Removing parquet flooring - then relaying it

[Antipodes]

I live in a clunky 1950s "bad modernist" flat in Sydney. The two redeeming aesthetic features are a killer view and original square-patterned parquet-flooring in the living room (discovered under the "compulsory" wall to wall carpet laid sometime in the 70s). I didn't fix it myself but it looks beautiful.

Now one of my downstairs neighbours is about to totally revamp his flat. He too discovered parquet under carpet - but in the bedrooms as well as the living room. He's not getting it all and wants to put down modern bamboo flooring. I"ve tried to talk him out of it but he seems firm.

So I asked if I could get his parquet and, against the odds, he said yes. There's some small sections which have come up due to dampness and it's essentially wood, with what I presume is contact cement laid straight onto a "flattish" cement floor.

If he doesn't change his mind, I reckon I've got one to two eight hour days to get this stuff "harvested" from three rooms and leave the concrete floor in a respectable state for the flooring folks coming in.

i'm guessing litres and litres of methylated spirits and a small crowbar like implement will be enough to get the job done......or will it? All tips gratefully accepted. Speed is of the essence so I'm presuming there'll be significant natural attrition of the parquet rods as I go.

Part two to this project will be to put these down in both my bedrooms. There I haven't got a clue though I'm guessing planning and precision are paramount and that you're probably starting in the middle.

In short, HELP!

[HFQLuke]

depending on the glue it is very difficult to remove parquetry without damaging the parquetry or the subfloor, we use crow bars to remove the blocks indivually as it tends to do the least damage, salvage mobs will wet the floor until the floor pops or the glue lets go the problem with this is it ruins the timber and it needs to be redried. Keep in mind that any damage you cause to the subfloor my need to be rectified at someones cost. And for the love of god tell your neighbour to stay away from bamboo whatever he does it is a terribe product with more problems than you could count.

Best of luck

[Antipodes]

Thanks for that. I'm presuming I'm going to have to use a small crowbar, use metho and be careful.

My neighbour (god bless him because the die now seems to have been cast) is going ahead with the bamboo......I'm in a bit of a conflict of interest. I'm chairman of the board here and would dearly love to see these places kept in as original condition as possible (I'm one of those people) but at the same time I'd dearly love parquet in my other two bedrooms.

For what it's worth there seems to be uniformly flat concrete underneath the parquet.

[HOOKED.UP]

Hi Antipodes.
I have done this job before. Many years ago.
I used a wide paint scraper, sharpened a little with a file.
It needs to be a good quality sctraper so you can give the handle a tap with a mallet. Not hammer.
The slowest part of the job was cleaning the parquet. It was all given to me as the person was laying carpet and did not want the parquet under it as it was likfting in a few small spots.
I put a sheet of sandpaper on my bench and sanded each individual piece off to recieve the new glue.
Filled in quite a few happy hours. "NOT". LOL.

Good luck with your project.

Paul.

[Antipodes]

Paul, Thanks for the info. Yeah, I was figuring the post salvage work would be tough. As it happens I had a quick crack at it for about 20 minutes this afternoon.

The glue seems almost non-existent (which makes me worry a bit about my own vintage floor) so this stuff is coming up in nice solid chunks....I probably took up 2.5m in the time available with nary a broken piece which is far better than I could have imagined.

So I guess I know what I'm doing for the next two days. The whole area is probably about 50 sq metres.

Any tricks or tips on actually laying this stuff is much appreciated. The sub-floor is a surprisingly flat and clean concrete.