right to exist? Or is it still not worth it? Share in the comments. Bookmark the article so that our instructions are always available to you.