Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms What lies beneath

Close to 3 years ago we (bought) and moved into my (now) wife's grandparents house. They had moved out in the late 80s and had rented the property. In that time the tenant had made a number of changes including carpeting over the original 1958 parquet flooring.

Last month (well actually up to and including 2nd Jan) was set aside for the renovation project. My hope was to renovate both the dining room and then living room and return the floor to its former glory. In early December the carpet came up in the dining room and a small area sanded back to check whether it was doable.

The answer was "Yes" - but the workload was likely to be extensive - and so with a long Christmas break ahead I started off. The process - for both rooms:
1) Lift carpet - which was glued down across the whole floor
2) Remove the foam backing and as much glue as possible with the Multitool
3) Using a sanding head on an angle grinder sand using 40grit the entire floor to remove the remaining foam, glue and original varnish.
4) Sand the floor using an orbital sander using 40, then 80 and finally 180 grit
5) Thoroughly clean the room removing all dust
6) Apply a coat of water based diamond finish varnish, allow to dry (2hrs), wire wool, 2nd coat, wire wool, 3rd coat

Then for the living room the whole room was painted and new skirting fitted.

In total the work took 9 days (72hrs) to do around 50m2. It was a beast of a job and there were a number of moments when I questioned why the hell I was doing it. Using hand (power) tools allowed me the control to remove the very minimum from the floor - but it did mean the job tool longer. I went through around 120 125mm 40grit sanding sheets for the angle grinder, 30 150mm 40 grit, 20 80grit and 20 180grit for the orbital. 7.5l of varnish. 2 face masks and god knows how many showers!!!

The worst moment was realizing that they had applied leveling compound on top of the parquet near the fireplace - and even now the surround will need additional work to make good.

The dining room will be knocked into the kitchen in a few months and the final picture shows the latest image sent from the kitchen designer.