Home > Video Channel > Oak and Herringbone Floor Repair

Oak and Herringbone Floor Repair

At the restoration project for the governor's mansion in Richmond, Bob meets with contractor Fred Ecker and they go over the process for making repairs to the floors.
Get Adobe Flash Player to see this content.

Chapters from this episode

Clip Transcript For:

Oak and Herringbone Floor Repair

  computer-generated transcript - may not be 100% accurate

" Well we're back in the governor's mansion now. Last week the First Lady, Roxanne Gilmore, gave us the tour and of course they were moving out. Now that the whole place is empty you can really get a sense of the scale of this house. Behind me is the schedule sign. They intend to be back in here in 6 months and it's really important for the contractor that, you know, keep his end of the bargain in terms of getting all this work done. And they really have started. They really have started in earnest. I wanted to point out some of the precautions that are being taken to protect some of the finishes. This is the blue tape which is very easy To peel off and it doesn't have much of that gum that sometimes ruins wood work. But on the floors, we have something called Dura Runner from this protective products company. And here we've got oak parquet floors in a herring bone. This may be a century old. They're being preserved and restored. But this product, this Dura Runner, has been put down throughout the first floor to make sure that there isn't any damage done to it. You can spill water on it apparently it's, it's quite well and it's even quite durable. One of the problems with the parquet floor that we encountered is squeaking and movement and last week they got started on doing some of the, well, very special processes that are gonna help to balance out the squeaking and make the floor work more effectively. Take a look."

" Joining us are Fred Ecker and his group from Tide Water Preservation."

" Ok so the situation here is that we've got a parquet floor from 1906 that was laid on top of the 1813 original southern pine floors and we've got a lot of patching to do and then squeaking issues right?"

" Right."

" What's he doing right now?"

" Well this had been the location of a receptacle that had been installed at a later date--"

" -Yes."

" -The new receptacle is gonna be installed in the baseboards so he's making a patch of some hard pine to replace the sub floor--"

" -Yes."

" -and then ultimately he'll relay the parquet flooring infront of the dutch men on top."

" The hole as well as the patch have been routed out so that you've got like a lap joint contingency--"

" -Right--"

" -around all four sides."

" Yes?"

" What of glue is that he's using?"

" He's using one of the adhesives that we're using to actually inject down below--"

" -Yes?"

" -to create a, to stop a squeaking problem in the floor itself."

" Ok."

" Now one of the objectives with the repair job here is to make sure that it's a reversible-- situation right?"

" That's, that's correct."

" So that if in the future, the house is 300 years old and another restoration attempt is made that wants to go back to the original 1813 pine floor, it would be easy to remove the parquet. "

" That's right--"

" -And--"

" -that's why we're using acrylic adhesives that have been formulated just for this project."

" Right."

" Tap, tap, tap and you're back in place. Now, you've got a mock up over here don't you Fred that explains--"

" -Yes."

" -what I was just referring to in terms of reversibility."

" This is a, we, we tested a number of acrylics and we put a, put a sample together of some old hard pine flooring very similar to what's here--"

" -Yes."

" -and samples of the original parquet flooring which we removed from the hallway next door--"

" -Right. And what, what's being done in this process below our feet is an injecting process where holes have been drilled and the actual epoxy can be forced in with a gun."

" Right and actually it's an acrylic adhesive again. Again ensuring reversibility and what we were looking for was flow, which you can see here we had good flow. This piece was removed from there. Adhesive qualities, minimal adhesive quality to the original flooring. Just pull the finish off but good adhesive quality to the oak itself."

" Ok it'll hold on to the oak keep it from squeaking or loosening up. But if it ever needs to be removed from the pine that will be easy. Tell me about what he's doing downstairs though."

" Downstairs we've injected ports with a drill in the, within the tongue section of the flooring."

" What you mean is you've drilled small eighth of an inch diameter holes."

" That's right."

" Yes."

" And with a bulk-loading caulk gun basically we're injecting this adhesive through the groove but again not far enough to create a, a hole in the surface."

" Right, so that if, again, if it ever wants to be reversed, they wouldn't find a bunch of holes--"

" -Right--"

" -in the surface of the original--"

" That's correct."

" -material."

" And of course almost every room in the mansion has holes such as what we have over here where radiators, pipes and all sorts of other things were installed so there's a quite a bit if this repair work to be done. We'll stay in touch with you Fred."

" Alright. Thank you sir."

 [-]


More Videos »Related Videos

Installing the Plywood Subfloor
Installing the Plywood Subfloor

Bob introduces Reggie Ray from Georgia-Pacific to discuss the laying of the sub-floor with southern yellow pine tongue-and-groove plywood. He discusses some of the advantages to using plywood over OSB, including fewer squeaks.

Tips on Fixing Squeaky Floors
Tips on Fixing Squeaky Floors

Bob talks with Howard Brickman of Brickman Consulting about how to fix squeaky floors. Brickman first he checks the moisture level in the joists to make sure it is in a normal range. Changes in moisture content cause wood to shrink and swell, which contributes to making floors squeak. Brickman reviews some of the cross-bracing that has been put in place to help make the floor stiffer. Having floorboards that run at an angle rather than perpendicular to the joists gives the floor more strength. Brickman explains how to fix a squeak, by first determining where the squeak is located, either between the sub-floor and the top of the joist or between the wood floor and the top of the subfloor. Brickman thinks the problem is between the wood floor and the sub-loor based on the sound of the noise. Screws are driven from the basement into the the sub-floor, pulling the wood floor and sub-floor above down and pressing them close together. A 2x4 is drilled into the top of the joist and the bottom of the subfloor to reduce the squeak by pulling the subfloor down tight to the joist. Brickman then discusses the use of shim shingles and construction adhesive to reduce squeaky floor noise when they are driven home between the joist and the subfloor.

Pre-Finished Wood Floors
Pre-Finished Wood Floors

Pre-finished wood floors are a durable and environmentally sound alternative. It comes in a variety of styles and designs and it's a tongued and grooved product. The pieces are first laid out on the sub floor to ensure staggered joints. Then they are powered nailed.

Installing a Cobblewood Floor
Installing a Cobblewood Floor

Birger Juell visits the home to supervise instalation of this unique floor. Use 3/8 or 1/2 inch thickness of wood. Type of wood is user preference but it should be as dry as possible. The wood tiles can be just about any size or shape as long as they are not too large or warping will occur. The grout for the cobblewood flooring is composed of sawdust from the wood mixed with a fast-drying oil-based sealer in a ratio of 2 parts sawdust to 1 part sealer add any stain to grout to your liking.Insure you have a standard sub-floor. First glue floor down, use regular tile mastic as an adhesive. rubber based instead of Water based is best. Let set for two days... Then grout, Pour the grout on the floor push it into the cracks using a rubber trowel or your hands. Trowel in the grout. Squeegee off the excess. Steel wool the face of the wood tiles to remove any remaining excess grout that could dry to the top of the bricks. Let it sit over night and then apply another coat of oil-based sealer the next day. Let set for one day. Then do final coat of varnish, stain etc. Maintain like any wood floor. Oil it every 2 years using wood floor oil. Varnish once a year. Buff once a month.

More Content »More Content

Parquet Floor Restoration
Parquet Floor Restoration

…laid on the existing floor to protect the parquet while work is underway in the vicinity…
…and very durable, will protect the 1906 parquet floor from accidental scratches and other…
…the Ladies Parlour where the century old parquet floor with its squeaks and movement is…

Bruce Solid Oak Parquet

I am looking for Bruce American Home series Solid Oak Parquet AHS101-HD Chestnut (smooth)Dura-Luster (Urethane)Finish 5/16 x 12 x 12. Does anyone know where I can find it? I am located in NC.

Need discontinued Bruce parquet

I need to find some discontinued flooring to replace small areas of flood damaged parquet: Bruce Hardwood Floors Solid Oak Parquet Bruce American Home Series AHS-100HD Desert (Smooth) Dura-Luster (Urethane…

Parquet

I have 28 sq ft in the type of parquet you asking for. Would you be interested?

Browse Topics

Click on a letter to browse content by topic alphabetically.



About  | FAQ  | Contact  | Sitemap  | Privacy Policy  | Terms of Use  | Help

© BobVila.com 2009