Parquet Flooring and Water Damage

Parquet flooring used to be one of the most popular types of flooring in the world. It is not as prevalent today as it once was, but you will still find it in many homes. If water gets on the parquet flooring for an extended period of time, it can definitely do some damage. Here are a few things to consider about parquet flooring and water damage.

Damaged Finish

One of the first signs of water damage with parquet is that you will see some damage to the finish. If you allow water to soak into the floor, there is a chance that it could take off the polyurethane finish. This will provide you with a very dull look on the floor compared to what you are used to. The finish can also be damaged in a number of different ways, so this does not necessarily always point to water damage.

Buckling

Another telltale sign of water damage with parquet is when the floor starts to buckle. When water soaks into hardwood flooring, it is going to expand in most cases. With parquet, you're dealing with small squares of wood that attach to other squares at every side.

Because of this, there are many joints where the wood can be pressed together. When water gets on the flooring, the wood is going to expand into the board next to it. When this happens, the boards will press together and start to come up off the floor. You will see a hump in the floor start to develop.

Cracking

As a result of the expansion in the wood, you will sometimes see cracks start to form as well. Many times, the joints between the boards will start to break and crack apart. Sometimes the boards will crack right down the middle.

Replacing Squares

Whenever you start to see buckling and cracking, you will have to replace some of the squares in most cases. This will involve taking the parquet off of the floor and putting a new square in its place. If you are dealing with prefinished parquet flooring, you will need to have a piece of the original flooring.

If you are dealing with the site finish parquet flooring, you can get raw parquet flooring and use it to replace the broken squares. At that point, you will be able to sand down the entire floor and refinish it.

Refinishing

If the water damages the finish, you may need to come in and refinish the floor. If you simply try to add a new finish to the areas that were damaged, you will most likely be able to notice a difference between the new and old layers of polyurethane.

The best way to repair this is to use an orbital sander and sand down the entire floor. You can then apply a new coat of stain to the floor and then apply two coats of the polyurethane finish.