Hi,

In few months i will have a new house, and i want to install there hardwood floors. I want to do it myself, because it will be cheaper (we are a little tight with budget), and i just want to. I like doing things myself
Right now, i'm reading a lot about it, and i'm doing some tests.

I will split this in two parts, ground floor and first floor.

First floor:
Here, i have 3 roms that are ~10m2 each. I'm thinking about it as my "range", because i will do this first. Because of that, i bought old ash mosaic. It's ~20 years old and cost around 3$/m2, so i don't care about it that much. It's not the best choice because i will have floor heating installed, but i hope that small size of mosaic will compensate ashs parameters (although i found on some sites, that there are better than oak).

Right now, i'm thinking about using polyurethane glue Wakol 215 PU. I'm not sure about it, because i couldn't find comprehesive comparison. Mostly comments from random people on the internet, like "i'm using 1,2,3 from 20 years and it's the best. I never used anything different", which aren't helpfull.

For finishing, i will rent a dust-free belt or planetary grinder (which one is better? Right now i'm thinking about belt grinder), and i bought bosch PBS 75 AE for works in small areas. After that i will apply filler mixed with dust from last grinding. After that i was thinking about hard wax oil, because i found that they are equal to lacquers in therms of water and dirtproofing. Which one will be the best for high durability? I was thinking about "Bona hard wax oil". Are there better types of oils?

Also, my ash mosaic is quite uneven, and o was thinking if i can do something about it, or just fill everything with filler?
It's glued to paper underlay, i think that i should disassembly it, and install it piece by piece. Do you have any suggestions how i can remove papier easy and fast? I was trying to spray it with water, and rub away, but that worked really poor.

Cement screed will be made by a professional company, so it should have enough strengh (20 MPa is enough, or should i go for 30 MPa?), should be level and i will check moisture level before work (should be below 1,8% CM).


Ground floor:
Here, i have new ipe lamparquet, to install in living room (25m2) and in kitchen (7m2). I thought about using glue and hardwax mentioned earlier. Also, there will be floot heating.
On photos you can see patterns i choosed, the dutch one will be in living room (approximately 5x5 meters). Should i split it to smaller surfaces?
Also, small gaps can be seen. They don't bother me much but i noticed that staves are now a little longer than wider. I'm not sure about moisture level in room, so they could just took more moisture. Should i try to do something about it, or simply fill gaps? Of course i will acllimate wood before installing so they can dissapear. Or get bigger. I thought about two weeks for ipe.

Ok, i know it's quite long, but i wand to give you a full picture. A will appreciate any help. Right now, my biggest concerne is choosing glue and oil.

Below are some photos of mosaic, and my installation tests:
https://imgur.com/a/cOBeg

Thanks for any help
Lucas

The picture of your flooring shows parquet like I used to install a lot of in the 1980's. The one with paper holding it together was common. We applied glue, a latex based, then put the flooring into the glue and wet the paper. When the paper got wet it would peal off the wood easily. After removing the paper you could slide the pieces around a little to keep the pattern "on point" in the corners of the pattern and diminish any large gaps. We had extensive directions that came with the flooring. A latex glue holds well after a few minutes as the wood absorbs the liquid part. See if you can find a parquet adhesive. We covered the parquet as soon as it was laid when we needed to work over it when finishing up a room using thin plywood. You needed to allow the glue to cure and the parquet to acclimate after laying before sanding. The gaps were filled with wood patch. You may be able to make your own using some wood flour, powdered clay and lacquer sanding seal. like what we used, but is now not made because of the solvents that went into it. It took the finish similar to the wood slats.
We sanded with a drum sander which is like todays belt sander, on a diagonal, in two 90 degree passes then went with the predominant grain direction before using a buffer with a 100 grit screen to get the fine 100 grit scratches from the last pass of the big sander.
Personally I would not recommend an oil finish in a kitchen since you will have potential spilling and I think a film finish is best there. You need to have a finish that stays smooth and is easy to wipe.
This type of flooring will last longer than a ¾ inch, 21mm, T&G type of flooring if it has been fastened down well. I have also used floor brads to install the slat type of flooring.

Thanks for your reply!

As for the paper, how long have you have to wait? The last i was removing went almost perfect, but that was after 15-30 minutes of wait :/ I'm not sure, if i will be still able to move the slats. Open time for the glue is 90 minutes, but it can be different after installing the floor.
I coud try adding some soap to the water, but i'm not sure if it could damage the floor.

I was thinking abou wood patch like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lecol-Wooden-Flooring-Reclaimed-Parquet/dp/B01L4P6JUY
Existing filler ready to mix with wood dust. Your solution sounds good, but i have too little information about it, to make it

I was thinking about using laquer in kitchen, but later i found that: http://www.peakoak.co.uk/guides/best-oak-floor-finishes-the-definitive-test/

So hardwax oil should be ok, especially when it's installed on floor heating (where suggested finish is oil). Also, i prefer oil
But i'm still looking for more information about them.


Direction of applying glue is very important? Right now i placed it perpendicular to the one slats, and parallel to the others. I was wandering if placing it at 45 degrees would be better?

Wet the paper with a sponge. The paper that we encountered was very thin and made to be removed. The glue was mucilage which dissolves with water. It peals off within 30 seconds after wetting. The whole parquet piece will shift or slide for only a minute then starts to stick with latex glue. Working away from the freshly laid parquet works best.
You may b e able to use the parquet pieces intact and then sand off the paper after the glue has set. If the parquets are made very well they may not be needing any shifting before the glue sets up. Just keep the corners meeting. Paper don't sand off as easily as sanding bare wood. We started sanding at 50 grit to get the over wood flat. Then 60 80 and 100.
Sanding for a hard wax oil takes more expertise than for a film type finish. I think to 120. It will take more patience cleaning dirt from the pores and will probably emboss sooner as the soft part of the wood gets walked on. You will probably need both sanders to get a good job, finishing with a 120 grit screen.
The direction of glue application does not make a difference in my opinion. You can go either with the grain, across the grain orientation or in circular waves as you work up to the next chalk line. Whatever makes the most efficient application in your space. Pat the individual slats down with your hand to get the best results.

Then maybe i have bad type of glue used, or it just didn't age well.
I'm still thinking about disassembling this sets.
Placing them one by one gives less gaps, but pattern is little shifted.
When i placed them intact, the pattern is a little better, but gaps are bigger.

Also, i just realized that i want hardwax oil in kitchen BECAUSE floor can be damaged by water. With hardwax oil i can replace few slats, and everything looks ok.

Why i will need both sanders? i though about using big belt (drum) sander, small hand belt sander, and small oscillation sander.
Fiddes suggest sanding to 150 grit It will take a lot of time.

Be careful, puddles of water can damage a tile floor, too. Have you had a hardwood floor before? There is a learning curve for wood floors. Separating the strips will take lots of time that a flooring contractor will not take the time to do. fi
Paper backed flooring is usually top-nailed with the paper side down, since you can not glue the paper to the floor and expect the flooring to stay down. With top-nailing any gaps at butt-joints will tend to disappear since the flooring brad will split the grain when nailed within ¾ inch of the end of strips. This will be filled with wood patch and will blend in with the grain going from a pretty rough looking floor after top-nailing to a beautiful floor after stain and finish. The floor brads are one inch long with a "diamond" point tip, which the sub-floor holds very well.
The drum sander will cut the over wood fast, then make the floor smooth. You can find 150 grit paper, but it is unusual. The final polishing can be done with a random orbit by hand.

My parents have oak parquet, merbau mosaic in kitchen, and teak mosaic on floor heatinh in bathroom.
I have some experience how it looks and works.

I'm doing this floor for myself, so i have as much time i want. I would rather choose technique which is easier and longer, than harder but faster.

Also, i will order small tin of fiddes hardwax oil, and test how well it will protect from water.

I use a large screwdriver jambes into the sub-floor to pry the rows together. If you tack the strip with an 18 ga. finish nailer, this will keep the slat where you want it.
When the oil is worn off the surface you will have wood fibers that are exposed.
Do your parents have a HWO on their kitchen floor?

I don't mind re-oiling it from time to time.
They have laquer, but i don't like laquers.
Sadly, i have to glue it to cement screed so i can't hold it in place with nailer (which would be helpful ).

Few more pics, after sanding and oiling. Ash is nice and easy, but ipe is very similar to aluminium. It's easy to make deep scratches but hard to remove them.
Ipe will need much more patience, higher grids and more passes.

https://imgur.com/a/2Lzao

Since the flooring will be glued down "forever" you can keep the rows straight with a block plane by narrowing some of the rows to keep the pattern straight, since there is no T&G at the edges of the strips. A little out of straight will not matter too much, but once you get off line the misalignment can compound. A table saw can help, too.