How to lay a parquet board?

People who want to emphasize their high status, good taste and wealth, choosing a floor covering, as a rule, give preference to parquet. And all because this material has excellent wear resistance, a high level of reliability, it is environmentally friendly and looks simply gorgeous. The most problematic moment and a difficult variety of work has always been considered flooring with parquet. But fortunately, with the advent of the floorboard, the situation has changed for the better, and even a novice builder or someone who is far from repair work can do this job. Today we will learn how to lay a parquet board on our own, guided by the recommendations and advice of specialists.

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Varieties of flooring

Today this material is produced in several variations. On the market are multi-layer and massive parquet boards. Their main difference lies in the manufacturing method. And depending on the method of production, they are divided into:

1. Massive boards - are made from whole pieces of hardwood and coniferous wood. They are attached using ridges and grooves located at the ends of the boards. Such materials are expensive because of the fact that huge pieces of the most expensive wood are used for their manufacture.
2. Multilayer boards - two or three layers of wooden sticks glued together. To give them extra strength, during the production process, the layers are stacked on top of each other exclusively at right angles. But they have such unique operational characteristics due to the use of different types of wood. So, the top layer, as a rule, is made from the hardest tree species, and the second layer from a softer tree. Subsequent layers are already formed from plywood or previously rejected lamellas of pine or spruce. Such boards are much cheaper than massive ones, since smaller materials are taken for their manufacture.

Depending on the number of planks, parquet boards are also different. Namely, single-lane, two-way, three-way and even four-way. To understand which materials are best, you need to know the following:

• Three-lane boards are the most popular, because they are most similar in appearance to parquet and are inexpensive.
• The budget option is parquet boards, consisting of four strips, because they are made from the narrowest lamellas. Unfortunately, their unattractive appearance does not allow to realize the ideas of designers due to the successful combination of slats.
• Most expensive are single-lane and two-lane boards, because they are made from the widest pieces of expensive wood. A room with such a floor looks solemn and rich.

Important! In thickness, they can also be different from 7 to 22 mm. And it is from this parameter that directly depends on how the board will be stacked.

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Features of laying parquet boards

Despite the fact that even a beginner can perform the installation of a parquet board, there is still a risk of completely ruining the coating. Therefore, in the course of work, you need to adhere to a certain laying technology.

If you want your parquet floor to serve you as long as possible, then be sure to follow the rules below:

• The base must be well prepared. To do this, you need to create a flat and durable surface, without any drops and deep cracks.
• It is necessary to maintain the necessary level of humidity. Although due to modern technologies, wood is reliably protected from moisture, it is still not recommended to lay this material on the floor in the bathroom, kitchen and toilet, because it is here that the highest level of humidity prevails.
• A parquet board needs to be well prepared for installation. So that after completing all the work she does not begin to warp and crack, she should be left immediately after the purchase in the room where she will be laid for several days.

Important! Observe a certain level of humidity and temperature conditions during installation. Make sure that the temperature does not fall below 18 degrees, and the humidity remains at the level of 35-65%.

• The board also needs to be further insulated, because it is particularly susceptible to the negative effects of moisture and temperature. For this purpose, a substrate is equipped, which consists of a layer of thermal insulation and waterproofing.
• Choose the correct laying direction. Planks must be laid in the direction of sunlight so that the joints are almost invisible.
• If the house where you want to lay parquet has a warm floor system, then you will have to create a separate flooring from the boards for each room. The fact is that each room has its own temperature microclimate and therefore the temperature can fluctuate over wide limits.

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How to prepare the base for laying parquet?

Before you learn how to properly lay a parquet board, read the information regarding the implementation of mandatory preparatory work. This refers to the base on which the laying will be carried out.

Important! A parquet board can be mounted on a concrete or wooden base. Therefore, it is important that they are smooth and durable. If you create floors from scratch, then you will have to do them taking into account the future laying of parquet. If you have to work with the old floor, you will need to make its repair and a complete audit.

Features of the preparation of a wooden base

If you want to use an existing wooden floor as a base, then you will need to perform a number of works before laying a parquet board:

• First, you need to remove the old coating and make sure that the floor does not creak or fail anywhere, there are no gaps between the boards and all the elements are firmly fixed.
• If no problems are identified, then you can start laying. Otherwise, you will have to work hard in case of detection of any defects.

Important! If the floorboards simply dried out and large differences between them appeared in height, then you can level the floor using putty or recycle it. And if they just loosened, then with the help of screws they can be attached to the lags.

• The most complex and time-consuming process is the restoration of damaged lags. The fact is that in such a situation you have to completely disassemble the floor. The sagging logs can be lifted by placing wood chips or bars under them. And rotten boards definitely have to be replaced.
• Maximum attention should be paid to the lag level. It is necessary to check that all of them are in the same plane on the horizon.

Preparation for laying concrete base

Everything is much simpler and less work here. You will have to complete the following steps:

1. Remove the old coating and check for breaks, cracks and bumps. If everything is fine, and small irregularities and cracks are observed, then you can treat them with a primer on top, pour a special screed that evens itself after drying.
2. If the concrete floor has crumbled a lot, you will have to remove the old screed with the puncher and reinstall it. And only after that it will be possible to start working with parquet.

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Features of laying parquet boards in different ways

And now we will consider how to lay a parquet board with our own hands in all possible ways. Today there are three of them:

• floating method;
• using fasteners;
• by glue.

Important! It should immediately be noted that:

• Floating and adhesive methods require the creation of a solid base for laying parquet. As a rule, they resort to them in cases of work with panels of any type and thickness.
• By means of fasteners, boards are laid directly on the logs or on a wooden base - in this case it is very important that the board is at least 20-22 mm thick.

 

To choose the best option for yourself and find out the styling features, you need to familiarize yourself with each method separately.

Flooring flooring

This option is considered the fastest, easiest and not requiring much labor. In this case, the boards are laid directly on the substrate, and the panels are connected to each other in a lock. And now in more detail how to lay a parquet board in a floating way:

• We put waterproofing on an already prepared foundation. It is better to use a 200 micron thick plastic film for this. So that in the end you get a solid surface, you should overlap pieces of the film overlapping next to each other so that the overlap is 15-20 cm. Then they are glued with tape. It is also necessary to make a lap of 10-15 cm on the walls.
• The second layer is a substrate laid on top of the film. Foamed polyethylene or cork can be used as a substrate. They need to be stacked butt. All cracks and joints will need to be glued with tape.
• Before laying the board itself, you need to calculate the required amount of material. We do this so that, if necessary, cutting the last row, its width does not exceed 5 cm.
• Now we connect the panels of the first row and lay them spike directly to the wall. To ensure a tight fit of the boards to the wall, it is necessary to cut the spikes.

Important! In order to avoid damage and swelling of the boards due to fluctuations in the level of humidity between the seasons, you should leave 10-15 mm gaps between the boards and the walls. And to keep them, you should drive in pegs.

• The panels of the second row are connected first, and then the whole row is completely connected to the first one. Through a wooden block you need to finish the board with a hammer.
• Start laying the third row with a board whose length is equal to ⅓ of the normal panel.
• We start the fourth row with a whole board. All remaining rows are stacked in the same way.
• After laying the last panel, it is necessary to remove the bursting pegs and install the baseboard.

Important! Often when performing work of this nature, problems arise associated with bypassing water pipes and a heating riser. To make the coating perfect in these places, carefully cut the parquet board. As for the doorway, it is enough to make markings and cut out the panel in the shape of a rectangle.

Glueing parquet

Installing a parquet board in this way allows you to create a stronger monolithic structure, but you will have to work hard. In this installation option, all actions occur in the same sequence as in the method described above. But there are still some differences:

• In the case of work with glue, the role of the substrate will be played by waterproof plywood, which must be put in rows in a run-up. It must be additionally fixed to the base with self-tapping screws or special pneumatic nails.
• Apply glue to the base and boards with a notched trowel. Also, they should be filled with all the grooves at the ends of the panels. Remove excess glue with a damp cloth.

Important! The only negative of this method is the high labor costs and the complexity of the styling.

Fixing method for laying parquet boards

Use this method when laying parquet on the logs. In principle, most of the work is carried out similarly to the previous methods. But, of course, some differences are present:

• Use this method in cases of laying massive and multilayer parquet boards with a thickness of 20 mm.
• They also apply laying with fasteners when laying massive boards on a solid wooden surface or on logs.
• Even at the installation stage, the lag is waterproofed and insulated.
• The boards are fastened by driving nails into the groove at an angle of 45 degrees or by screwing in screws.

Important! In the process of laying the lag you need to make sure that the joints of the boards passed right in the middle of the lag. And nails and screws should be at least 2 times longer than the thickness of the panels.

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Stock footage

It is not so important which method you prefer, the main thing is to do everything carefully, following the recommendations of experts and adhering to technology.