Cleaning and maintaining of hardwood flooring
Multilayer wood flooring
The most common types of parquet are strip parquet, parquet boards, mosaic parquet and ready-to-lay parquet. They can be laid on flooring joists, soft fibre insulating boards or floating mastic asphalt screed as well as other screeds.
Parquet floors are warm underfoot, elastic, durable and sensitive to moisture. They can be oiled, waxed or sealed.
The natural properties of the natural materials are largely retained if the surface is not sealed and alternatively treated with drying oils and possibly an additional wax layer. These floor coverings help regulate the room climate on account of the structure of the natural materials.
Note: the joint edge areas of ready-to-lay parquet are very sensitive to moisture and thus swelling. The floor coverings should thus only be cleaned and cared for moist (well-wrung mop) and never wet. Avoid puddles and standing water on the surfaces at all times.
Basic cleaning: cleaners can be heavily diluted in water and used for extremely stubborn dirt, e.g. after renovation work. Check that the seal is waterproof beforehand. Wipe over moist.
Initial treatment: use products for shine on sealed parquet floors to improve the cleaning and care properties. The optical look of the matt surface changes and becomes shiny. Recommendation is that products should be applied once undiluted for long-lasting, intensive protection. Avoid standing water at all times.
Apply products undiluted once on oiled and waxed parquet floors; this ensures optimum protection for the surface thanks to its impregnating effect and prevents greying. Avoid standing water at all times.
Everyday cleaning and care: wipe over moist with products to provide optimum care for your parquet floor and for light cleaning.
Interim cleaning: cleaners and wet wipes can be used for fast interim cleaning. Take a wipe out of its packaging, spread on the floor and clean using a normal mop. Simply wipe over the dirty floor. The wipes can also be used in your hand.
Pay attention to the floor manufacturer's cleaning and care instructions.
1. Can I use products for parquets on my laminate floors?
No, because this is a compound that contains wax. The wax does not produce any benefit on a laminate floor, but may lead to the formation of a greasy film. The best method is to use products for laminate diluted in the cleaning water, preferably right from the beginning, and to apply it with a slightly dampened cloth.
2. My sealed parquet floor looks rather lustreless by now. What can I do to make it look beautiful again?
There are several options for fully sealed parquet floors: If you want to give it a special shine, use products which give shine. These products can be either diluted in the cleaning water or they can be used undiluted.
If the parquet has been subject to a lot of wear and tear, then it no longer has any ideal protection against stains and moisture. Some products have an impregnating effect which protects the wood from moisture. This effect is enhanced by the subsequently regular use of the product in diluted form.
3. I’ve got pre-finished parquet flooring which is highly sensitive. How can I prevent it from swelling at the joints?
Joints and edges are major weak points in pre-finished parquet flooring? This makes it particularly important to ensure that your cloth is no more than slightly damp. Whenever you apply products for parquets to pre-finished parquet, it has an impregnating and thus protective effect.
4. My parquet is not sealed but oiled, and it’s looking rather grey now. How did this effect come about?
Whenever you wipe an oiled parquet floor, you remove some of the oil. Eventually this process causes the parquet to turn grey. Depending on the amount of wear and tear, we would also recommend oiling your parquet at regular intervals, so that the oil can be soaked up properly by the wood. In addition, you can protect the surface with products for parquet maintenance.
In the case of older parquet, the floor can be renewed by abrasion and re-oiling. When applying products in undiluted form to older parquet, the impregnating effect on the surface provides ideal protection and prevents it from turning grey. For the purpose of regular cleaning and after your parquet has been freshly oiled, simply add a product to the cleaning water.
5. Can I also treat my sealed parquet flooring with regular products for parquet?
Products for parquet ideally supplement the effect of wood seals: their regular use in the cleaning water impregnates the wooden surface, making it less sensitive to stains and moisture.
6. My sealed parquet keeps showing streaks and marks. What can I do about it?
The marks are mostly caused by footwear. The shinier the parquet, the clearly these marks are visible and cannot ultimately be prevented altogether while your floor is in use. The first thing to try is to polish off the marks with a dry cloth. Dark rubber and sole marks can be rubbed off with a vinyl eraser. If this isn’t enough, put some highly diluted cleaner in water and wipe the parquet vigorously with a slightly dampened cloth. Follow this up with the regular protective use of a product for parquet.
Multilayer parquet
What’s behind the PROtec impregnation formula?
PROtec is a special protective formula with highly efficient impregnating substances which ensure a long-term protection for sensitive flooring. Effective surface protection is provided by a special combination of bionically impregnating active ingredients. Dirt is repelled and any moisture-sensitive joints are protected against undesirable swelling.
