Frequently asked questions

Tiles, like walls, are a stationary construction. Compensating gaps between wood floor and these constructions have to be made because wood floor is characteristic of expanding which is caused by higher level of humidity in the room. The purpose of compensating gaps is to compensate the increase of wood measures. If such gaps haven’t been made, expanding wood floor will lean against the wall or tiles and will become wavy, lifted or will damage the tiles.

For more information about compensating gaps refer to instructions for laying wood floor.

Before laying wooden floor, please make sure that the base is of adequate humidity. However, before measuring concrete humidity, one must know that there are several measuring scales. Because of this, humidity measuring devices of different types can indicate different numbers. Residual humidity of concrete subfloors in percents is often settled using CM (calcium-carbide) method and is measured in CM measures.

The humidity of the concrete base must not exceed 2,8 % CM. This value of concrete humidity corresponds to 60 % relative air humidity (the maximum allowed value for installation and exploitation of wooden floors). If the relative air humidity in a room for a longer period of time is kept at that level, the moisture level of concrete will achieve 2,8 % CM. More humid concrete must be allowed to dry. To accelerate the process of drying, one may use humidity collectors. In the case you have no time for drying or it is impossible and the humidity of the concrete coat exceeds 2,8 % CM but doesn't exceed 5% CM, you can lay wooden floor on it but before gluing you should use special humidity-resistant primer (we recommend Bona R410).

The humidity of the subfloor, board or veneer must not exceed 11 %. Humidity of these subfloors is measured using devices designed for timber.

For a covering of an exterior decking we can offer oil Bona Carl‘s Deck. It is made on the base of pine’s and seeds’ oils, intended for a oiling of external wooden constructions (floors, handrails etc.). This oil is especially well absorbs in wood and provides deep acting protection for it. The oil Bona Carl‘s Deck contains components that reduce the destroying influence of UV-radiation on the wood. It is created especially for application in exterior conditions.

The mentioned oil is suitable and for a teak wood. But it is necessary to pay attention that teak wood durable, but very badly absorbing wood. Therefore during coating do not overdose of oil Bona Carl‘s Deck and coat only so much, how many wood can absorb. Otherwise – having used too big quantity of oil - it will not absorb, and the exterior decking will stay sticky, and thus will draw a dirt and so forth.

You have to decide which is better for covering the floor, we can only introduce you to the advantages and disadvantages of these options.

Finishing:

• Finish forms a protective, anti-attrition film on the surface of wood which protects wood from attrition and minor scrapes.
• In case of normal maintenance of facilities and appropriate time resistance, wood floor will probably have to be refinished in 8-10 years.
• If the surface is finished, a separate area of such is difficult to repair as the border between old and new layer is visible which is why all the entire surface has to be  resanded and refinished again after all furniture has been removed from the room.
• Water-based finishes may be chosen that leave the color of the wood practically unchanged or finshes that darken wood. The gloss of the lacquer can also be chosen: glossy, semi-matt, matt.
• Maintenance of finished floor is easier than that of oiled. This is because the floor is covered in finish that partly protects wood floor from taking up liquids and spots. Also under necessity finished wood floor can be cleaned with a wet cloth which cannot be applied to oil-covered floor.

Oiling:

• Oil doesn’t form a protective film on the wood surface protecting it from wear and scrapes.
• A lot of people like oiled floors because oil doesn’t form a film on the surface of wood. This is why you will feel pure wood walking on the floor.
• Oil is constantly evaporating which is why oiled floor have to be renovated once a year on average using special oil that has to be rubbed in with a polishing machine. Besides, oil doesn’t cover wood pores, flutes and fine inequalities which cause dirt accumulation in such places.
• In order to reduce oil evaporation and cover wood pores, oiled wood floor can be waxed. Waxed surface has to be periodically renovated using wax renovation agents and a polishing machine.
• Because dirt accumulates even in the finest inequalities of the wood, oiling requires high-quality wood sanding and polishing.
• In case of oil or wax wear in one place of the surface usually you won’t have to sand and cover the entire floor again. You will have to renovate only that specific place.
• Oil darkens the floor, gives nice deep color, highlights facture.
• Compared to finish, oil is more convenient in premises of intensive exploitation (airports, etc.) where the floor requires constant renovation. In such case, the floor can be easily reoiled using a polishing machine.

Only thoroughly sanded wood reveals all its beauty. The quality of sanding depends on the workers’ qualification, equipment and materials used for sanding.

In order to achieve good quality of sanding, one should use three sanding machines. Belt sanders – for initial sanding. Edge sanders – for polishing corners. Disk buffing machine – for final polishing, polishing between lacquerings or for oiling.

Sanding can be performed stage-by-stage using sand paper of different grit.

Silicone is not recommended for sealing joints or compensating gaps for the following reasons:

• Silicone cannot be covered my lacquer which is why it accumulates dirt.
• Silicone cannot be sanded and it tousles sanding paper.

The best option for sealing joints and compensating gaps is special acrylate-based paste (e.g. Bona Gap Master). Such pastes are elastic, they can be covered with lacquer, easily sanded and are available in different colors.

It is not easy to answer to this question, since it is not told what vacuum cleaner is used (model) and what its technical characteristics are.

In any case, all wooden floors sensitively react to moisture. Usually, in the case of floors’ wet cleaning, it is necessary to try that about 1 minute after cleaning, floors would be already dry. If it is not so, it means that cleaning is too wet. Also it is not recommended that water would get to microgaps between elements of wooden floors and places where the finish is worn since water causes wood swelling. Generally it is recommended to clean wooden floors as more dry as it is possible, i.e. to use a dry method of cleaning (e.g. a vacuum cleaner with a thimble which does not scratch a surface), special dust absorbing pads (e.g. Bona Cleaning Pad), and using wet way of cleaning it is important to try to use as least quantity of water as it is possible (e.g. hardly wet, well wrung out rag).

Also the heat and frequent fluctuations of temperature in a wide range is not recommended to wooden floors and floor coatings (e.g. to a varnish). It can negatively affect a coating of the floor, as well as wood itself. A question to you what is the temperature of steam used by a vacuum cleaner when it contacts with a covering’s cleaning surface.

After estimating the mentioned actions, decide, does your vacuum cleaner suits for wooden floors’ cleaning. Generally speaking, we consider that in general there is no sense to wash wooden floors, using tools of this kind. They most likely will not provide the best effect of cleaning than traditional ways, but can do much harm.

Wooden floors are the natural beauty and luxury, creating a cosy atmosphere of home.

Do not forget that the kitchen floor zone is one of the most wearing and maintaining position at home, so from the practical side, it would be better to lay floors in kitchen which are resistant to a moisture (e.g. if something spills out), a heat, not absorbing fats and pigments, resistant to hard bodies (e.g. if tableware falls) and so on. Perhaps, therefore laminated flooring, tiles or other materials, which are easy to look after, are possible to make wet clean often, would suit better.  

Wooden floors can be installed in the kitchen, but it is necessary to remind that they will faster wear out, rather than in other premises. For example, if your kitchen zone is united with a living-room, it is likely that after several years floors from the kitchen side (especially near a sink, a cooking surface) will start differ from the rest part of the floors. Certainly, it depends on the intensity of the exploitation. Wishing that wooden floors in the kitchen would look nicely, they may need more frequent refreshing, there will be needed more bankroll for maintenance.

For the longer saving the beautiful look of the kitchen floors (as well as in other premises), pay attention to several things:

1. While choosing wooden floors, pay attention to following wood properties: hardness and stability. Harder wood is more difficult to deform by heels, falling objects, dogs claws and so forth. The more stable is wood, the more slowly and less it reacts to humidity changes. Several examples from popular wood in Lithuania, which would fit – an oak, ash, tauari, hevea, from mahoganies – merbau.
2. We do not recommend choosing very light or very dark floors, as well as stained wood. Light floors badly cloak stains, dirt, which can accumulate in scratches. On the dark floors the dust and small crumbs are very visible.
3. If you choose finished floors, choose floors covered with a mat finish – the more mat the surface is, the less scratches and similar defects are visible on it.
4. Wooden floors in the kitchen must be more looked after: water, dirt and other liquids got on the floor must be removed as soon as possible.
5. Clean floors using cleaner especially designed for the wooden floors. Avoid universal cleaners for the cleaning of all surfaces. Wet cleaning of the floors always must be done using only well wrung out rag. It there is no necessity to clean floors in wet way, use agents intended for the dry cleaning (e.g. Bona Wood Floor Cleaning Kit) or use vacuum cleaner.
6. In especially intensively wearable places use plastic transparent protective mats. Mats are enough resistant to scratching, temperature changes, durable, heavy-wear, it is easy to clean them. Most often they are used under pushed chairs, but they can be used and near the cooking surface or sink. Grease, dirt, water and other liquids will be easier to clean from the mat. If you forgot to clean them at once, you can do it later and nothing will happen to a mat.
7. Finally, before buying the flooring ask seller about the quality of floors, ask who and where are produced the flooring, what materials are used to cover the floors, what guarantees are granted.

Also, it is necessary to confine to all general requirement of the exploitation of wooden floors, among which the most important is the support of relative humidity of air on a border 40 – 60%.

If you wish to have a good result, it is necessary to sand floors to a pure wood and then cover stain Bona Parquet Décor and oil Bona Carl’s 90. Also it is possible a surface, covered with the stain Parquet Décor, to prime with Bona Prime Intense and atop to cover with finish Bona Traffic. The manufacturer recommends such method in its instruction and such is our answer to your question.

And now I will try shortly to detail why the stain Parquet Décor can’t be covered on the floors which were oiled before:

1. If the floors were covered with oil Bona Carl’s 90 and atop covered with wax, it will not be well because of incompatibility of a stain and a wax.
2. If the floors were covered with oil Bona Carl’s 90 and it was recently, there is a chance that it will not be well because the wood is already saturated by oil and will not absorb stain.
3. If the floors were covered with oil Bona Carl’s 90 several years ago, and oil “was already used up” (has evaporated), the colour of the floor fade, so in that case, if floors have not been covered with wax, Bona Carl’s 25 is usually used for renovation. It is possible to try to experiment and mix stain Bona Parquet Décor with oil Bona Carl’s 25 or 90 and try to cover floors. But also in that case there is a big chance that stain will disperse and absorb unequally. The colour of a floors will be uneven (speckled) or not enough intensive.

I would like to underline one more time that we do not suggest choosing neither 1st, or 2nd or 3rd variant, but suggest to sand floors to a pure wood and then cover using stain.

Also I wish to mention that if you plan to whiten floors using white colour stain Bona Parquet Décor, it will not turn out to reach intensively white tint of the floor. Especially on light colouration floors, white colour of stain Bona changes a tint of the wood very insignificantly.

Unfortunately the unequivocal answer does not exist. Whether precisely to tell is it possible and if it is possible, what finish is possible to be used for coating atop your parquet boards, it is necessary to know what finish was used for coating at a factory and what does the manufacturer recommends in such cases? You can get this information from sellers from which you bought a product, and they can get it from the manufacturer. But usually serious manufacturers of wooden floors do not recommend to coat with one new layer of finish a new factory pre-finished wooden floors at all.

If it is not possible to get such type of information then it is necessary to lead the grip test of a finish with a surface before finishing. The core of this test – a small area of a floor (or a piece of parquet board that was left after the installation) must be lightly sanded using sanding paper or screen grit 150. After that it is coated with a one layer of finish. Depending on properties of a finish, approximately after 3 days try to scratch the floor surface gently with a coin. If the finish stays firmly attached to the surface the adhesion is satisfactory, but if the finish can be removed like a film, it means that it is impossible to finish surface.

It is necessary to “rise” the surface of the parquet boards which were factory pre-finished before finishing. It is done using disc machine for sanding-buffing, using sanding paper or screen grit 150, or Bona Scrad system which is composed of a pad and a wing. Its purpose is to make sanded surface rougher for the better adhesion of a new coated layer of finish. Also I would like to engage your attention that after the light sanding of a floors (“rising”) the sheen of your floors will depend on the gloss of the used finish.

As Vilniaus Parketas sales the products of international concern Bona which are designed for the installation, repairing and care of the wooden floors, I will recommend to use finish Bona Traffic. It is a two-component waterborne 100 % polyurethane finish and from all Bona finishes characterizes the best features of the adhesion, and also the good resistance to wear. Traffic has two types of sheen – absolutely matt and silk matt. You can buy 1,1 l of finish in order to grip the test.

If the maintenance conditions in the room where the parquet is laid are suitable for wooden floor, i.e. normal relative humidity (40 to 60 per cent), temperature (+16 to + 24° C), the base or the walls do not get wet, the parquet was not previously drowned due to water-supply accident, etc., after some time the parquet most commonly come off the base as a result of application of improper glue (e.g., adhesive “lipalas”) or occurrence of technological inaccuracies during laying.

In your case, there are several options for repairing your parquet:

1. If the slats that came off take a considerable area of the room, while the remaining slats are also apt to come off, the best solution is to disassemble the old floor in its entirety and to lay new parquet. Having all work performed in a technologically correct manner with the use of high quality materials of specialized producers and in compliance with the required maintenance conditions, you will have a new and fine floor. Nevertheless, this option is the most expensive.
2. Before disassembling, you should first check the remaining slats of the parquet for their firmness. This may be determined by sound when knocking the floor. If the number of the disengaged slats in the intact area is minor, holes may be drilled in such slats and special glue may be injected through them (e.g. Bona R880), and the disassembled area should be relaid. Success of relaying of the old slats rests on the extent of the damage caused during disassembling. However, this task is usually complicated. If relaying of the old slats is difficult, new parquet slats may be purchased, yet in this case the slats must be of the same dimensions, same wood type and sorting. Otherwise, the old and the new slats will differ in appearance. Upon solving gluing problems, the entire area of the floor should be sanded, and, if necessary, puttied and again coated with varnish or oil.

 

If glue remains are found on the concrete after disassembling the parquet, they must be scraped off. Manual scrape with a chisel or a metal pallet is the best option. After removing the glue, the base should be carefully cleaned and vacuumed to remove the remaining dust.

In order to achieve good sanding quality, three sanding machines should be used:

1. Belt sanding machine for primary sanding.
2. Angular sanding machine for corner sanding.
3. Disk sanding-polishing machine for final sanding, sanding between several varnish layers or for oiling.

Sanding must be done in a few stages using sandpaper of different graininess.
If required, puttying is performed after floor sanding. Depending on gaps or the size of the falling out knots, different filling pastes are used for floor puttying (e.g. Bona Mix&Fill, Tikkurila). Following such treatment the floor may be coated with varnish or oil finish.

You should also additionally inspect whether the wood planks are fast attached to the base, i.e. check for moving, swinging, creaking. If any of the problems is present, it should be solved prior to puttying and floor coating, meaning that the wood floor should be additionally fastened with screws, nailed up, glued or, subject to the construction of floor mounting (e.g., the floor is laid on logs), disjoin the planks and set the construction in order.

Upon sanding, one should also check the floor for its quality, any damage caused by pests, etc., or, in other words, whether the view of the wood opening up after sanding is substantially satisfactory.

The quality of floor renovation (grinding, puttying, coating) basically relies on not only sanding machines, tools and materials employed, but also qualification of the workers. Therefore, first time you undertake such task, you will find it difficult to eventually achieve a fine quality of the floor.

If there are any remains of the carpeting left on the parquetry, the following steps to take will depend upon the amount of the remains and how firmly they are stuck.

1. If the carpeting remains have only slightly stuck to the parquetry, you can try concentrated cleaning solution Bona Cleaner (or similar) to remove it. If no cleaning agents can solve the problem, you can try a more intensive cleaning method: scrubbing the residues with a harsh sponge or a metal trowel together with a cleaning solution. Although, in this case, you may scratch the varnish, and those spots may diverge from the rest of the parquetry. To equalize the overall look of the parquetry, it is necessary to sand it all and coat  it again.
2. If you fail to remove carpeting remains using cleaning agents, or very large areas are tainted, you may try removing it using a sanding machine. If the remains are really thick (more than 1.5-3 mm), they should be removed in a mechanical way, using a metal trowel. After the remains have been slightly removed, you can sand the surface. If the carpeting remains are not very thick (up to 1.5 mm) the floor can be sanded straightaway, using coarser sandpaper (we recommend starting with 40 grain size sandpaper using a belt sanding machine).

Both Cleaner and Bona Wood Floor Cleaner are designed to clean wooden floors.

Bona Cleaner is designed for lacquered wooden floors, it has to be dissolved with water. Bona Cleaner is convenient to use in larger dirty areas. Floors are cleaned with carefully wrung pad. However, as moisture is the main threat for wooden floors, very often (daily) cleaning with water is not recommended.

Bona Wood Floor Cleaner is a detergent designed for daily cleaning of wooden floors. It is suitable for lacquered, waxed and oiled wooden floors and is very convenient to use in small dirty areas, as soon as it is sprayed straightly from the bottle. Bona Wood Floor Cleaner has to be used together with Bona mop and Bona Cleaning pad which is made from microfibre and it absorbs dust. Firstly, floors have to be vacuumed. Secondly, clean the floor with dry Bona pad, which may be sprinkled with Bona Wood Floor Cleaner. To clean separate spots, sprinkle them with Bona Wood Floor Cleaner and clean with Bona pad. Such dry cleaning perfectly cleans floor, doesn’t damage it and can be performed as often as it is needed.

In your case, we can offer the following solutions for your problem:

• You can re-sand the whole area and reapply the finish; or
• You can remove the ruined parquet boards and lay new ones instead.

If you prefer the first option, the whole parquet floor, not only the ruined parquet boards will have to be re-sanded. The larger the premises are the higher is the price you will have to pay for the restoration. Before you choose re-sanding, you should know that if the urine has penetrated deeply into the boards, sanding might not help.

If you prefer the second option, the ruined boards shall be replaced with new ones. However, the colour of the old and the new boards might differ a little. With time, the colour of the new boards might blend in fully or partially with the colour of the old boards. In order to minimize the difference between the old and the new boards, we recommend buying the new boards from the same manufacturer and choosing boards of same or similar dimensions.

For restoration, every particular situation needs to be considered separately. However, in most cases the second option gives the best results.

Wood floor usually starts to squeak for the following reasons:

• Wood floor wasn’t glued to the base, instead – only screwed and nailed. Wood is a natural material which shrinks and expands during the exploitation process, therefore nails or screws have disengaged in a period of time and parquet floor have started to squeak. In this case usually all floor area is squeaking and they should be disassembled and newly laid while repairing. In order to avoid this situation again, it is advisable to glue the parquet floor to the base.
• Parquet floor has bounced of the base. In this case the parquet floor squeaks only in the places where plates have bounced of the base. This usually happens when an insufficient amount of glue has been used for gluing of the parquet. In this case the procedure to repair the squeaking places is as follows: holes are wrought out in the squeaking place through which glue is entered. Afterwards the holes are covered with wooden plugs. Once such repair has been carried out it is advisable to resand and relacquer all the floor one more time. In the case of oiled wood floor, only the necessary places may be reoiled.
• The base on which the wood floor is laid is squeaking. This usually happens because of low quality of base equipment. Usually the following materials should be used as a baseboard: OSB plate, plywood, screeds etc. In this case the repair of the floor can be performed in the following way: open holes are wrought out in the places where base is squeaking (from the top to the concrete). Screws are put into through the holes which are then covered with wooden plugs.

When installing wooden floor at home or at the office, one should know that practically wood is not sensitive to temperature fluctuations but it is very sensitive to humidity fluctuations, and thus, the relative air humidity in the room where parquet is laid must be maintained at 40 % to 60 %. In dry air (during the heating season) the room air must be moisturised, and in case of moist air (autumn) the heating system or moist collectors must periodically be turned on. Failure to follow the above rules may result in gaps between parquet boards emerging after some time or they may wave.

However air humidity during the use is not the only reason why the floor may wave.

Wooden floor may wave if:

• it is laid on a surface which is not fully dry.

The surface on which you are going to lay wooden floor must be fully dried: OSB panel or subfloor humidity may not exceed 11 %, concrete base – 2,8 % CM (where the concrete base humidity is 2,8 % CM to 5 % CM, one can lay wooden floor on it using special humidity-resistant primer at first). Where the surface is humid, the humidity in it will be absorbed by wood, and the boards will start expanding and will wave quite soon.

• it is laid in a humid room.

During the installation of wooden floor, air humidity must be the same as when using the floor, i.e. 40 % to 60 %. Where the premises are more humid (that often happens during the non-heating season), the premises must be allowed to dry.

• it is glued to the base and immediately polished.

After the installation of the wooden floor, it is best to sand it in 10 to 30 days. Within this time the wood “will adjust” to the surrounding atmosphere and sanded surface will stay even for long. In case of sanding immediately after laying, parquet may become wavy, which will especially be visible with the side light.

• poorly installed floor hydro insulation and humidity comes from below.

In this case, before starting to lay wooden floor, the base must be primed with a special humidity-resistant primer.

• the floor is washed wet.

Wooden floor must be washed with a well-rinsed cloth so that there would be no layer of water on the surface. Otherwise water will penetrate into the gaps and the wooden floor will wave.

Gaps may appear in the wooden floor if:

• the relative air humidity is less than 40 % for a long time. It often happens in winter when heating is on. To humidify the room air, you can use air humidifiers.
• when installing, wooden floor is not sufficiently dry. After the installation it starts drying and shrinking.

The top surface resistance of wood floor to indentations or hits by falling objects depends on hardness of the wood. The harder is the wood, the stronger is the resistance to indentations and the smaller the hole the falling object leaves. That’s why, for example, oak solid boards will have similar resistance to scratching and indentations like three-layer parquet boards with oak top layer.

Another issue is that not only hardness of the top layer but thickness is important as well. Thickness of the top-layer directly defines the quantity of wood floor renovations (resanding). In this case solid boards will be more practical as the thickness of their top layer is usually double compared to three-layer parquet boards.