The cost of a high-quality wooden floor or parquet is quite high, and when after a few years the boards begin to fade and wear out, there is a desire to update them.

It is quite expensive to completely re-cover the flooring, and the procedure for laying the boards takes a lot of time. In this case, manual or mechanical scraping of the wooden floor is carried out - a quick and economical way to return your flooring to its original condition appearance .

During the scraping process with wooden surface a layer whose thickness does not exceed tenths of a millimeter is scraped off. The treatment allows you to clean and restore the original color of a parquet or floorboard, and update its appearance.

Purpose of the procedure

When sanding an old wooden floor, cracks and sags, stains from oil and other stubborn dirt are eliminated, which ultimately extends the service life of the coating. After sanding, a floor made of any wood looks much better. You can scrape not only parquet, but also simple floors made of pine boards.

Pay attention! The wood must be thoroughly dry before sanding. This is especially true for new floors.

If the boards are very worn out (thin), rotten, or loose, then they need to be replaced. You can carry out scraping with minimal material costs if you rent a machine and do all the work yourself. Let’s figure out what the sequence of actions is, whether it’s possible to repair the floors yourself or whether it’s wiser to invite specialists.

The most inexpensive way is to use a hand scraper, which is a scraper with a metal tip. An alternative is to use sheets attached to a sheet holder sandpaper. These methods require virtually no money, but are very labor-intensive. Therefore, they are usually used for cosmetic spot repairs, and when comprehensively updating a wooden floor, machine options are preferred.

Equipment

The scraping technology involves the use of the following types of devices:

• drum (tape);
• disk;
• peeling;
• corner (border).

Drum-type machines allow you to process a large area in a short time. However, they cannot ensure a uniform thickness of floor covering removal. Therefore, they are usually used only for removing the top layer of paint or varnish, when quality can be sacrificed for speed.

Disc-type devices are available for household and professional use. Disc machines allow you to process wooden floors efficiently, without leaving any unevenness on the surface. The disadvantages of using include high cost. Typically, scraping machines of this class are used by teams of professionals involved in finishing the premises. The device is equipped with discs with fine, medium and coarse fractions of abrasive material.

A stripper is used to remove old coating from a surface. The device is equipped with a roller with wire pile, which is used to clean a painted floor or parquet from a durable paint layer.

Thanks to its design features, the curb scraper will allow you to clean wooden floors in hard to reach places Oh. The device cleans areas adjacent to the wall, as well as corners and joints in the room.

You may need a screwdriver as a tool for the job. It is used to deepen the heads of self-tapping screws deep into the surface of the boards. This must be done so as not to damage the disks of the scraper.

It is not necessary to purchase all of the listed tools, but a complete set will significantly speed up the repair process. An alternative to buying is renting necessary equipment. At a minimum, you can get by with a disk machine and a device for scraping borders.

Modern devices make it possible to carry out sanding without dust, but after work, debris may still remain, so cleaning is an integral stage of the procedures.

Old floor scraping technology

They begin scraping the old wooden floor by preparing the room, completely emptying it of furniture.

It is better to protect paintings and shelves on the walls from dust using film. Interior doors are removed from their hinges; the doorway must be covered with film to prevent dust from penetrating into other rooms. On the contrary, it is better to open windows wide before starting work. It is necessary to purchase headphones as the device produces a lot of noise. A respirator is used to protect the respiratory system. Scraping process wooden floors consists of four stages.

The first stage is preparation of the coating. It is necessary to eliminate defects by replacing damaged parts of floor boards or parquet strips. The gaps between the boards are filled with sawdust. Residues of varnish are removed by treating them with a solvent followed by using a scraper. The floor prepared for sanding must be washed and dried for a couple of days.

After this you can process wooden floor grinding machine. The sanding procedure begins with the use of coarse-grained sanding sheets. They will allow you to remove remnants of the paintwork, remove unevenness and protruding defects. After turning on the machine, you need to carefully place it on the floor and move across the room, trying to keep the device level. Moving straight from wall to wall, you need to treat the entire surface of the room.

Wood with grain (winding arrangement of fibers) is less amenable to mechanical processing. For sanding twisted boards, medium-grain sanding sheets are used. You need to move around the room diagonally, this will provide a smoother surface. After pre-treatment For curled boards, you need to change the sanding sheet to a fine-grained one and repeat the processing of the entire area with its help.

Sanding the floorboards near the walls is the final stage of the procedure. To do this, they usually use a special curb apparatus, with which they scrape the areas of the floor adjacent to the wall. The procedure begins with medium-grained discs, and then the surface is additionally treated with a fine-grained disc.

After completing the work, it is necessary to remove all scraping products by vacuuming and wiping the floor. Next, you can begin applying the varnish coating to the surface of the parquet.

Floor treatment after sanding

After removing the top layer of the floor covering, you must immediately prepare the wooden floor for applying varnish. First, the gaps between the boards are puttied. The putty composition must first be prepared according to the instructions. The paste is applied to all visible holes by hand until they are completely filled. This prevents the subsequent penetration of moisture and dust between the parquet elements. The composition needs time to dry and settle. If necessary, repeat the procedure, leveling the putty layer in areas of subsidence.

Repeated sanding of the seams where the putty was applied is carried out using fine-grained discs to remove protruding excess. After it, you also need to sweep up the dust or vacuum the room.

The first layer of varnish is applied to give the wood strength and durability. The first layer dries within two days. After this, it is necessary to carry out light sanding again for better adhesion and cleaning of the surface.

The last stage of work is applying a second layer of varnish, which will provide a shiny texture to the wood and protect it from premature wear.

Pay attention! On the floors from coniferous species It is not recommended to use water-soluble varnishes, as they are highly absorbed.

Up to five layers of varnish are applied to expensive, rare types of wooden parquet. The flooring updated in this way will serve its owners for at least another five years. If the floor is pine, it is advisable to distribute the furniture evenly over its surface to avoid overload.

Important Notes

To ensure a high-quality scraping result, you should adhere to the following recommendations. The sanding machine must move continuously and very smoothly along the grain of the wood.

The direction depends on the pattern and method of laying the dies or boards:

• laying herringbone parquet is scraped at an angle of 45 degrees;
• with a rectangular pattern, scraping is carried out at a right angle;
• decorative parquet should be scraped in circles or in a spiral, from the wall to the center of the room.

The final finishing is carried out with a surface grinder along and across the parquet flooring.

In general, sanding should be carried out by specialists, since it will be problematic for a beginner to level the floor over the entire area and evenly apply paint coating right the first time. However, if the budget does not allow attracting specialists finishing works, then it is quite possible to repair wooden floors yourself.

Looping is the fastest and, perhaps, the most the right way restore your parquet flooring to its former luxury. This technique consists of removing the top “worn out” layer using a special manual scraper or sanding machine. The latter is a rather expensive tool and it makes no sense to buy it just to use it once. It is better to contact a company that specializes in restoring parquet floors, or do this simple task yourself. This article will discuss exactly how to scrape parquet with your own hands.

Hand scraping parquet is a great way to breathe life into your floor. new life

Elimination of parquet defects - the first stage of restoration work

Before sanding, the repair of parquet dies, which can dry out over time, become loose, fall out and simply creak, is preceded by sanding. Such a floor cannot be scraped; it must first be returned to its “digestible” appearance.

Repair of parquet tiles - the first stage of restoration of old parquet

Loose dies can be “calmed down” as follows: drill small holes in them, drive nails into these holes so that their heads “sink” as deeply as possible into the wood, and fill the resulting holes with a mixture of varnish and sawdust.

Creaking floorboards can also be prevented from disturbing your peace of mind. To eliminate squeaking, a 6-8 mm wide hole is drilled between the dies at an angle of approximately 45 degrees. A wooden pin is driven into it, pre-lubricated with wood glue or PVA glue. The piece of pin remaining outside is cut off with a chisel. All! The creaking will no longer bother you.

The gaps between the dies must be filled with a special putty for wood - this is the only way to restore the appearance of the floor to its original appearance.

The gaps between the dies must be filled with putty

All potholes and depressions are carefully filled, and for accuracy, you can use a stencil specially cut for this purpose - this way the floor around the damaged area will remain clean.

Parquet scraping - bringing life back to the floor

The most crucial moment has arrived, but first you need to find out whether your parquet flooring can be sanded at all - maybe it has already been subjected to this torture more than once. In general, parquet blocks 15 mm thick can be restored by scraping no more than 5 times, and thin parquet 8 mm thick can be restored no more than three times. The process itself, performed by the hands of a skilled craftsman, looks quite simple from the outside: a special scraping machine light movements turns your old floor into a new one. But if you decide to restore the parquet yourself, then be prepared for the fact that sanding is actually much more complicated than it seems at first glance. And the most difficult thing here is the absence of this same scraping machine in your arsenal.

Sanding parquet with a sanding machine. Fast, but you'll have to part with money

You won’t have a machine, but you will have a manual scraper, which can easily replace an impressively sized unit. True, you will have to work with it “by the sweat of your brow” - in the literal sense of the word.

A few words about the cycle itself:

• It’s better to buy a cycle in a store than to make it yourself - the tool is factory-made, sharpened as needed, and has a comfortable handle;
• choose a scraper with a short handle - although such a tool is harder to use, it is much more effective in removing the top layer of wood;
• The width of the cycle should not be more than 5 cm, otherwise your hands will get tired very quickly.

Cycle - a tool for manual processing of parquet

Parquet scraping technology

To make work easier, the parquet floor should be slightly moistened with a spray bottle. It is advisable to start from the middle of the room, gradually moving towards the walls, and the strips to be processed must be passed from beginning to end along the fibers, without interrupting other areas. In addition, each lane must be passed twice: the first time in one direction, the second time in the opposite direction.

Sanding parquet using a manual scraper. Cheap but long

Prepare yourself for long, tedious and tedious work, because with the help of a manual cycle, the process of restoring parquet can take several days.

And here it is, the end of all misfortunes! You have finished sanding the parquet, all that remains is the “small” task - sanding the floor. But even here you will be deeply disappointed if you don’t have a regular electric floor polisher in your arsenal, which can easily be turned into grinder, putting cloth-based sandpaper on his brush. It will be an excellent tool. And if it is not there, then a tedious “fuss” awaits you again: you will have to treat the entire floor with a piece of sandpaper. Long, hard and dreary. True, you can lighten your fate a little and involve your feet in the test by attaching sandpaper to the sole of your boot, but your feet will also get tired sooner or later. In general, the work ahead is enormous.

When the sanding stage is completed, all you have to do is coat the parquet with varnish, although there are several nuances to consider:

• on very old parquet, even after the most thorough sanding, dark areas may remain, which can easily be equalized with the shade of the rest of the floor using matte varnish;
• Between the first and second varnishing, you will need to carry out intermediate sanding - this will remove all excess debris, dust and lint, and also improve the adhesion of the layers.

If you compare the cost of manual sanding and sanding using a special machine, then the first, of course, wins (restoring parquet in a company costs from 100 to 350 rubles per square meter), but such an event will take much more time and effort from you. Therefore, before you decide to renovate the flooring in your apartment yourself, think a hundred times.

The floor is the most used surface in a residential area. It is for this reason that the floor loses its appearance faster than other surfaces and requires repair. The biggest difficulty in repairing floor coverings is sanding parquet. But if you know the stages of this process and have necessary tools, even a beginner can bring a parquet board into proper shape.

The process of scraping parquet is carried out with a special machine. It consists of several stages, including:

• elimination of visible defects,
• surface preparation for varnishing,
• varnishing.

After completion of work wooden parquet will regain its former beauty even after many years of use. Restored with my own hands the parquet will become more the best decoration rooms.

Required tools and materials

Effective scraping of parquet is possible only with the help of a special drum-type machine, which can be rented

• Drum type scraping machine(parquet sanding machine). This is expensive equipment that does not make sense to buy. An excellent option is to rent a car (cost about $20 per day for a sanding machine, $50 for parquet grinding machine). Typically you need to rent a car for one day;
• Equipment for scraping corners, called “boots”. Previously, the processing of corners was carried out exclusively by hand scrapers and Bulgarian ones with a special attachment. If “boots” are difficult to get, then you can use the old proven method;
• Rolled sandpaper. You need an abrasive for rough processing (P40) and for grinding (P80 and P 120 depending on the type of wood);
• Scissors for cutting sandpaper;
• Keys for drum clamps(often included with the machine);
• Vacuum cleaner.

Despite the fact that the dimensions of the scraping machine are quite compact and this tool can be transported in the trunk of a car, it is very heavy. The machine weighs about 70 kg, so when going to buy a tool, you should take this into account.

Stages of parquet scraping work

Stage No. 1. Preparation

The most important thing is to prepare the room for work.

All furniture that hangs on the walls should be covered with a film that will protect it from dust.

1. To do this, all the furniture that is on the floor is removed from it. Furniture that hangs on the walls needs to be protected from dust with film.
2. After clearing the floor from furniture, it must be vacuumed and washed well.
3. Next, examine the parquet for any falling out or loose tiles. If they are, then you need to find their place and glue it securely.
4. The last step in preparation will be removing the baseboards.

In older homes, baseboards are often firmly nailed to the base. When dismantling such skirting boards, there is a high probability of damaging the parquet board. If you cannot carefully dismantle them, then it is better to leave such skirting boards in place.

Before starting work, it is also recommended to inspect the floor again to ensure there are no protruding nails. If they are noticed, they should be driven in or removed. You also need to check the condition of the wiring, because the machine requires up to 2.5 kW of energy, especially at the time of start-up.

Stage No. 2. Personal protection

Sanding parquet without dust is impossible. It is imperative to wear a respirator and goggles to protect yourself from small particles that will appear when working with the machine. Also earplugs to protect against noise.

Stage No. 3. Rough scraping

Rough sanding removes unevenness and possible contamination from the parquet floor.

Initially, rough sanding of the parquet is carried out. During this process, the varnish will be removed from the old parquet if it is processed new parquet, then rough sanding will rid it of unevenness and possible contamination. During this stage of work, a layer 5 mm thick will be removed from the wood.

Before starting work, you need to install a coarse sanding tape (P40, in rare cases P60 is required) on the machine drum. The first row must be walked diagonally across the room. Then move the machine half the width of the drum and make the next row. This is how the entire floor is sanded. If the sandpaper wears off, it must be replaced. If the floor is in very poor condition, up to three rough sanding cycles may be needed.

The machine has a special screw that allows you to adjust the pressure of the drum on the floor. If the engine is unable to dial required quantity rpm, the pressure should be reduced. If it is noticed that the layer removed by the machine is too small, then the pressure should be increased.

Manual scraping

The manual scraper consists of wooden handle and a sharpened steel plate that removes top layer wood

If for some reason it was not possible to rent a sanding machine, you can sand the floor with your hands. This will be a complex process that will take a lot of time. In the store you should purchase a hand scraper or a steel plate in the shape of the letter “L”. The optimal width of a hand scraper is 5 cm. This tool consists of a wooden handle and a sharpened steel plate that removes the top layer of wood. To make it easier to work with manual cycles, it is recommended to either stroke the parquet with a cloth or wet it.

Stage No. 4. Grinding

At this stage of the work you will need P80 or P120 sandpaper. The first is suitable for heavily damaged parquet, and the second for treating regular flooring. When sanding, passes are made along the dies, that is, as if along the wooden fibers. A fine abrasive will remove scratches and stains from the surface from the previous stage of work, making the wood almost perfectly smooth.

Stage No. 5. Treatment of hard-to-reach places and corners

To scrape hard-to-reach places you will need a “boot” or a curb scraper

After sanding, untreated areas will remain along the walls and in the corners. It is almost impossible for a car to get into such narrow places. Here you will need a “boot” or a border scraper. If it is not there, then the old varnish is removed by hand scraping, and then processed using a grinder with a grinding attachment.

After sanding the entire floor, you can begin applying new varnish to the parquet. After the varnish has completely dried, the process of restoring the old parquet will be completely completed.

One day will be enough to sand parquet flooring in a regular-sized apartment. A special machine greatly simplifies the process of self-restoration of parquet, so preference should be given to this method.

None of existing materials cannot compare with natural wood either in quality or in visual appeal. Of course wooden house with a wooden floor is environmentally friendly, aesthetically pleasing and as comfortable as possible, but in five years there will be no trace left of its former beauty.

And if the walls can still be somehow “brought back to life”, covered with a new layer of varnish, then what to do with the floor covering, which is subjected to heavy loads, is completely unclear. But experienced builders know a fairly simple way to restore a wooden floor to its former beauty. We are talking about sanding a wooden floor.

The name of the process - scraping - comes from special tool cycles that for a long time removed the top layer wooden covering. A scraper is a small handle with metal plates attached to it.

Cycling was carried out until the first grinding machine was invented, which has now completely replaced the cycle.

Such a machine can be of two types:

• drum;
• disk

The use of drum machines is advisable only in cases where a large area of ​​wooden flooring is to be processed. The disadvantages of the machine include the unevenness of scraping, which is why even the most experienced builder will not be able to maintain the entire floor surface at the same level. For this reason, today only the old paint is removed with such a device and rough sanding of the wood is carried out.

Disc machines, unlike drum machines, do not have such disadvantages. Having appeared relatively recently, this equipment has already gained popularity thanks to its absolutely flat surface, which remains after processing, without any stripes or differences. The cost of drum machines is quite high, so they are used mainly by professional and repair teams.

Pay attention! According to the manufacturers, scraping machines are capable of restoring a wooden floor by 90%.

First, find out whether the old wooden floor can be sanded. To do this, conduct a thorough inspection. If you find that there is too much space between the boards big gap or they are damaged, first replace the defective coating elements. Only after this start working.

What will be required at work?

For scraping you will need:

• scraping machine;
• screwdriver;
• curb grinding machine or hand scraper;
• abrasive sheets of varying hardness;
• polyethylene film;
• mineral alcohol (necessary for removing varnish).

Pay attention! If you plan to scrape parquet, then the sanding machine must be a disk sander (1 or 3 disks), but, for example, for wooden planks A drum-type device is also quite suitable.

Stage one. Preparing the premises

First, remove furniture and carpets from the room. Take down framed photographs and paintings as well bookshelves It is better to protect it from dust by covering it with a large piece of film.

Dismantle interior door. Cover the opening with film, securing the edges with tape to prevent dust from penetrating into adjacent rooms. On the contrary, open the windows so that all the dust comes out.

Stage two. Preparing the floor covering

If there are minor gaps between the floorboards, then they need to be filled with filler, for example, sawdust. To remove old varnish, use mineral spirits and a scraper.

After this, wash the floor and let it dry thoroughly for 2-3 days.

After preparation, all that remains is to purchase good headphones and a respirator. When scraping, the noise level and dust generation increase significantly, so think about safety measures.

Stage three. Cycling

There is an opinion that scraping is an extremely complex and labor-intensive procedure. In reality, the hardest part is keeping the sander in position.

1. Start of the process

Start by using coarse sanding sheets. This will help remove the remnants of the old coating, remove all defects and unevenness of the material.

Pay attention! When working, always hold the wire from the scraping device on your shoulder so as not to accidentally damage it.

Before starting the machine, tilt it slightly, then carefully lower it to the floor. You will notice the work of the tape immediately, since the device will be more difficult to hold in your hands. Move across the room, holding tightly to the handle of the device. Having reached the opposite wall, smoothly lift it and turn it 180ᵒ.

Cycle twisted boards a little differently. Move diagonally, that is, from one corner of the room to another. Do this several times, then repeat the procedure, but in the opposite direction. The smoothness of the floor will be perfect after this.

3. Sanding with medium-grit sheets

After sanding the twisted boards, replace the previous sheet with a medium-grain one. Move along the boards. Start with this if the floor surface is not too damaged.

When you have finished processing, make sure that no areas were missed. Then take a fine-grained sheet and repeat the entire procedure.

After treating the floor, all that remains is to scrape it off near the walls. A curb scraper is perfect for this; start with medium-grain sheets and end with the finest disc.

Pay attention! A regular sanding machine will not work for this as it does not have the same precision as a border sander.

5. Shutdown

This is where the looping ends. Sweep the floor and wipe it with a dry cloth, then apply the topcoat.

Pay attention! You cannot leave a wooden floor untreated after sanding, as it will quickly become damaged during use.

It’s worth talking about this separately important stage preparing the floor covering, such as filling cracks. Use special putty pastes for this, which can be:

• ready;
• those that need to be mixed with a special putty composition.

Pay attention! You should not follow the advice of would-be specialists who insist that you only need to putty on cracks and other damaged areas - this will not give the desired effect.

Mix the putty thoroughly and apply it to the required surface. Wait until it dries (this will take about an hour), then follow the instructions.

Pay attention! Do not immediately arrange the furniture! Wait until the varnish is completely dry and crystallizes.

Pay attention! Varnish coatings on water based have no odor, but this cannot be said about polyurethane ones, for example.

As a conclusion

It is worth noting that not in all cases a wooden floor can be restored by scraping. It is recommended to entrust the process to specialists, but the work can be done independently.
For a detailed introduction to the scraping procedure, watch the proposed thematic video material.