loose & clicking parquet

[mark&Kay]

I floored my lounge and my dining room with reclaimed parquet. It had a layer of bitumen on the old blocks so I used bitumen again to relay the flooring. After sanding I sealed the floors with polix oil and I must say it has turned out beautifully. However, certain places in the lounge 'click'. (six months down the line) :? It seems that the floor is becoming unstuck in certain areas and although still locked together are actually free from the floor. Has anyone suggestions that I might try. The choices i'm thinking of are, 1 pull it up and start again, or 2 put up with the minor clicking and just admire a truly beautiful floor! choice one is a more desireable outcome.
I ask these questions as I still have more rooms to lay and do not want ant repeat trouble.
It does seem worse in the lounge, where the room is warmer than the dining room!
Any help would be appreciated.

 

[chuckey]

If you pull it up and re-lay it you might have the same problem again? My first guess is that around the edge of the loose area, some of the blocks tongues have warped and are lifting the block next to them. My next guess is that the bitumen in the loose area was too thin and now its dried out (and contracted) and the bond has failed. My third guess is that the blocks in the loose area were laid too tightly and too dry, now they have absorbed water from the atmosphere, they have expanded, into a large tight bubble which is clicking when depressed by your weight.
I think you will have to survey the area with the longest straightess piece of wood you can find to establish if its 1 i.e. the blocks around the edge have a curl to them or sitting too high, or its 2, the loose blocks are sitting too low or 3, the loose blocks are too high. You will need a heavyweight helper to stand on the effected areas to make sure they are sitting all the way down.
Gawd, what a problem!, I wonder if white spirit injected via a syringe through the joints would softened the bitumen sufficiently too allow the blocks to sort them selves out. Bit of a smelly fire hazard though.
Frank

 

[arthurw3]

When you put down proper parquet flooring, you need to leave an expansion joint all round the edges of about 12mm, it is usually filled with cork and hidden under the skirting. You say you have used bitumen for the floor and appear to indicate that you have done it yourself. Errrr???

Parquet floors are laid on molten bitumen, with a tar boiler and professional contractors, it is EXPENSIVE.

If you have used the liquid bitumen sloppy stuff out of a tin you are wasting your time I'm afraid.

If you try injecting turps or any form of oily goo under the blocks, they will absorb the oil and appear a different colour on the surface, just like you have a nasty oil spill on them.

 

[mark&Kay]

Thanks for the replies so far, yes I did lay the blocks myself, and an expansion gap was left. I think the main problem is that on certain parts the bitumen was layered too thin. I used a cold applied bitumen as used on roofing. This I was recommended by various parties. As it is only in certain areas I think that as said above it a little thin in places. As for the white spirits, It cleaned the blocks up lovely but I don't think it will soften the bitumen to restick. Thanks again, but I think I will just have to put up with the clicking.

 

[Andrew Bodenham]

I'm assuming that the parquet is over a concrete sub-floor?

One way of dealing with the lifting areas would be to drill and screw through the face of slected blocks, then plug the counterbores with matching timber cut from any spare blocks you have left. If the blocks are t&g all round then on fixed block will hold down all its neighbours too. It wouldn't be completely invisible, but if you use taper plugs and colour match them carefully it would stand all but the closest inspection.

 

[chuckey]

Andrew, I was cogitating about cutting a spare block in half down its thickness, removing a block in the loose area and bodging up some sort of fix,more bitumen, metal clamps holding the adjacent blocks down etc. Then just re-introduce the half block with glue to fill the hole. It could work but its a huge step in the dark. :roll:
Frank