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

Reply to
Lil
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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

Reply to
S Viemeister

We have poliurethane lacquer (several brands available) - which is no completely immune to scratches from the dog's claws, but after 3 year they barely show near the door to the garden. It's a bit of a pain t apply (need to re-sand the floor, then apply multiple coats and leav 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 som wax/polish and wait for them to get more uniform (look at any statel home's floors - they are not pristine, but they can look nice becaus they are scratched all over, not just in a few places)

-- Davide

Reply to
Davide

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)

Reply to
Andy Dingley

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

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Reply to
Mary Fisher

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)

Reply to
Mark

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.

Reply to
RichardS

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.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

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

Reply to
Mary Fisher

...

LOL! I wonder how you react :-)

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

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§

Reply to
Mark

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

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

I wish I could be as diplomatic :-)

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

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