European oak herring bone parquetry.

My friend Leif and I installed this European oak parquetry on a concrete slab. We had to do a moisture barrier before we could glue the parquetry. The difficult thing was to work out where to start as the herring bone pattern went diagonaly instead of straigt towards the light (back balcony doors) which is the most common way of laying! Afterwards the kitchen and all skirtings, architraves, tiling, painting, electrics and appliances where installed. I was the last one to finish as it is recomended to have as few workmen afterwards as possible. The floor was finished in Bona Traffic matt finish.

When Non-toxic coating is great!

I got this job, sanding and polish Bright side kindergarten in Boronia. It had to be done over 2 weekends as the place couldn't be closed for any period of time. I had a friend help me as we had to move furnitures, remove carpets, do some repairs and then sand and polish into the very late evenings. Bona's Traffic matt was used and the kids could be back on the mondays to continue their play. That's when a non- toxic coating is great!


Here are some before and after shots.

Maintenance of a wooden floor.

As I come across a lot of timber floors, it always astounds me that the maintenace has never been explained properly. People gladly wet or steam mop their timber floors and wonder why the timber is swelling and cupping. As I say to my customers: NEVER WET MOP a timber floor, instead use a damp microfiber mop. As what Bona is offering in their maintenace range or any other brand for that matter. As I'm familliar with the Bona range of products, I realy like that they offer a maintenance coating wich the owners can apply them selfs. Here is a link to Bona's maintenace pdf: http://bona.net.au/Contractors/Products/Maintenance.aspx

Get your measure righ!

As I was laying a parquetry floor and getting to the end of it, it was realised that there wasn't enough timber. The owner had measured from the plans and missed some. When we measured the actual floor space it turned out to be 8 m2 larger than what was measured from the plans. The owner had to chase more parquetry and it turned out to be difficult to get more straight away. It took almost 2 weeks untill it came. So make sure you measure the actual space and get someone else to measure as well to get a second opinion. Nothing worse to be short or if you bought the last batch. Allways allow 7-10% more for waste and some spares incase a repair is needed in the future.

Tassie Oak finger parquetry

This floor was not in a good state when I started. The previous owners had tried to patch the old, coating themselves. Resulting in a darker surface spot, not a good look! The small finger parquetry pieces had also started to loosen in many spots. They had to be cleaned and glued back before the sand and polish started. Some came loose as I sanded and had to be glued as I noticed it. The end result is a nice light flooring ready for many years to come. Here are some before and after shots.

Oakleaf Versailles French Panels

When I started this floors I asked the owner Lily where she had bought this floor from. She told me she had got it from http://www.hazelwoodhill.com.au and it came as ready made panels. So it didn't take long to lay according to Lily! It did take some time sanding due to the many directions of blocks in each panel. First thing I did was to do some colour samples on the floors to get the desired look that Lily wanted. As she really liked the colour, she asked if it also could be used on the skirtings, architraves and handrail. After a sample on that timber she decided to go for it there as well. So I instructed the painter how to use it before I started the floor sanding. I started on the top floor and then continued on the stairs and finished on the ground level.
I did a direct stain with my slow spinning polishing machine using a soft cloth over a nylon pad. Using Bona Dri Fast Provincial stain on oak realy highlight the nice grain. I then used Bona Prime Intense as the primer and Bona Traffic matt as the 2 finishing coats. On the stair steps I put on Bona's R10 rated antislip coating as it was stipulated by the local council befor the certificate of occupancy could be issued.

Happy customers.

I recived this text from a happy customer a few weeks after the floors where done! I had done their Baltic pine and cork floors wich I have written about in previous posts. It certanley makes me feel good to get feedback such as this!